Who Are You?

I had this really odd dream many years ago.  In it, I was attending a banquet and there was quite a bit of ego/vanity/pomp being aired by everyone at the table.  This lady turned to me and asked, "So, who are you?"

The question seemed to be along the lines of - "what makes you think you belong here?" and that question did not set well with me.  I was tempted to retort something rather rude, along the lines that I did have ever right to be there, due to heritage and/or lineage, unlike most there.

But, then I thought about the fact that I am if nothing else, a child of God, because I am sold out for Jesus.  I looked at her and asked, "Whom do I need to be other than a son of the King?"

Yeah, well that woke me up!  Like I said a very odd dream for me.  I have struggled most of my life over "whom am I really?".  I fit in nowhere, conversations with others are all but impossible, I truly am alone in a crowd and there is no one like me - anywhere.  It has only been this past year I have even found any acceptance.  And I am just beginning to learn who I am now.

What does God say about you?
Do you know that you are loved?
If you do, then you can and will  be able to face anything!

Read Mark 1:9-11

We see the passing of the role from John the Baptizer to Jesus.

God, the Father, says "You are loved".
Jesus walked from Nazareth to the River Jordan in Judea.  He came to be baptized by John, his cousin.  And His identity was confirmed by John ...

And we learn that God, through Jesus, loves each and everyone of us.  We are in Him, that love is ours by extension.
We are loved.
You are loved.
Even I am loved.
Nothing can separate us from God's love...

God, the Father, says "You are mine".
Was this just a message from God to Jesus, or did everyone there hear this?
Remember your identity; Jesus was now on the road to His cross.
God communicates love, approval, etc
We are children of God.
We can and will face anything of this world because we know whose we are!

God, the Father, says "You bring me joy".
When God is pleased with you, he prepares you for a purpose.
He will send His Spirit to:

• Strengthen us
• Equip us
• Seal us
• Fill us
• Lead us

In The Desert

I have been living in an interesting universe these past few years.  I had a long career in data processing, working on the technology side, being discontent with the status quo, pushing the boundaries of technology to make devices and processes better and faster.  It was tremendous adventure, tremendous satisfaction, and then emptiness until the next challenge presented itself.  During those early years, in this case 1976 - I rewrote the operating system for the world's largest disk drive to force it to allow for random access.  I will be living on those royalties until I retire, many years from now.  :)

I really wish that life was about hitting the mark and then being able to stay there, resting on the laurels of past accomplishments.  I know that my experience is not normal and that is the only aspect of my life where I could hit a mark and then rest on a laurel.  Everywhere else, well not so much ...

Read Mark 1:12-13

Don't Be Shocked
Your mountain top experience, WILL be followed by a crash into the valley.
Expect the rollercoaster experience, if you do not know what that means oh will you ever!
You will be tested.
You will believe you have fallen from Heaven to Hell.

God Will Allow A Desert
Do not believe  God will not allow the rollercoaster ride for you. 
You will crash into the desert.
John the Baptizer, came out of the desert.
Jesus was taken into the desert.

Testing was and is the point of the desert.

Don't Worry
Your desert will not last forever!
You will grown because of it!
Blessing await on the other side.
And no one knows how far the other side is away.

Let God Disciple You
It is in the desert, when you are down, that God can reach you and help you to grow.
To learn the lessons you need to  for what lay ahead..
He will teach, discipline and reward you!
He will shape you into whom you need to be for Him to use you!
Character, Faith, Strength, Knowledge are all areas of work in your life.

Remember Your Baptism
You were baptised in faith
And through testing
Each brought a test, each a reward.

Living In The Kingdom

Jesus  commented often enough about living in the Kingdom that it could be called the general theme of His message while on Earth!  The Kingdom is coming, the Kingdom is here, the Kingdom is a choice you make to live in!

Read Mark 1:14-15

If you think about it, Jesus would never have been crucified if He was calling for His followers to live in and for the world!  But, He was calling for the faithful to understand that their allegiance was to a Kingdom not of this Earth, ruled by a ruler not of this Earth!  And He instantly became a threat to both Roman and Jew alike!

