Identified by Faith Kept by Grace

When I think about how hard I struggle with sin and giving glory to God, I have so much trouble accepting Paul’s statement from Romans 5:1a, “Therefore, having been justified by faith. . .”

 As you think about the definition of Justify, do you have trouble applying the definition to yourself? Justify means, "just as if I never sinned, or ever will sin again.” Does this definition define your life? For most believers and followers it surely doesn’t.

Yet, Paul writes about justification and applies it to your life. The only way you can gain favor with God comes from your spirit person being perfect. God doesn’t remember your sin(s). He has removed your sin, and he has put those sins into the middle of his great big nowhere. Doesn’t it amaze you that a sovereign God who knows everything can’t remember your sin? God isn’t a man who can lie. He’s God! He knows everything but he can’t remember your sin. He said he can’t. Accept his justification and be empowered to do ministry.

Peace with God

Another thing Paul tells you in verse 1, you have peace or favor with God. God is never out to get you. He plays on your team. He wants only good to happen. That’s why he sent Jesus. However, you live in a fallen world where Satan controls some of it. So things of the world may enter your life occasionally. Knowing that you are kept by grace gets you through the rough spots.

World peace may never happen, but your peaceful relationship with God can and does happen every minute. You can know that even in death you have peace. When your physical eyes close, your spiritual eyes open and you’re in the presence of greatness. You see yourself transformed into the image of the Trinity.

Guess what? That’s how God sees you NOW!

Gracefully Made

You chose to believe, had faith, that Jesus is who he says he is. He is your peace. It is in him you placed your faith. He. or his Spirit, becomes the one whom you follow without question. You give yourself completely to him, or do you? You know Jesus doesn’t want only weekend visits. He wants full custody. He’ll take your weekend visits, but full custody gets you all the benefits of his kingdom.

Your faith brings you into his grace. Here’s what most do not understand about grace.

GRACE GIVES YOU THE POWER AND DESIRE TO DO GOD’S WILL.

Your faith brings you to Christ by his wonderful grace, but it is by grace that you do your ministry. You are gracefully made. You have all the power you need to perform your ministry regardless of age—young or old. God, through his grace, gives you the desire to do ministry, too.

Paul says it this way, “the grace in which you stand.” That’s the power! You can stand firm planted in grace. Nothing can come close to you. You can only be defeated if you think you can. You have the power to stand.

However, and along with the power to stand, grace gives you the desire to serve. If you preach, you could preach for hours. You love it. But then, grace’s desire in you allows you to take the time to send text messages to a lonely teenager who has just lost a mate to suicide. That’s not a fun thing to do. However, grace gives you the desire to complete the task.

Grace goes with you as you visit a loved one in the hospital who is dying of cancer. That’s never fun or exciting. However, grace accompanies you, brings you through and lifts you beyond the pain and suffering caused.

You are gracefully made!

Kept by Grace

Not only does grace bring justification, right standing with God, grace keeps you justified. God’s grace keeps him from remembering your sin. God's grace allows him to cast your sin into the middle of his great big nowhere. It is because of his grace that you are able to stand in the hope of his glory.

Every second of your life as a follower of Christ, you are kept by his grace. The fiery darts of Satan bounce off you when you arm yourself with the knowledge of his grace. You are able to stand against any trial or temptation. Even when you cave in to sin, you still have grace on which to stand firm in your conviction that God has justified you.

If you are breathing, God has a purpose for you. His grace will give you the power and desire to carry out the mission he gives. His grace keeps you out of yet into. His grace can keep you out of temptation and sin. His grace keeps you into your ministry, his kingdom and ultimately into his heaven.

No matter what else happens in your life, you are kept by grace.

Rejoice in Glory

You walked into grace by your faith. Your grace causes you to rejoice in God’s glory. Grace brings you into a place of favor through your justification, and grace allows you to stand firm in belief and ministry. Further, knowing the power of grace allows much rejoicing in God’s glory.

You know God has glory, but do you know that you too have glory that you can rejoice in. Grace gives you hope that you can obtain to the glory of Jesus. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Because your eyes are veiled, now, you can only see God’s glory by your faith. However, as you mature and stand in grace, you begin to look like Christ. Every time you do something Christ like, you show the glory of God to those around.

Putting It Together

Your faith identifies you as a believer of Jesus. Your faith allows you to enter the grace of your Lord. His grace gives you the power and desire to do the will of Christ, and his grace allows you to walk hand and hand with Christ’s Spirit.

