Wonderful Jesus!

Isaiah 50:4- “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary…”
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    • Fake News!

      Posted at 10:00 am by wonderfuljesus8, on April 21, 2021

      Romans 2:24 – ‘For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.’

      Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

      Paul handles so many topics in his introduction to the Romans. In just two chapters we have already discussed judgment, the righteousness of God, being judgmental, sin, not being good enough, and being without excuse, to name a few. Now Paul, seemingly is on another topic, as if he is just sharing what comes to mind as he dictates this letter to Tertius.

      I believe this topic is a most important topic and trust I can share it without being judgmental myself. When I read the end of the verse, “as it is written”, I wanted to know where else in the Bible it is written that we can cause the Gentiles, or in our case, the world, to blaspheme God. I chose the most notable ones.

      So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

      And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 

      2 Samuel 12:13-14 NKJV

      How did David cause the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme against Him? Well, if you remember what happened, it’s easy to see. First of all, David looked upon the wife of Uriah and lusted after her. He took this a step further and had her brought to him so that he could have sex with her. She became pregnant and David tried to cover it, but when that didn’t work, he had her husband killed in battle. This thing that David did, he thought was a secret, but it wasn’t. Others knew about it and began talking about David. People are still talking about David. Christians and non-Christians, with disdain. God was so disappointed with David because his actions brought reproach on the name of God. You know how we do, “He’s suppose to be a Christian!” “If that’s how Christians act, I don’t want any part of that!” David thought that he could rewrite the narrative of the conception of Bathsheba’s baby by manipulating the situation, but God wasn’t pleased! The Name that David had once honored in all that he did, he is now accused, by God, as causing the Gentiles to blaspheme it!

      Paul wrote in our key text that there are some things that we can do to cause the Gentiles, or the world, to blaspheme His name. Let me share this passage from the New Living Bible:

      Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?  You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.

      Romans 2:21-24

      Remember, Paul is addressing the Jews in Rome, but he could just as easily be talking to the church folk of today! He wants to know that since they are teachers and are teaching others, why aren’t they teaching themselves? Do we really do? Teach people about God and then ignore those teachings? All too often it is done! Then he brings up adultery, asking them, if they say it’s wrong to commit adultery, do they commit adultery? It’s so easy to point the finger, but when we do, there are four more pointing right back at us! But for those of us who say we are Christians, we know that the world is waiting to call us hypocrites and to criticize our Jesus! We are so proud, Paul declares, that we know the Law, or the Bible, but in our breaking of the Law, or not living according to God’s word, we dishonor God. And Paul takes it a step further by saying this type of half baked Christianity causes the world to blaspheme the name of God because of our shabby living!

      It’s interesting to note that Paul was impressed with this church and wanted to visit them. However, the more I think about this letter to the Romans, the more I take a closer look at it, the more I feel Paul may have been impressed with their origins, and even their perseverance in the midst of tremendous persecution; but not the way they were living their lives for Jesus!

      Peter takes this same theme up in his second letter.

      But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

      2 Peter 2:1-2

      It’s really distressing to hear the news casters blaspheme Christianity and our leaders. Many of them are criticized even though they live godly lives, but just as many are criticized for their destructive ways causing the way of truth to be blasphemed. Are you going to get mad at me and stop following me if I call a spade a spade? Maybe! But I will do it anyway and trust God with the results.

      Most news casters wouldn’t know a godly person if they met one. They judge godliness by their standards and not the standards of God. They want all Christian leaders to be like Mother Theresa and Billy Graham, and everybody else is not like Christ. In dealing with these worldly people, I understand this and agree it is fake news. The Church truly needs no validation from the world!

      But some of this stuff isn’t fake news! It’s real news, and we call it fake news because we refuse to see the truth that is before us! Peter said that there would be false prophets and false teachers among us, and yet we have difficulty identifying these false individuals. One way we can identify them, Peter wrote, is that they will cause the way of God, Christianity, to be blasphemed among the world.

      I have written on the prophets and how very much I respect them. I believe in modern prophets and I believe God can speak to His people through them. However, I have an issue with some of them today. It’s not that I necessarily think they are false, (don’t want to be judgmental), but I do believe they are causing the way of Christ to be blasphemed. Their refusal to acknowledge that they could be wrong about their prophesies, their political stance, or alliances, causes the world to blaspheme the gift of the prophet and abhor the prophetic word. I spend a lot of time praying about where we are as a Church and those in ministry.