The Kingdom of God is Now!
Live in it today, not tomorrow!  In this moment, later is not an option for the current believer!

The Kingdom was so close to Jesus' day that they could have touched it, if they could have seen it!

The Kingdom of God is Near!
It is not physical.
It is not a country.
It is not a form of government.
It is not a state of religious zealotry.

It is you.
It is in you.
It is something you need to live!

The Kingdom of God is Nothing Like The World!
Turn away and around from you life!
It is all about His blessings - not the world's!
The world is going down, it will take you with it.
And we are not to be a part of the world!

The Kingdom of God is NEW Life For You!
Repent!
Believe!
The message is the GOSPEL.
Your being a disciple of Jesus is the GOAL!

There are new customs, languages and laws you need to learn and live.
The Kingdom we are called to live in - is to be an entirely whole new world!
Once you are there, sorry, you can not pretend the old ways are okay.

Your choice:
You either serve God, or by default you will be serving Satan.
But, God will always be the final judge ...

Please choose wisely.

Join The Family

Most of my readers are Christians, most of them I fear are trapped within the theology of the godless American or Western Culture.  Sure lip service is given to God on Sunday mornings, but for the rest of the week, well not so much ...

Even if you think  you are a Christian you can still evaluate if you really are one or not.  Just look back a few posts to those three discussions.  I will assume  you have either restarted your life or  your Christian life and are now to think about what is next ...

Family is what is next.  You are automatically a part of a family, an exclusive family, one you have been called into - just by the mere condition of your decision to accept Jesus' sacrifice as your payment before God.  And Jesus called you to follow 2,000 years ago and that call remain true through to this day, "Join the family, be family, you are family".

Read Mark 1:16-20

Being Family Is About Community.
Family, real family, is not about you or about me, it is about US, as a community, as a fellowship, the collective following Jesus.

Unfortunately all we have as a structure is the anemic and terminally ill Church structure.  Yeah, it has to heal but not without its turning back to God and you continued efforts to call it to account for its blatant un-Godliness.

Two thousands years ago people flocked to the Church, the real Church, because it offered something the world did not have.  They left their professions, families, friends, lives - all in an effort answer Jesus' call that the Kingdom of God was at hand!

It Takes All Kinds.
Variety was the keyword for the new Church!  The people came from different occupations, backgrounds, ethnic groups.
Some were eloquent, some quiet, some wrote, not all were martyred - but almost all were for what they testified to.

Its A Journey
Do not give up.  God is in the process of constantly developing, correcting and teaching each and everyone of us!   And that will continue until the day He decides it is time for us to join Him ...

You Are All In!
Being part of the family is an all or nothing proposition!  You are completely committed to the family or, well, you are not actually a part of the family!

That is darn hard when what we have to work with is a corrupt and sick version of what Jesus founded.

So, it is with prayer we go forward in establishing local Christian families, to represent Jesus on this Earth.

Musical Saturday Morning

Indeed ...

Planning A Trip

Last August, I was headed off to Aurora, Colorado to attend my 40th high school reunion.  I had never been to one before but thought, well I still have my hair, original hair color plus some grey, and all of my teeth.  Be interesting to see whom can match that.  (that's a joke son, a joke, you know a joke?)

But, my plans on seeing my two best friends from high school got preempted when my best friend from high school was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma.  What a shocker!  So my trip was spent entirely in the hospital cheering him up. 

So across the past year, he has healed completely, clean PET scans even.  Wow, God is good, isn't He?

In a few weeks I will be winging my way back to avoid the golf tournaments and the pub crawls, but will do the banquet definitely!  Hope to catch up with my other best friend from high school though this time!  Spend some time with an ex-step-mother.  Visit my old church a few times and see if anyone is still there from 40 years ago.  Do some painting practice and just unwind from what this year has become!  I definitely need rest.

And I have too much to think on.  Nothing has quite gone as planned this year.  Certainly it has been full of surprises but none of them in areas I was looking for!  So God and me need to do some talking.  I have a future to plan, a life to get on with and sitting around healing from injuries just is not my idea of going forward!  And what does that future does look like?