It is by God’s grace that you stand victorious over the enemy. Regardless of what the enemy tells you, you have won! Death has no hold on you because you have peace with God.

You are fearfully, wonderfully and gracefully made. You can stand confident in your abilities to do ministry, and you know his grace keeps you forever with him.

Thanks for spending a few minutes with me. If you have questions or comments, please leave them below. Until the next time,

Blessings,

Howard

PS: two things I would love for you to check out:

1. My free study on REST. Go here and ask for my free study.

2. My new novel, The Red-Haired Master Shepherd. Go here.

Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.

Believer or Follower

In Matthew 28:18-20, "And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Is it important to you in your ministry that Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. . .?"

I think he is telling his disciples and us that we can go in his authority and make disciples. That's why it is called the "Great Commission." You are commissioned to go forth under the authority of another, in this case the authority of Jesus.

Another thing important from this command--this isn't a suggestion but a command--is that the Greek form of the three verbs are similar to our English version of the present participle form of the verb, the "ing" form,

• ·         Going
• ·         Baptizing 
• ·        Teaching.

Therefore Jesus says, "As you are going about your daily life use opportunities to make disciples. Once you make them, you can do the baptizing of them in the spirit and in water. Baptizing isn’t just the job of the pastor. You are commissioned to baptize disciples, too. And then you teach them how to be followers of Jesus. You do this by using the word of God and by example as well.

Basically, Jesus isn't saying to you that you must go to another country to keep the Great Commission. His words are present tense. As you go about your daily life, be intentional! Make and train others to be disciples.

Making disciples is intentional on your part. The total goal of the church becomes making disciples and training each one how to be a follower of Jesus.

Believer Verses Follower

Is there a difference between being a believer in or a follower of Jesus? There definitely is a difference. You can be a believer without being a follower. I have observed many believers  in church on Sunday morning who only warm a pew. They have no ministry other than going to church. Yes, they believe in Jesus, but do they allow him to direct their lives any other time?

A follower of Jesus allows the Holy Spirit to work through his/her giftedness and personality while he/she rests (a free copy of B. C. Ministries, Inc. study on rest available email us fish4days@gmail.com).  Many believers have a problem with allowing anyone to give him/her directions. How can one who is free allow another to boss them around.

Actually, Paul puts it this way, “For Freedom he has set you free. . .” (Galatians 5:1a). You can never experience freedom more than when you allow the Holy Spirit to have complete control of your life:

• ·         no law
• ·         no religion
• ·         all authority in ministry
• ·         no worries about money for ministry
• ·         he provides everything you need
• ·         only takes faith

That’s the whole concept of rest. Rest means complete. You give the Spirit the right to direct your life. He’s your consultant, and he is free. You don’t have to pay him. You simply use your faith believing that he tells you the right things to do. Of course, he can’t tell you anything wrong to do!

A follower trusts

Paul says that you walk by faith not be sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). When the Holy Spirit tells you something is going to happen, get ready because it will happen. Every area of my ministry, he has provided. I’m the least qualified minister in the world; however, he doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.

Every believer has a ministry, a gift of service to the world (1 Peter 4:10). Your ministry will be to use your gifts, personality and passions to serve. You may never preach a sermon using words, but you will preach loudly to everyone who sees you in your daily routine if the Holy Spirit is directing your life.

You simply trust him to make your decisions. Take a second before you decide and ask, “Which decision do I make?

You are to be going about his business as you go about yours. You are constantly teaching even when you say nothing, and you can be baptizing with the Spirit by telling others about Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:13).

When you are a follower of Jesus, you allow the Holy Spirit to direct your life—rest complete in him. Rest requires trust. You trust him to make all your decisions. You know that he keeps you. You have confidence that you are performing the ministry he has given you.

If you have questions or comments, give them below. I answer!

Blessings,

Howard

***PS: I’d love for you to have a copy of my latest novel, The Red-Haired Master Shepherd. Rufus, the main character’s life is controlled by rest. You can get your copy è click here.

Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.

Review: The Red-Haired Master Shepherd

Review: Novel The Red-Haired Master Shepherd

"A slight wisp of dust alerted Rufus of movement off in the distance. Most shepherds wouldn't have noticed. However, Rufus had trained himself to be alert to the slightest shifts and variances on the desert floor. Missing the smallest detail could spell disaster for the flock."


The above comes from The Red-Haired Master Shepherd, my latest novel. The novel takes a little known character from the Bible and weaves an intriguing story from it.

