My Savior and My Lord

Jesus is: My Savior and My Lord. 2 Peter 1:11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. What did Peter say? Mark 8:29 "But what about you?" Jesus asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ. " What did Jesus say about Himself? John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 8:12 [ The Validity of Jesus' Testimony ] When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep." John 10:9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." John 13:13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am." John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 15:1 [ The Vine and the Branches ] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener." John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Concept of Slavery

Slavery is wrong from a "human point of view". I am sure God do not like slavery however He never forbid slavery in the Word of God. The Bible have alot of positive and negative attributes of "Slavery". We were slaves to sin as Jesus said in John 8:34 "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." Paul wrote in Romans 7:14 "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin." (Romans 6:20: When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.) And now we are slaves to God (Romans 6:22: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.) Its amazing how we can "picture" slavery and we can see how bad slavery can be in negative (sin) and how good slavey can be in positive (Christ).

Scriptural references of "Slavery"

It is very interesting that Scriptures never "forbid" slavery. God want us to understand what "slavery" really means. God also have rules how Masters should treat their slaves. God rescued people from slavery. The Scriptures mentioned 13 times to remind people that God: Exodus 20:2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Deuteronomy 5:6 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Submission to Slave-Owner: 1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered. Ephesians 6:5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Colossians 3:22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Slave Owners to respect their slaves: Ephesians 6:9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. Colossians 4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. Example of Christians freedom from slave of sin: Galatians 4:3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. Galatians 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Philemon 1:16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. Slave-Trader is a "sin": 1 Timothy 1:9-11 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. We are God's slaves: 1 Corinthians 9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Selfish Interests?

Is there a question about God's character or His power in our lives? When we know, we must accept and believe; until we know we can maintain our spiritual integrity only by admitting our ignorance; and that very ignorance will encourage us to search the Word carefully. Paul explained in his letters that the manifestations of the Spirit were given to everyone for the profit of all. Any selfish attitudes toward the blessings of God can destroy the blessings' usefulness. This is where we should have a serious responsibility in this matter to search in our hearts about our motives when we try to glorify God. Paul said, "But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment" (1 Corinthians 11:31). We can escape the critical judgment of God by doing our own exercising of critical self-judgment. The only proper attitude for a Christian is humble self-distrust by saying: "I am ignorant," and "I am willing to be taught, even when I am wrong and I am willing to be corrected." It is better to judge ourselves before somebody else does it because the criticism of others is not always accurate but God sometimes WILL criticizes us through other people (believers and unbelievers). "Each one should test his own actions. . . ."(Galatians 6:4a). There are times when our honest expression of an opinion will be misinterpreted, our motive and heart misread. This is when we are to examine our heart and review our form of our expression to make sure that our future words will be spoken or written in Christ-like love. Regarding FAITH: It is very true that one enemy is unbelief but at the same time, the faith of the Christian should rest upon the character Christ Jesus, who is both God and Lord. A true Christian believes Jesus is the true God, not in order that he/she may temporal blessings. Faith secures from the promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit for eternal blessings. If we feel that we are what we ought to be, then we will remain what we are, we will continue to ingore God's guided circumstances to lead us to where He wanted us to go. We will still be spiritually blinded and will not look for any change or improvement in our spiritual lives. Our temporal habit of seeking weak comfort by blaming our unfavorable circumstances is evil. To live a lifetime believing that our inner weakness was the result of an external situation and this is what I know that we ourselves were to blame.

Grace and Price

Reading 2 Corinthians 12:9 says "God said 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." PRIDE, then, is more than the first of the seven (Proverbs 26:25) deadly sins; it is itself the essence of all sin. For it is the stubborn refusal to let God be God, with the corresponding ambition to take his place. It is the attempt to dethrone God and enthrone ourselves. Sin is self-deification. But God says that, since he is God and he alone, he will not share his glory with any other (e.g., Isa 42:8, 48:11).