So, I got my airfare paid, a car reserved, accommodations set up with various friends and relatives.  It suddenly looks doable!  And the best part?  The end of August appears to be the cheapest time you could want to travel to Colorado!  Wow.  I like saving money too! :)

So very excited to see my tiny step-mother and her crazy niece whom cares for her.  And hopefully score more tales for this blog!

In Shock

I have no idea how many times I have managed to injure myself, even unto death at times.  A great many people far better than me have died being far less stupid than me ... some of them were with me, others I knew, and I had just no reply as to why their lives ended and mine continued forward.

When I turned my big toe inside out yesterday, no big deal, done that before, survived it, just an irritant.  But, I was dizzy.  I could not believe I had lost that much blood!  Certainly nowhere near as much as I did in 2012!  And I fainted.  Really?  I ran down the checklist: cold, no sweat though, muscle weakness, mind swimming.

Yup, Kris is going into shock.

But, there had been another emergency and all had rushed away leaving me no call button.  I laid back and tried to focus my mind on why this was happening. If ever this should have happened, it should have been 2012!  And the only change ... Kris now is an emotional creation.  Hmm could the ability to go into shock be related to have an emotion?

My mind swam in and out of reality for over an hour, no doctors, no one to cover me up, nothing I could do but try and fight mentally to overcome.  The body won - for the first time ever.

Emotions, somehow link to the body's situations and can invoke shock?

Such an interesting idea...

Sea of Blood

As I sat here, fingers poised wondering what to post for today and I started feeling "uneasy", "unsettled", even a little faint.  Kind of odd for me.  So, I decided to get up and make some tea and then I saw it - an sea of blood on the carpet!

Rolling the calendar back to March 9, 2012 ...

My phone was ringing and I just knew that daughter had missed her bus connection to get to her first day of work.  I ran for the phone, slipped on the carpet and shattered, well actually turned my left foot inside out!  It was Dutchman on the phone, not daughter after-all!  And I got to spend the rest of the day in emergency and then at home cleaning about 2 cups of blood out of the carpet.

The foot eventually healed, some seven operations later.  But, the big toe nail was never quite right.

And that darn nail decided to free itself of my foot.  No idea as to how or why, but there is blood everywhere.  Sigh.

Our new great medical coverage no longer covers Franciscan hospitals so the one four blocks from this house, I can not use!  I have to drive to Seattle for emergency services!  And that saves whom money how?  Thank you Obama for the most expensive and worthless medical coverage on the planet ...

But, I digress.

So today, I get to spend an unknown period in the doctors and then it will be back to shampooing the carpets again ...

Sigh, the life of the reigning King of Klutz!

"All hail the King ..."  Dang he just went down, again, .... sigh ....

Passages

Yesterday I spent the day with my mother at a mutual friend's wonderful spread on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  In the middle of the tall woods, a shy acre, amongst her many, clear cut, beautifully landscaped and a trim double wide trailer.  I am not much on trailers but this was a beautiful spread.  Quiet, heavily visited by humming birds and peaceful.

I love peace, my entire life I have longed for and treasured every moment of peace in my life.  It is something which is rare, it is something cherished, it is something I have no ability to possess independently by myself.

And here I was, surrounded by peace, with a friend whose life is winding down to an end.  Old, tired, ill, and now retiring from her antique business of over 40 years, we came to take several loads of goods home with us!

We waded through rooms filled with glassware and books from her mother and grandmother.  Many of the books unused, such as a Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook from 1951, unopened.  Her husband's flight books from 1930 and 1931.  Stacks of copies of Remington, Russell, Rockwell, paintings of battles from World War I.  Everything was to go, there is no one to give anything to.

Outside in numerous sheds of fishing gear by the pile, cast iron, wooden ware from the 19th century, so many saws that they were almost without number.  But, special to me were two little pots, perfect, mid-19th century, one a wax seal, the other still with it original lid.  Probably used to store salted meat in, but will research later.

The accumulation of a twin lifetimes with  her husband.

And I was struck at how sad this entire situation is.  No one, no one at all cares, no one to give even meaningful things to.  No one.

