I have noticed that most everyone in the world today is willing to admit that they have fallen short of God's glorious ideal. In other words almost everyone knows that they have done and are doing things that are wrong. Even people that may not claim any kind of faith in God still have a sense that they aren't perfect. People know that killing, stealing and lying are wrong and that they shouldn't participate in those things. Many even go so far as to decide that they want to stop doing wrong and start doing right and they want to some how make up for their wrong doing. This is called repentance in the Bible and it is a necessary for change to come into a person's life. You must be willing to turn from one way of life in order to embrace another way of life. One must realize that he or she is doing wrong and desire to do right and then stop doing the wrong and embrace the right. Most people seem to understand this concept. The world is full of people following programs and plans that are designed to help them break bad habits and start new ones.

I have also noticed that most folks accept the idea that God is real and that they must somehow atone for their wrong doing in order to be accepted by Him. Therefore when some repents of their wrong doings (the Bible calls these wrong doings sin) and turns to right they immediately embrace some method that they believe will help them accomplish this change in life. There are almost and endless supply of plans that one may use to atone for their sin by living a changed life and receive forgiveness from God. As long as we all accept that there are many ways to God no one gets upset, but as soon as someone mentions the truth of the Bible that there is only one way to God then most people become very upset.

In other words, what I am trying to say is that we can talk about the fact that we all have sin in our life and no one seems to get too upset. (The only problem there is not everyone can agree on what is sinful and what is not sinful). We can talk about the need to atone for our sin and to be made right with God and no one will get bent out of shape about that subject either. The trouble starts when someone says that there is only one plan that will successfully accomplish this. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ is the only way to receive forgiveness of sin and be accepted by God. One of the reasons that this is such a problem for many people is that this plan takes self effort completely out of the picture. The sinful nature of humans is all about self and even if we admit our sin and repent with a genuine desire to change we still want to fix the problem with our self effort because we want to receive the praise for making our self right before God. This is nothing more than religion which is a human's effort to be made right with God. Just like Cain the nature of sinful people is to admit that we need to be made right with God, but we want to come to God our own way. We want to offer the sinful fruit of our human abilities to God and we expect Him to graciously accept it and we get mad when He doesn't receive it. However we must be as Able if we are to be accepted by God and come to God His way that has nothing to do with our self effort, but requires that we trust God and obey Him. Becoming right before God is all a matter of faith in His way instead of faith in our hard work and our self effort.

So as you can see Jesus is the part of this equation that rubs people the wrong way. Just as the Bibles says; and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. (1 Peter 2:8 NASB). So many people are trying so hard to be made right with God through self effort and they will work hard all of their earthy life and still miss God. Yet Jesus has already done all the work and all that anyone needs to do is believe it and confess Jesus as Lord and they will enter into an eternal relationship with God.

Jesus is the X factor, the missing piece of the puzzle that links people with the eternal God. He will either be a stumbling stone to you or the rock of your salvation, the choice is yours.

Posted by Alan_Col on Sat 22 Sep 2012 7:53:44 am     | no comments

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 

Posted by Alan_Col on Sat 14 Jul 2012 9:26:21 am     | no comments

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, Because he was determined to follow man's command. (Hosea 5:11 NASB)

      In this verse the prophet Hosea informs Ephraim that he is oppressed under judgment because he decided to follow bad advise. God had given Ephraim His commands and he refused to listen to and obey God's instructions. Instead Ephraim followed the commands of other people and he ended up in tragedy. Some ancient versions read "follow nothingness." Either way is correct because the commands or advise of people amounts to nothing when compared to the commands of God. No human authority is greater than God. No human reasoning is sharper than God's because He is perfect; yet most people will follow the advise of another person before they will follow the wisdom of God. Where is the logic in that? Today want you reconsider your source of wisdom? If you continue to listen to the advise of people instead of the word of God then just like Ephraim you will end up oppressed under judgment, but obeying the word of God will yield eternal rewards for you.

Posted by Alan_Col on Sun 10 Jun 2012 8:16:33 am     | no comments

During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. (Esther 6:1 NASB)

        The book of Esther never mentions God, but His mighty hand is evident as He controls situations in such a way as to turn impending tragedy into eternal triumph for His people. Earlier in the book Mordecai saved the kings life (2:21-23). Later Haman was promoted by the king to have authority over all princes and every servant at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, but Mordecai did not bow before Haman nor pay homage to him (3:1-2). Haman hated Mordecai because of this and upon discovering that Mordecai would not bow before him because Mordecai was a Jew, Haman convinced the King to allow a decree that all the Jews be annihilated on a certain date (3:9-12). However Haman's pride got the best of Him and his hate for Mordecai grew so strong that he built a gallows to hang Mordecai on and intended to seek the king's permission the next morning to carry out the hanging (5:14). Unknown to Haman, Esther the queen, Mordecai's niece that he raised as his own daughter, had already gained permission from the king to have audience with him and Haman the next morning (5:7-8). Also the king had a sleepless night and gave orders to have the book of the chronicles read to him and the story of how Mordecai had saved his life was read to him (6:1). Now that was no coincidence, but it was the sovereign hand of God at work on behalf of His people. The next morning Haman arrived at the palace thinking that he was the guest of honor. In fact the king asked Haman what should be done to honor someone that the king wished to honor and Haman quickly obliged the king with every detail that he thought would satisfy his selfish pride (6:6-9). Imagine how foolish Haman must have felt having to bestow all the honor that he desired for himself upon the one man that he hated the most as the king ordered him to give all this honor to Mordecai (6:10-11). Then to top it off Haman was exposed by the queen to the king for the evil man that he truly was and he was hung on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai (7:6-9). Then Mordecai gained the authority from the king that belonged to Haman and the Jews were victors instead of victims (8:1-2). Think about how God turned the tables on Haman. The honor that Haman decreed for himself went to his enemy and the destruction that Haman decreed for his enemy fell upon himself.

       Child of God don't look at your circumstance today, but look to the God that is in control of all things. The evil that the enemy intends for you is ultimately under God's control. The debasement that the enemy has in store for you is in the sovereign hand of God. God is at work in your situation just as He was in Mordecai's and He will bring you out the victor instead of the victim.

Posted by Alan_Col on Sun 3 Jun 2012 7:47:54 am     | 1 comments

(Acts 16:16-24 NASB)

Anytime that the disciples of Jesus Christ are busy spreading the good news of the gospel into the hearts of the people of this lost world, the enemy is busy working to hinder their efforts. The gospel hinders the work of the evil one so the devil will always rally his demonic troops against the church in an attempt to stop the light of the truth from shining into the dark corners of his world. The god of this world offers power and possessions to people in order to keep their attention away from the love of the Lord Jesus. No one can have two loves. 

Posted by Alan_Col on Sat 5 May 2012 9:03:48 am     | no comments