Forgive and God's Sovereign

If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. —Second Corinthians 2:10–11 There cannot be two absolutely free beings in the universe. If that were true, then our wills would have as much authority as God's, and that cannot happen. He alone is sovereign; He alone is unlimited. A.W. Tozer

Learning from History

From Solomon's writing, he has said that all we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. Little by little every unscriptural methods will appear to grieve the Spirit and stifle the life of Christians. What we can learn about God from the Word of God and through the Holy Spirit through various edification sources will become our life motivation, our good hope, and our confidence in God. In our positive thinking mode, we have to be extremely careful that, in our zeal of positive confession and positive thinking, we should not attempt to do what only God can do--that is, to open the hearts of people. Heresy is not so much rejecting but rather simply selects the parts of the Scripture a Christian wants to emphasize and ignore the rest. Satan is very clever in deceiving us into thinking that bowing to temporal blessings can be clothed in spiritual maturity. God knows our hearts and each of us better know our own hearts, too. Quote by A.W. Tozer: "No act, however noble it may seem to be, done from fear of consequences can be good in itself. A good deed done for earthly gain is an evil deed at bottom. Motive imparts moral quality, and without a holy motive there cannot be a holy act." Believing heart and confessing mouth can only happen as Romans 10:10 says: "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." The heart believes and the mouth confesses that both are necessary to salvation. We should not attempt to do what only God can do--that is, to open the hearts of people. Only the Holy Spirit alone can open the heart that Christians' motives for speaking the word may be commendable, but their methods are probably unscriptural and their spirit completely out of mood with that of our Lord. Our approach to getting people out of their sinful nature must not be to pressure them to do something they don't want to do, but rather, we must present the truth and let the Holy Spirit prompt them to want to learn the truth. Quote by A.W. Tozer God has revealed so many glorious contradictions in the lives and conduct of genuine Christian believers that it is small wonder that we are such an amazement to this world. The Christian is dead and yet he lives forever. He died to himself and yet he lives in Christ. The Christian saves his own life by losing it and he is in danger of losing it by trying to save it. It is strange but true that the Christian is strongest when he is weakest and weakest when he is strongest. When he gets down on his knees thinking he is weak, he is always strong. The Christian is in least danger when he is fearful and trusting God and in the most danger when he feels the most self-confident. He is most sinless when he feels the most sinful and he is the most sinful when he feels the most sinless. The Christian actually has the most when he is giving away the most; and in all of these ways, the Christian is simply putting into daily practice the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, his Savior and Lord! Prayer: Father, give us clear understanding of consequences that we may discern the eternal from the temporal and not compromise.

Every day is a day of Testing

We should all be aware that every day is a day of testing. Reading Paul's Letters in the New Testament, he had the wisdom to recognize that God's power can be experienced in trials and God does not always delivers us from trials but that He brings us through trials more like Christ and closer to Him. Reading Paul's Letters and aware of his afflictions that we can learn much truth from such trials, some of it depressing and some altogether elevating and wonderful. Reading 2 Corinthians 12:9 says "God said 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." Christ is our strength, our enablement. We are hopelessly weak in ourselves but powerfully strong in Him! Spiritual maturity requires great care and a true knowledge of ourselves to distinguish a spiritual burden from irritation around us but at the same time, we cannot close our minds to everything that is happening around us. "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16) The Scriptures and Christian history have taught us ways to have spiritual endurance with the encouragement from the Holy Spirit. The question is this: Are we learning the circumstances? Quote by A.W. Tozer The ideal to which the Christian aspires is not to walk in the perfect way but to be transformed by the renewing of his mind and conformed to the likeness of Christ. The regenerate man often has a more difficult time of it than the unregenerate, for he is not one man but two. He feels within him a power that tends toward holiness and God, while at the same time he is still a child of Adam's flesh and a son of the red clay. This moral dualism is to him a source of distress and struggle wholly unknown to the once-born man. Of course the classic critique upon this is Paul's testimony in the seventh chapter of his Roman epistle.