I thought on my life and where it is.  At a cross-roads.  Leaving a past which is evil.  Leaving the dawning of something better.  Leaving all behind me.  Seeing a road ill defined before me.  Seeing a path that is hard to understand now.  But seeing pieces of a path, knowing that God is not telling me anything about tomorrow - I am having to do this in faith alone.  Taking a deep breath and soon to take a step blindly forward in to the arms of fate.  Then to see what comes of doing the "right" things for a change ...

No Magic Words

Okay, so this continues for you the thought that we live in a culture which does not know whom God actually is any longer and if you are the average Christian follower attending a Western Theology Church - you are still lost in your sin and you are Satan's victim ... Yeah, a little rough to say but everywhere I travel in this western culture - I see the same spirit of deception leading those whom should be the faithful further from the truth, further into lie, and no one suspects a thing ...

For years I have slowly been introducing the next generation to the concept that "the church" is sick, the Bible is the cure, but you have to actively seek God's face these days because no one seems to hear His quiet voice any longer. But it is darn hard to seek His face when you do not even know where to look, more than likely are not even a Christian - even though you think you are, and so much sits between you and God that you never are going to find Him. So what to do?

1. Are you a Christian? Simple question. Have you taken a point in time and humbled yourself before God and confessed your failures, asked for his forgiveness and then DONE something about your new faith?

2. Are you a Murderer?
Simple question. Have you taken human life in ANY manner what-so-ever? There is a very limited area where God sees a difference between murder and killing. Murder is your using force to take someone's life WITHOUT His request. Oh by the way in this age we live in, God is the taker of human life - not you, not your government, not your anything - we are all very guilty here for allowing this culture to have put us this position!

Equally, hatred is just as bad as actually commiting the act and murdering someone!

Repent of these to God, sin by sin area - in great detail before God!  He will forgive if your heart is broken in this area.  Else just expect Him to ignore you as He does now ....

3.  Are you sexually compromised?
If you say no to this one, then you must not be living  in this permissive Western Culture where sex is worshiped, the more abundantly, the better!

Make a list - of every single indescretion in this area - for your entire lifetime!  Name names, thing on why you allowed yourself to either be used or used someone else.

But, the LUSTS are just as bad as commiting the acts.  Add them to your list.

You are now going to be confessing each and everyone of these sins individually to God, by name, by act and asking for His forgiveness, Your forgiveness for each and everyone of those people!

4.  Forgive yourself.
If you are like me, if you are like every other person I have had this conversation with - you have to forgive yourself as well.  We are our own worse enemies and so in that same prayer with God - ask for forgiveness for yourself as well.

I wish you well, this is not an easy nor fun process.
It will be inconvient to your life.
It will cost you to do this.
Satan will attack.
You will face rejection like no tomorrow.

But set your eyes firmly on Jesus and let God take over in your life.

You can and will make it if you want to.  And if you want, if you need someone to talk with and there is no one else, email me or message me on facebook ...

Biblical vs Cultural Christianity

Introduction

Oswald Chambers was a man unbridled by the world and its desires.  Some say he was one of the greatest Christian thinkers of our time.  He would say if any credit is given, let it go to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior.  Much like the apostle Paul, life for Oswald Chambers was but an open opportunity to glorify God.

He was born on July 24, 1874 in Aberdeen Scotland, where he became a Christian during his teen years under the ministry of Charles Spurgeon.  God used many things to shape and mold Chambers. One of which was his acceptance into the University of Edinburgh.  Rapid spiritual development followed as Chambers became intently interested in the things of God.  After answering God's call into the ministry, he studied theology at Dunoon College.  From 1906-10, he conducted itinerant Bible-teaching ministries in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan.  Upon his return home, he married Gertrude Hobbs.  In 1911, he founded and was named principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham, London.  The school closed in 1915 due to World War I.  Chambers was then commissioned by YMCA to go to Zeitoun, Egypt, where he ministered to Australian and New Zealand troops.

His Impact

Many of Chambers' devotional lectures make up a large portion of his posthumously produced book, ‘My Utmost For His Highest’ – a collection of notes made by his wife at his lectures and devotions.  His death, the result of a ruptured appendix in 1917, came as a shock to all who knew him.  He had often told friends: "I feel I shall be buried for a time, hidden away in obscurity; then suddenly I shall flame out, do my work, and be gone."