      This is a topic that burdens me, and I hope I have demonstrated some wisdom and love. I have had a burden of prayer for ministers, church leaders, and the Body of Christ for as long as I can remember. I am not writing this to be another negative Nancy in the crowd, and unlike the world, I have a vested interest in the Body Christ, and a great love! As Christians we have to deal with the difficult things in the word just as surely as we deal with the easy to swallow things. I trust God with the results! Wonderful Jesus!

      Posted in Believers, blaspheme, Christianity, hypocrisy, Study of Romans | 2 Comments | Tagged blaspheme, blasphemy, Christianity, David and Bathsheba, fake news, false prophets, false teachers, God, hypocrisy, leaders in the church, living for God, love, Paul, Peter, Study of Romans, the Church, the Name of the Lord, Uriah
    • Righteousness Revealed

      Posted at 10:00 am by wonderfuljesus8, on April 12, 2021

      Romans 1: 16-17- “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”’ NKJV

      Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

      When my husband left the military we were without regular health insurance as we were getting re-acclimated to civilian life. Of course, being veterans, we both had veteran’s insurance. When we decided to have a second child, we didn’t want to travel the distance to the VA hospital and decided to take care of the medical bills on our own. An insurance agent was given my name as someone who might be interested in purchasing insurance, so he called me up. As he was trying to convince me that I obviously needed health insurance, since we were paying out of pocket for this baby, I started to become annoyed with him. Finally, after playing nice and him not getting the message, I said, “I may not have health insurance, but I have health assurance!” Then I ended the call!

      The Greek word for salvation “soteria” simply means safety. The message of the gospel is a message of safety for the believer from the snares of the enemy and the wrath of God, for within it, the righteousness of God is revealed.

      Martin Luther felt that the righteous God could only give him what he deserved, punishment for his sins. As a clergyman, he preached the letter of the law, without having any revelation of God or His message. In other words, he didn’t really believe that he was saved. When he finally got the revelation of the righteousness of God, he was freed from the constant bombardment of his sins, his unworthiness, and his need to be punished. After hearing of the experiences that Luther and others have had, many are still walking around with that sense of unworthiness, of being wretched individuals, and just sinners saved by grace. If you are saved by grace, you are no longer a sinner. If you are a sinner, you have not been saved by grace. They are contrary to one another.

      Revelation is important. Paul wrote that the gospel unveils the righteousness of God. Why would the righteousness of God need to be unveiled? Simply put, it had not been made known yet. Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Ephesians:

      How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets”

      Ephesians 3:3-5 NKJV

      Paul explained that the revelation of the mystery surrounding Christ had been hidden since the beginning of time. And now, by the Spirit of God, revelation was given to him and others that they might share the message of the gospel.

      Martin Luther defined the righteousness of God “as a righteousness valid before God, which many may possess through faith.” This righteousness comes from God and is His way of making a “sinner” right before Him. The Greek word for righteousness is “dikaiosune” which carries more than one meaning within it. It speaks of the character or quality of being right or just and is used to denote an attribute of God.

      In the book of Deuteronomy, God’s righteousness was sung about as a part of the song of Moses:

      He is the Rock, His work is perfect;

      For all His ways are justice,

      A God of truth and without injustice;

      Righteous and upright is He.

      Deuteronomy 32:4 NKJV

      And the psalmist shared this about His righteousness:

      Clouds and darkness surround Him;

      Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

      Psalm 97:2 NKJV

      Both these verses let us know that God is righteous. His very nature and the foundation of His throne is righteousness. As such, He chooses to impart righteousness to those who believe Him.

      Luther was correct in his thinking that a righteous God would punish sin. His righteousness demonstrates that He is neither indifferent to sin nor does He regard it lightly. Which is why Paul continues in this first chapter of speaking of the wrath of God on ungodly and unrighteous individuals:

      For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

      Romans 1:18-19 NKJV

      There is a whole list of sins following this verse, from being ungrateful, to being a homosexual, and everything in between and all around it. It is all unrighteousness. Paul didn’t categorize the level or depth of those sins, but said that they would cause the wrath of God to be poured out on those responsible for committing those sins. Paul also wrote that there were other ways to be a part of unrighteousness that didn’t fall into the list. Suppressing the truth is unrighteous, he wrote, yet we see more of that in our world today than we want to admit. Ignoring the truth and ignoring those who promote ungodliness, as well as ignoring that which is right, is just as bad as participating in it.

