Friday, March 25, 2011

What is Life All About?

As a church family member for nearly 18 years, I along with my brothers and sisters in Christ, watched a boy grow up. When I was 28 years old, I embarked on being a Sparks Awana leader for the first time, and I had the privilege of ministering to Rudy Acosta when he was only six. On March 19, 2011, the Lord took the boy we remembered, and the man who served our country with courage and honor home to be with Him. He was killed in action in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. As I think and pray for his family, and reflect on the sweet face I remember so vividly, I'm reminded why we are here, and that our life is only a vapor.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. James 4:14

Question: What is life all about?

Answer: Our life is to glorify God.

The Gospel ~ Good News



God The Glorious Creator

All of creation was made to glorify God (Genesis 1:1, Psalm 104:31, Psalm 72:19, Psalm 19:1) and we are made to do the same. We are made in His image to bring glory to Him. (Genesis 1:27) Glorifying God is why we exist.

Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made." Isaiah 43:7


Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the LORD in holy array. 1 Chronicles 16:28-29


We glorify God when we love and obey Him.

And He (Jesus) said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. Matthew 22:37-38

Man has failed to glorify God because man only loves himself and is constantly disobedient.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 2 Timothy 3:2-4

We sin and fail to glorify God in our actions.

All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;...Isaiah 53:6a 

Instead of loving and obeying God, man has followed the ways of this sinful world, Satan, and his own lusts.


in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:2-3 (emphasis added)

Think of ways we all have failed to glorify God: Lying, stealing, gossiping, cheating, adultery, murder, etc. Even going through the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 will show our failures. If you ever broken one, you've broken them all.

Man has miserably failed to love and obey god to bring Him the glory He deserves. That is what Romans 3:23 means when it says,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

God The Glorious Judge

God is glorified by calling all man to judgement. (Hebrews 9:27, Revelation 20:11-12) God is glorified by His proper punishment of sinners.

The Son of Man (Jesus) will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:41-42

In glorifying God for His punishment of sinners, the people already in Heaven cry,

O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, Revelation 15:3e

God The Glorious Savior

God's glorious saving love through creation and through judgement:

It is wonderful beyond compare that He has chosen to glorify Himself by saving hopeless, lost sinners!

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16


God's glorious love was demonstrated when He punished and killed His Son Jesus in our place.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
 
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:32
 
But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering... Isaiah 53:10


...Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12

Jesus, God's Son, took our wrath and punishment through His death on the cross. Than God raised Him from the dead and He lives forever. His resurrection proves that 100% of the punishment for sin was paid.

He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Romans 4:25

IF WE REPENT OF SIN AND HAVE FAITH IN CHRIST, WE ARE SAVED.

A change of heart to turn from loving yourself and sin and begin to love and obey God is called REPENTANCE.

A new confidence in Christ to forgive all your sin and to be your new Lord (Master) is called FAITH

Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." Mark 1:15 (emphasis added)

Repentance and Faith are essential for salvation.

...how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:20-21


Repent and Believe Today!

Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION"-- 2 Corinthians 6:2b


  • Do you feel deeply sorry and regretful for your sin and failure to glorify God?
  • Do you truly believe Jesus died in your place, has taken your punishment, and will forgive you?
  • Do you truly desire to begin obeying Him as the Lord (Master) of your life?
If God has changed your heart, and you now believe these things to be true, then express your faith to God.





*The Great Answer to the Great Question by Anchored in Truth Ministries
  

Friday, March 18, 2011

Modesty and the Gospel