The Surrendered Life

There arose within Oswald Chambers' life a deep desire to abandon all for Christ's sake. He writes, "A sanctified soul may be an artist, or a musician [anyone]; but he is not a sanctified artist or musician: he is one who expresses the message of God through a particular medium.  As long as the artist or musician imagines he can consecrate his artistic gifts to God, he is deluded.  Abandonment of ourselves is the kernel of consecration, not presenting our gifts, but presenting ourselves without reserve [to Christ]."

Sooner or later God makes each of us aware of the areas in our lives where "self interest" abides.  These are the areas He comes to touch and demand complete surrender.  It is where we "give up our right to ourselves" and die to self.

Out of this death comes life and the opportunity to live a Spirit-filled existence. (John 12:24)  As we respond in obedience to God, He promises to lead and guide us through life with a sense of victory and hope.  The times of trial, distress, and isolation are times God accomplishes His greatest work, when He molds us into the likeness of Christ.

"The one great need for the missionary (Chambers uses this term for those who have given their lives completely to Christ) is to be ready for Jesus Christ, and we cannot be ready unless we have seen Him."  The way we come to see Jesus is through surrender.  The blessing of living life abandoned to Him is to witness His daily power and grace alive and flowing through our lives into the lives of others.

In abandonment and surrender we find the unbridled soul—one not tempted by the treasures of the world, but bound to the grace and glory of the Savior.  Oswald Chambers' message is one that still calls to us today.  It is a call to leave behind everything outside of Jesus Christ:

"The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. . . . Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax.  That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God - [Our] Utmost for His Highest."

Comment on Modern Christianity

The “world” system/culture, which has surrounded every Christian, has everything to do with man's greedy, power-hungry human nature - which seeks its own way rather than God's.  This ungodly expression of our human nature changes from culture to culture, yet the result is the same: those within that culture will imagine a god which will fit their new cultural values and desires, and they learn to see this distortion of Christianity as the true church.

Biblical Christianity means being joined to Christ, through faith in what He did for us at the cross, then allowing Him to live His life through us, so that others might know Him and see His love.  That love may include sharing His warnings as well as His promises with those in need.  The established Church, like Old Testament Israel, has always tended to drift away from its devotion to God and become just another institution, subject to the same human impulses and painful consequences as the rest of the world.  

Consider some of the differences between Biblical faith and today's cultural deviations based on the observations of Oswald Chambers and G. K. Chesterton:

Biblical versus Cultural Christianity

	Biblical Christianity Only understood by those joined to Christ through the cross	Cultural Christianity Accepted by the world to represent genuine Christianity
It is...	A relationship with Jesus Christ. John 17:20-26 Rom. 8:37-39	A religion based on group consensus and popular interpretations of Scriptures.
Come to God through…	Faith in Jesus Christ, Who has revealed Himself in His Word. John 14:6	Faith that “God” will judge our good works and intentions as far out weighing all of the bad ones.
View the Bible as:	The inspired, absolute, and unchanging Word of God. Even to reports of evil by His chosen. 2 Tim. 3:16 1 Pet 1:25	A collection of guidelines, allegories, myths, and stories useful for good living. Offensive matter and unscientific sections of verses must be ignored.
Our goal is...	God’s approval. To know and do His will and live each moment in fellowship with Him. Gal.1:10	People and/or cultural approval. To please and not offend the world community.  To distance those whom would.
Source of Strength	God’s unlimited grace and power. Gal. 2:20 Phil. 4:19	Our “God” given human talents and abilities, then to seek God’s help as needed.  Pragmatism.
See our human self as…	Weak and inadequate apart from Christ. 2 Cor. 12:9-10	Strong and capable if we have confidence in what we have or can do.
See sin as...	Leading to spiritual death and separation from God. Rom. 6:23	A normal part of everyone’s life. Ignore it, or you might offend someone.
Deal with sin through...	Confession and faith: trusting Jesus as the "Lamb" who bore ALL of our sins on cross. Rom. 6:1-6	Try to do better next time, or just tolerate it.  Do not offend anyone by making them feel guilty or by admitting your guilt.
Caring for people...	Goal is to bring people to Christ. Demonstrate God’s love. Trust God to meet all needs through our lives surrendered to Him. Rom. 12:9-18	Bring people to the church or small group. Provide for their needs through Community compassion.  Do to others as you would have others do to you.
Response to suffering:	Trust God to use it to strengthen our faith, prepare us for ministry, and demonstrate His love and power. 2 Cor. 1:3-11	Pray for deliverance, endure, and trust that God will help it end quickly.  Questioning of  God’s love for us, power over evil, and purpose in our lives.
Commitment:	Trust and follow God.  No compromise.  Better to die, as He did for us, than betray our Lord. Rom. 12:1-2	Trust and follow our feelings. Compromise essential in dealing with the world in order to avoid offending cultural diversity.
Expect to...	Face rejection and persecution. John 15:20-21	Get along with everyone, influencing the by our example.
Outreach:	To bring God's message of love to the world, then to bring those willing to listen to Jesus. Matt 25:31-46 Matt 28:19-20	Adapt the church to fit the diverse "community" where everyone will feel at home, comfortable, unchallenged, “just have a good experience”.
Daily hope:	Eternity with Jesus. 1 Peter 1:3-9	Success in this life, progressing towards a world of peace.