Rufus, the main character from the novel, can be found in Jerusalem on Friday, 30 AD. Jesus carries his cross up Golgotha Hill. As he struggles up the hill, he stumbles and falls under the load. A Roman Soldier forces a nearby observer to carry the cross. "They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (The father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross" (Mark 15:21).

Rufus once again is mentioned in the Bible by Paul in Romans, "Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine" (16:13).

From these two relative insignificant mentions of the man, Rufus, the author has woven an interesting story about how Rufus meets Jesus and then becomes a disciple of his during perilous times for one to be called a Christian. His chance meeting changed his life forever.

Not too unusual, since meeting Jesus should be a life-changing experience for each of us. However, for Rufus, it not only changed his life, it changed his occupation. He was a master shepherd of sheep before he meets Jesus. Afterwards, he becomes a master shepherd of people.

Later in the book, Rufus falls in love with a Roman girl, Priscilla. Of course, Jews are never to intermarry with another race. Rufus is torn. He loves Priscilla very much. He has to decide between his ministry and his life love.

I highly recommend The Red-Haired Master Shepherd. The book contains glimpses of truth, history and personal beliefs and idiosyncrasies. I believe you will fall in love with the character as surely as Priscilla did.

Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.

My First Novel

I published my first novel today, The Red-Haired Master Shepherd. The novel finds Rufus, a character mentioned in the Bible first as his dad, Simon of Cyrene, carries Jesus' cross up Golgotha hill. Until this Rufus has been a shepherd for his father in Cyrene. As a lad of 16 he becomes so proficient at his job that he earns the distinction of "Master Shepherd."

He meets Jesus as Jesus is chasing the sellers and buyers out of the Temple. Rufus is drawn to Jesus, and he meets Christ later at Bethany. From that point on, Rufus is sold out to the cause of this New Way.

He begins to establish churches near Jerusalem since his father and mother have a small inheritance near the city. He can use their home as a headquarters for his operation. He and Matthias soon have such a large circuit of churches that all their time is spent in developing house churches and spreading the good news.

The writer of Hebrews address these very churches in his letter. The churches were located near Jerusalem, but were not in Jerusalem. We know this because the author writes, "You have not yet resisted to the shedding of blood," (Hebrews 12:4). The Jerusalem church had already lost James and Stephen by the time the book of Hebrews is written.

The author of Hebrews encourages the churches near Jerusalem to continue to assemble. Don't quit and return to the Levitical System of Worship because there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin under this way of worship.

The book of Hebrews along with Jesus' statement in Luke 21:20, "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize her desolation is near." Convinced the members of these churches not to return to Jerusalem. When Jerusalem burned in 70 AD, historians of the time reported that no believing Jews were among the 1.2 million people killed in the event.

Although my novel is fictional, it does contain some historical and religious truths. I follow a timeline that suggests that Christ was crucified in 30 AD. From my viewpoint, the 30 AD crucifixion fits best.

If you are interested in reading the novel, you can get a copy at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1694084043 I believe you will enjoy the book. Rufus goes from a shepherd of flocks to a shepherd of believers. He faces trials and tribulations along the way, but he remains firm in his beliefs.

When the heat from Jerusalem's plight becomes too great, Rufus and his family go to Rome. He is in Rome while Paul is imprisoned for the last time. Rufus meets a young Priscilla, a Roman girl, and he falls in love.

Now he is faced with a dilemma, Marry and return to Cyrene and the farm, or continue in ministry and face possible death. Only he can make the decision.

Blessings,


Howard

Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.

Where Satan Lives: Do You Provide Part of His Residence

Many people do not consider that they provide a place for Satan to live. However, some of us take him with us almost daily.

When we have bad thoughts, act harshly to our family or friends or simply ignore the Holy Spirit's directives we give Satan a place to reside.

Mark 4

Most church attenders are familiar with Mark chapter 4. Jesus tells a parable of the sower. He uses a familiar farm event to teach about a believer's responsibility of telling others about God's word.
Sometimes the seed is devoured by the birds (v 4).

Later, Jesus explains that the birds are Satan. It is he who comes and steals the seed from the hearts of a potential believer.

Later in the chapter, vv 30-34, Jesus gives another parable. This one is about a mustard seed. Although the seed is small, the crop that it produces is large.

 Jesus says in v 30, "The Kingdom of God is like. . ." the mustard seed that is tiny; however, when it reaches full potential, the Kingdom will grow into a large place.

Look in v 32! Living in the Kingdom of God, i.e. the mustard plant, is whom? Had you thought about Satan living in God's kingdom. He even builds his home there.