      “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

      Romans 1:32 NKJV

      When you know better, better is expected of you! As believers, our conduct should be in line with the character of our Savior. One who cannot help but do right, because He is right! So it is easy to understand how Luther and others walk away with a feeling of hopelessness when thinking about all the ways we can and do sin.

      However, Luther was wrong in thinking that God would leave us there without hope or assistance. Peter stated that we obtained our precious faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior:

      “…to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”

      2 Peter 1:1b NKJV

      And Paul made a similar point in the book of Philippians:

      “…not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith”

      Philippians 3:9 NKJV

      Luther finally got what God had been trying to get him to see: not our righteousness, but His!

      The last point of our key text that I want to bring out is the fact that revelation from God and righteousness occurs from faith to faith. Nothing about this statement means we get from God once and everything is settled. This righteousness, and the faith to believe it and live in it grows in faith, or assurance in Christ. This assurance is an enjoyment of the righteousness that God provides us with because we have complete confidence that when He said it is so, then it is! Similar to the assurance I felt in regards to my health when the poor excuse for a salesman called me.

      Paul concludes this portion of the letter with the phrase, the just shall live by faith. Since we have been declared free, then we are to live that life of freedom by faith! Our feelings will lie to us and tell us that we don’t feel like we are righteous. The devil will lie to us and tell us we haven’t really been made righteous. Preachers may even declare that we are, but yet we aren’t, because we are still in this body. But the just shall live by faith. God said that He makes us righteous through Jesus, and we are going to have to take Him at His word.

      As we continue in chapter 2, many of the things that have already been mentioned will be explained by Paul in more detail. I’m looking forward to what all I can learn and share in this study. Wonderful Jesus!

      Posted in Christianity, righteousness, Study of Romans | 0 Comments | Tagged Christianity, faith to faith, living by faith, Martin Luther, righteousness, righteousness of God, Romans, Sin, Study of Romans, wrath of God
    • The Center of It All!

      Posted at 10:00 am by wonderfuljesus8, on April 7, 2021

      Romans 1:2-4 “God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about His Son. In His earthly life He was born into King David’s family line, and He was shown to be the Son of God when He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.” NLT

      Photo by Katerina Holmes on Pexels.com

      I was in Science class today when I had a thought. As our students were learning about the importance of cells, and tissues, and organs I was thinking about Jesus. A fact that resonated with my spirit is that the nucleus is the control center of the cell and it regulates all the activities of the cell. So I looked it up and discovered that the nucleus also carries the genes where our hereditary information is contained. My thought was this: that sounds like Jesus! I got so excited! And isn’t it something that science can reveal the Father, just as Paul wrote in the beginning of his letter to the Romans?

      Paul introduced himself to the saints in Rome, a congregation he hadn’t fellowshipped with, but one he had heard all about. As Paul traveled and evangelized the Greek provinces he often ran into other believers, and this is how he heard of the church in Rome. When he wrote:

       First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world,

      Romans 1:8 NKJV

      it was because of all the people he had met who originated from that church, or had passed through that church. Those things caused his heart to desire to go to Rome that he might part some spiritual gift to them, that they may be established, and for mutual encouragement (verse 12).

      It is believed that Andronicus and Junias were from the congregation in Rome, and since Paul sends them a greeting, they are in Rome at the time of his writing. Priscilla and Aquila were also from Rome, and had been amongst the Jews who were expelled from Rome before they met Paul (Acts 18:2). At this writing, they had a church in their house (16:5). Other people to whom Paul sent greetings at the end of his letter were believed to be people he had met during his evangelistic efforts who had either moved to Rome or had returned to Rome. It is easy to surmise that this church, made of Jews and later Gentiles, impressed Paul, because of the testimony of these individuals, that he wanted to fellowship with them for himself!