______________________________________________________________________________

Did you find where your spiritual life lay on this chart?  I can easily see how I exist more times than I would like on the cultural side of the chart, when it is convenient.  I think that all of us find themselves there at times.  The natural man is still on the inside, and it can be a real war to remain focused on where we should be.  But that is the nature of our battle, and being willing to fight it in the right direction, is how we learn.  If God had simply taken the natural man away, there would be no basis by which we could truly learn the differences between right and wrong -- between God's way and the ways of the world, or saying it more simply: the way of Satan - which is separation from God.  We would not be equipped to fight on the side of the Lord.  We need to go through the trials of life in order to overcome them.

______________________________________________________________________________

If you practice Biblical Christianity, you will offend the masses which have embraced cultural Christianity or any of today's blended, Americanized religions. This past Christmas season has shown the world the growing hostility toward those who choose to follow God (even by those call themselves Christian in the name of cultural tolerance!).  The path through the Christian life is just too narrow and impossible to those whom will not be lead by the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ direction.

In a world of religious alternatives, where “blessings” are offered without any accountability, God’s absolute truth simply does not fit in.  Biblical values have become a source of offense to those whom have chosen the wide, popular way.  

Yet, our God reigns -- and we are on the winning side!  I know, I read the end of the book………..

And isn’t interesting to note that the table is the result of observations made almost 100 years ago, in a culture many think was closer to God than our own?

---

Sources:

Oswald Chambers Society, UK

Oswald Chambers:  My Utmost for His Highest, 1923

The American Chesterton Society

G.K. Chesterton: Common Sense for the World’s Uncommon Nonsense

Musical Saturday Morning

I played for the NATO soccer clubs when I lived in Europe.  The goalie for my team, when I lived in France, was a really nice guy named Dusty Springfield, which became quite a humor item when this singer took over the airwaves by the same name!

Of course, as we were to find out, taunting him with lyrics from her love songs was a mite ill-advised.  LOL

Are You A Christian?

I wonder if …….

One thing you will find in life is that you will be constantly wondering about people  you meet.  Are they a Christian?  Think about the people in your life.  Are they a Christian?  Did they tell you so?  What makes you think so?  Words are cheap, actions easy to fake – at least for a short period of time - like long enough to get married to you and then you find out that you made a BIG mistake (yup, it happens and has to many of my friends!).

Okay, so how are you, during your life, going to spot a fake Christian?  Well, there are four things you can look for:

• No desire to read the Bible
• No desire for Christian fellowship
• No awareness of sin
• No desire for service

 Just so you know, if ANY one of these items is true in the life of a professing believer – guess what they are not!  Sorry.

Possibly outside of being concerned whether or not your future spouse is a Christian or not – someone else’s standing in Christ is not much of your concern. 

Because:

Who prepares the lost to hear the truth?

Who witnesses to the lost?

 How?