Satan wants nothing more than to destroy God's Kingdom. His total goal is to eat up the seed sown. He's good at this.

Who Is the Church

Who is the church has a simple answer--YOU. No doubt who the
church is because the Word of God tells us the church is "His body" (Ephesians 1:23).

However, when you think of "church" you picture your church building in your mind. Your church building has nothing to do with the Kingdom of God.

• it isn't a part of God's Kingdom
• it didn't exist whenever the Bible was written
• church buildings didn't exist until after 200 AD
• God will not call your church building out of the world

Therefore, if Satan lives in the Kingdom of God, he makes his home in you.

Where Does the Church Live

The church (you) lives at the crossroad of a Holy God and a broken world.

Your job, then, consists of supplying solutions to fix a broken world. The purpose of the church has never changed. The place where the church lived has never been in a different neighborhood.

Look at the church at Corinth for example. It lived at the same intersection as your church today.

The Corinthian Church

The church at Corinth had every gift the Holy Spirit could give. So, too, does your church. Your church (you) has every spiritual gift that you will allow the Holy Spirit to give you. Together with other believers, the church possesses all the Spiritual gifts.

However, some believers do not accept that Spiritual gifts exist; therefore, they block the power of the Spirit to work for some of the church. For example many churches would be totally shocked if a member began to speak in tongues.

There's a church in Louisville where refugees from Africa and Mexico meet with English speaking people. The sermon is preached, and two translators are speaking to two parts of the congregation. You bet this church knows what speaking in tongues means.

Even if your church doesn't use the gift of speaking in tongues, you can use them in your prayer language to God. Paul writes in Romans 8:26, "We don't know how to pray." There are times when I'm asked to pray for someone, and I don't know exactly how.

That's one example of when I use tongues to God in my prayer language. The Holy Spirit takes the intents of my heart to God in an understandable language.

Broken people can be fixed by praying in tongues. Broken homes can be repaired by praying in tongues. God knows the intent of your heart, and if the intent of your heart is taken in a prayer language that you don't understand, God knows and answers!

It Isn't Rocket Science

Where the church lives isn't difficult to ascertain. Just go where a believer goes. That's where the church lives.

Remember, Satan builds his home there, too. You have the power of the Holy Spirit to sweep your house clean. Get rid of him, but he will come back at the moment you may least expect.

We're here to help. Order any of our Bible studies for free at bcministries1.com. Leave questions and comments below.

Blessings,


Howard

Who You Are Isn’t Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.

Your Spiritual Life and Ministry Has No Place for Doubts

Do you ever wonder why some ministries and churches seem to waddle along with baby steps. Is it possible that the ministries' spiritual life has doubts?

Some doubt their calling. While others doubt that God will work in their ministry.

God never calls you to something that you can't do. Also, he will provide the needs of your ministry.

Can we find examples of ministries that doubt in scripture? I think we can.

Children of Israel

In Numbers chapter 14, the people arrive at the border of the Promised Land. Their ministry, called by the Lord, was to enter and take possession of the land.

However, they received word from 10 of their fellow tribesmen that they could not overcome the enemy. The people doubted God, and felt that their little ones and wives would die as the men attempted to take the land.

Think about all the miracles they had seen. Let's look at a few:

• redeemed them from captivity in Egypt
• parted the Red Sea
• fed and gave them water in a wilderness
• led them by his glory by day and night

These were a few of the things they had experienced. Theirs wasn't a doubt that God could do it. Theirs was a doubt of will he do it when their lives were on the line.

Because they listened to the wrong word being preached, that entire generation didn't enter the Promised Land.

The reason I know they were redeemed, God wouldn't let them return to Egypt as the people decided to do (Numbers 14:4).

Are There Others

How about the prophet Elijah? After Jezebel threatens to kill him, Elijah runs away and hides in a cave.

God finds him hiding there and asks, "Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Elijah felt that only he was left to minister for the Lord. He doubted that God could provide for the Word, for ministry and for his, Elijah's, personal safety.

Once again, Elijah never doubted that God could protect him. He merely doubted that he would.

You also find that initially, Gideon and Barack both doubted. However, they did go on into ministry and follow the Lord.

Anyone Else

Many theologians have discussed the lack of faith of Peter when he began to sink. Do you find it easier to criticize another who tries to do the right thing than to do it yourself?

At least Peter got out of the boat. No one ever mentions the other 11 who sat on the sidelines and whispered, do they?

Peter had some faith. They didn't have any. Jesus put a tag on Peter. He did say that he had a little faith.