      After he introduces himself, he then speaks of Jesus. However, it is believed that his characterization of Jesus is intentional and with purpose and that’s why he doesn’t use His name until the end of his description. Let’s look closer at what Paul said about Jesus and why.

      Paul first mentions that Jesus is fully man. He speaks of Jesus’ heritage which would definitely be important to the Jews, and would be a strong testament of His messiahship. He was from the seed of David, and as such, was in the lineage of royalty. Also, as He walked on this earth, He did so in the capacity of a human being, which would later bear witness to man being able to live free from the bondage of sin — a topic he later discusses.

      Then he speaks of Jesus being the Son of God. A truth that surely they already knew as believers, but a truth he wanted them to know that he also preached and agreed with. Instead of focusing on how Jesus was born, although that is a powerful truth, he focused on how He was raised from the dead. This was proof to Paul that Jesus was who He said that He was, more than anything else. Remember that he met the resurrected Jesus and his life was forever changed! As a matter of fact, encountering that Jesus, changed all of the disciples, and it truly is the crux of the gospel message!

      We’ve just celebrated Resurrection Sunday because the resurrection of the Lord is the most important part of the gospel. I like what John Lake said about the resurrection:

      “The reason for the resurrection is that the kingdom of Christ is not to be in heaven entirely. It is to be in this world. And the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is to rule in this world. Consequently, while we live in this world we will need a body like our Lord’s—capable of existence here, and capable of existence over there.”

      ― John G. Lake, Spiritual Hunger, The God-men and Other Sermons

      Have you ever really given that any thought? Currently, in our new created state, we are capable of living in this earthly realm, as we are seated in heavenly places in Christ! And when we pray or give Him praise, we are able to transcend this earthly realm and move in the heavenlies. This relationship is truly supernatural!

      Paul mentions that it is through Jesus that we receive grace and our calling. As an apostle, he acknowledges that the role he has in the kingdom of God is because of the grace extended to him by Jesus. He didn’t do anything to earn it, and neither can we, but it was extended to him. And all of this that he has mentioned in his introduction, the seed of David, the Son of God, the resurrection from the dead, and grace is in Jesus our Lord!

      Now, back to my thought this morning. Just as the nucleus is the center of the cell, Jesus is the nucleus, or center of the gospel. As such, He is the control center not only for the church, but every believer. Paul wrote that He was made to be the head over the church, His body! As we walk in this new life, Jesus regulates our activities as our hearts and minds are transformed by His word. His Spirit on the inside of us, is available to assist us when we yield to Him. In the book of Roman, Paul goes into details about how this is possible. And lastly, in Jesus, is our DNA. All that we are, all that we can ever hope to be, is because of Him living on the inside of us. Jesus, the Christ! (See my blog or listen to my podcast on the DNA of God).

      I’m not really a scientific individual and may not have really touched the essence of this truth, but I saw it just as clearly as I see the page in front of me. This verse:

      For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

      Romans 1:20 NKJV

      spoke to me like never before. This has been radiating in my heart all day long, and I just had to share it. What a powerful testament of the plan of God. As the nucleus is the center of life and function for the cell, so is Jesus to the gospel, our salvation! Then, of course, I kept hearing the song, “Jesus, You’re the Center of My Joy”. It’s been that kind of day!

      I googled what happens to the cell if the nucleus is removed from it? I found this truth on several sites:

      If the nucleus is removed from the cell then the cell will not be able to function properly, it will not be able to grow. … Gradually, the cell may die.

      https://www.jagranjosh.com

      Look at that spiritual truth!!! Remove Jesus, remove life! Dead churches have removed Him as supreme, preeminent, Lord of all! And then they looked up and realized that they had died a slow death! And if we were to remove Him from our lives, we would be the walking dead. This is why the sinner is not considered alive until they are born again and given life. They are without their spiritual nucleus, Jesus! He is truly the Center of it all! As we move into the letter that Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, Paul wants us to truly understand this truth. No Jesus, no life! Know Jesus, know life! Yes, I’ve used it before, but it bears repeating! I’m so excited about this study! Wonderful Jesus!

      Posted in Christianity, Jesus, Study of Romans | 0 Comments | Tagged cells, Christianity, early church, gospel message, Grace, Jesus, new life, nucleus, Paul, resurrection, Romans, Rome, spiritual life
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