 Who confirms the truth and brings the lost to repentance?

Okay, so I think I have made the point as to where you fit into the lives of a non-believer here.  And outreach is not the point here – inner-reach is the point of this lesson.  What is inner-reach?  Well, this is your ability to look at yourself and decide whether or not you really are Christian….

“What?”, you say! 

Can you think you are a Christian and then not really be one?  Can you live your life as a Christian and find yourself not in Heaven when you die?  Sadly, the answer to both of these questions is, yes.  Jesus tells us two things:  there are those whom are lukewarm to His Word and He will spew them out of His mouth; and in the last days the deceptions will be so convincing that even the true Christians will find themselves mislead – were it possible.

But, how do we know if you fall into either of these categories?  Believe it or not, the answer is actually the same to each situation – you have to appraise yourself and your walk with Jesus.  If your appraisal is anything like mine – you will still wonder if you are Christian decades later …. sigh….

Many people are not sure of their salvation since they lack sufficient information on the subject – one of the strongest arguments for you being in a discipleship program there is.

If you were to take Buddha from Buddhism or Mohammed from Islam, it would be no disaster to either religion.  But, if you are to take Jesus from Christianity – you are left with nothing since Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus.

Your commitment to Jesus must consist of three things: 

• Your intellect
• Your emotions
• Your free will

 Intellect:

Christianity is not a blind leap of faith.  Rather, it is built upon centuries of history, science and life examples.  Give me three examples just off the top of

your head: ________________ __________________ ________________________

We must accept what is presented in the Bible as fact, either by faith or by having proven to ourselves the truth of the Holy Word.  Hence, we have the intellectual quality of salvation preparing us for the ‘Great Commission’.  Because we KNOW of the Bible’s truths and know we must do as we are commanded (see Matthew 28:19-20).

Emotions:

The emotional part of your commitment to Christ is very important, as with the wrong emphasis, you will lead a very confused and defeated life as a Christian.  It must be understood that when you accept Jesus as your savior, your emotions must not be the basis of your commitment or conversion.  I’ve seen people crying and I have seen people not bat an eye lash when they were making the decision to repent.  They are both saved – because neither one was making a decision based upon how bad they felt at the time, were under emotional stress from a slick pastor’s message or just wanted to identify with Christians.  (Yup, I have seen all three of these!)

Rather, our thinking believer knew (accepted as fact) Jesus’ resurrection and believed by faith that they are saved.

But, remember emotions play a big part in our lives once we start to live our lives as a Christian.  God created us as emotional beings, emotions ruled our lives as non Christians and emotions help to direct us in God’s path as we walk ‘the walk’.

To know we are Christian, four things must be evident to ourselves:

• A hunger for God’s Word in our lives
• A strong desire for Christian fellowship
• The Holy Spirit’s conviction for our sin
• Acting up on our Gifts of the Spirit and Fruits of the Spirit

You can not lie to yourself – you know exactly what you are really like on the inside and what motivates you.

Remember, we must live by faith – which does involve our emotions – while not seeking an emotional experience and calling this any basis for our salvation.

Free will:

It is your right as a human to reject anything you do not want in your life.  Granted, there are consequences for every decision you make or do not make in your life.  A wrong choice and you could find yourself crippled, dead, hated by all of your friends or suddenly with an unexpected family.  The choice is always yours – as are the consequences.

So, it is your decision to accept Jesus or not.  He will not force himself on you.  His ultimate plan is for you to be His – but hey, you can always lead a miserable life and become His on your deathbed.  Your loss, His gain – assuming you should live so long….

Once we have turned our lives over to Jesus, we must allow Him to lead, direct and mold us into the person He wants and needs us to be, always trusting Him through all of the tests and trials that He wills, to make us pure – as gold tried by fire.

Remember to accept Jesus by faith is enough – once.  You do not have to constantly ask for His forgiveness, but to praise Him all the more when we fail because of that forgiveness.  He assures us in the Word that once we are His we will always be His.  He will never leave us or desert us.  We are the only ones who can block Him out (and He will always be there waiting for us to come back to Him) and when we do – we ask Him for His forgiveness for having stumbled again and thank Him for that same forgiveness.