To those sitting in the pews or boat, as the case might be, that requires no faith. Anyone can do that. It takes faith to get out of the boat.

B C Ministries, Inc.

Our total purpose is to serve you. Leave questions or comments below. I'll get back real soon. All our studies are free check them out ==>visit here!

Blessings,


Howard

Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.

What do Daniel and Resurrection Sunday Have in Common

No way can the prophet Daniel and Resurrection Sunday appear in the same common thread. What could the resurrection of Jesus possible have in common with Daniel.

The Book of Daniel

Even if the book wasn't in our Bible, the book of Daniel would make an excellent world history book. Daniel gives the reader the history of the world in twelve chapters.

It is one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. Daniel lived over 600 years before Christ, and yet he accurately predicts history until the present day. If that is so, his prediction of future history can be expected to come true as well.


From Daniel chapter 2, we get the history of:

• Babylonian Empire
• Medo-Persian Empire
• Greece and Alexander the Great
• Roman Empire

Daniel even records the wars between the Seleucid and the Ptolemy countries. He predicts these events years before the wars take place.

Another Prediction by Daniel

Daniel writes in chapter 9 that from the issuing of a decree until Messiah the Prince would be cut off would by 483 years. Many have tried to show this time frame in history.

A smart Britisher, Sir Robert Andersen, in his book, The Coming Prince, shows it very clearly. Mr. Andersen was an astronomer. So, by calculating the moon phases from the time the decree was issued, his schedule of Daniel's time ended on Palm Sunday, five days before Messiah the Prince was crucified.

Totally Amazing!

Jesus' Last Week

When he rides into Jerusalem on Sunday of AD 30, the crowd wanted Jesus to rid them of the oppression of the foreigners, the Romans. The crowd kept saying, "Save now. Save now."

However, to the amazement of all, Jesus had no intentions of liberating the Jews from the Romans. His purpose was to liberate all of mankind from the power of sin and death.

To demonstrate the fickleness of human kind, some of the same ones who were praising Jesus on Sunday were part of a crowd on Friday morning yelling, "Crucify him. . .Crucify him." Since he wasn't going to save them from Roman oppression, apparently they lost faith in this man who claims to be the Messiah.

The last week of Jesus' earthly live saw him suffer things that was reserved for the most heinous of criminals.

He was beaten until he wasn't recognizable and near death. He was spat upon, rejected, mocked and abused.

Even his closest friends, those with whom he had spent the last three years, left him. All, of course, except for John, the beloved.

Then as if he hadn't suffered enough, Jesus was nailed to a cross, a cruel death the Romans used for capital punishment.

Yes, a man who deserved no punishment, who had not committed a single crime, took my place and received my punishment. However, on the darkest day in history, the same history that Daniel wrote about, religion killed the Light of the World.

Resurrection Sunday

As with all men who have died, Jesus was lain in a tomb. As Daniel the prophet said, "The Messiah the prince would be cut off."

Yet early on Sunday morning, a young lady arrived at the tomb where Jesus' body had been placed on Friday. Most likely, this young woman wasn't thinking about him being missing. It is possible that she knew nothing about resurrection. Her only concern that day was, "Who could she find to roll the stone back uphill."

When she arrived and to her amazement, the stone had been removed. She looked inside, and nothing was there. The tomb was empty.

Timing being everything, Mary meets a man whom she believes to be the gardener. She wants to know where they have taken the body. Soon, however, she recognizes this person as Jesus not the gardener as she supposed.

Jesus asks her to go tell the disciples that he is alive. Because of the status of women in that culture, do you find it amazing that the first great evangelist was a woman. That's right! She came preaching, "He's alive. . .He's alive!"

Daniel was right. The prince would be cut off. However, his death and resurrection provided means for the last part of Daniel's chapter 2--a kingdom not built with hands that eventually will become the only kingdom in the world.

Yes, the tomb was empty. Because of this empty tomb, you and I can join this everlasting kingdom. A kingdom not made with hands, but a kingdom that cost God a huge price.

A Great Day in History

I believe Resurrection Sunday to be a great day in history. Without the resurrection, life has no purpose or meaning. Our faith is in vain, and there is nothing after death.

You are welcome to share your opinion about this by leaving your comments below.

B C Ministries, Inc. is here to help. We have many studies on the books of the Bible, and Daniel is one of them. You can get your free copy by ==>Clicking Here!

Leave questions or comments below. We'll get back soon.

Blessings,


Howard

Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.