Grace Ain’t Cheap by PJ
Here is another great post from PJ. Please check it out by clicking the smily face……
Are Only a Few Chosen?
The following E-mail was sent to me this week from a Christian who is truly searching for answers.
How are you? I’m good. Just wanted to ask you a question. What does Matthew 22:14 mean exactly. I’ve read it but I’m not sure what "Many are called but few are chosen" means. Called for what and chosen for what? When you have some time just let me know!
This was my response:
First, let me say that if you really believed the way the traditional church has taught this you would have to be scared to death, because the clear indication is that only a few very fortunate people will ever get to Heaven. Even out of those who were later invited (good & bad), if you didn’t have the right garments on you were cast out. Does that sound like the same Jesus who said “Forgive your enemies, pray for them, and love them like you would love yourself?” or the Jesus who hung on the cross and his last words to those same people that he had taught this parable to was “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Now here is what I think: Jesus was talking to his fellow countrymen, the Jews. He was teaching them in a parable that they above all people were invited to enjoy the wonders of the Kingdom of God and all its glory. Now they rejected his invitation and continued on a path of self-righteousness, bitterness, judgment of others, and he was telling them that there would be consequences to their choices. We read later in Mathew 24 that he speaks of the consequences even in more detail pointing to the future when the temple would be destroyed as well as much of Jerusalem.
By the way the Kingdom of God is: Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
What should be made clear here is that all of us still have choices to make and the choices we make can determine weather we live in the peace and joy of God’s Holy Spirit. If we choose like the Jews to continue to wear our own suit of righteous clothing we will not enjoy peace, but if we choose to believe we have a suit of righteousness that has already been provided then we find a peace that is not gained by our performance.
We know the parable could not have been talking about Israel’s final condition because there are far too many scriptures that teach otherwise. Let me quote you just a few.
Rom 11:26-36
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
I could go on and on, but I will stop here. I would also ask you……..What does your heart say? Will God cast out the many into a HELL of endless torture, or will he do what he said he would do and SAVE THE WORLD and show MERCY to All?
Grace
After writing the Vick post I found this on YouTube
Redeeming Myself…..Fallen from Grace
Redeeming Myself
As I was watching Michael Vick apology news conference yesterday he stated that he had found “Jesus” and that now he will “redeem” himself. Now I know what he means about redeeming his public image but I fear that Michael will now enter into a life of “redeeming” himself through “doing” instead of “being”. I would imagine that the Religious will now adopt him as a poster child of “GRACE”
They most likely will make him into what God can do! WHAT A CROCK!
Fallen from Grace
Immediately after the showing of the Vick apology the announcer stated how Vick had “FALLEN FROM GRACE”! WOW! Yes he has “fallen from grace” how do I know that? Just read, listen or watch the news conference where Vick says he will “redeem” himself and change in order to prove he is now a “good person” and child of God. So now most likely one well known national ministry will take him as the latest “Grace Example” and thus throw Michael into a life of trying to be good enough to be worthy of Redemption. I SO HOPE I AM WRONG! But if not the following is for Michael Vick.
TO: Michael Vick
If you are reading this blog there are some things I want you to know……..
You need not “redeem” yourself!
You only have to be who you are!
You are a Pearl of Great Price!
You ARE not will be PERFECT!
You WERE Perfect even in the dark days of Dog Fighting too!
Nothing you can do or say will cause God to love you more now that you no longer do those things!
Your future Good Works mean nothing in your Heavenly Redemption!
Your future Good Works will help some but they do not make you any more loved by God!
The Christian flesh peddlers (read -Nationally Know Ministries) will try and make you their “poster child” PLEASE RESIST!
But know this, even if you go through the hoops they set up for you in the end it is all for NOTHING!
Jesus did it ALL and your Redemption and Perfection was complete 2006 years ago! And the other GOOD NEWS is ALL of those who were your partners with the dogs are also Perfect and Complete because of The Finished Work of The Cross.
You see Michael it was for Freedom that Jesus set you FREE! You need not go through the hoops to prove yourself to Him.
You ARE Perfection!
In Perfection
Geo
I Am Persuaded!
What are you persuaded about? The following verse was something that Paul the apostle was persuaded about and so am I.
Rom 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
He said, "I KNOW". What did he mean here when he said "I Know"?
KNOW: From the same root as eidon, "to see," is a perfect tense with a present meaning, signifying, primarily, "to have seen or perceived"; hence, "to know, to have knowledge of," whether absolutely, as in divine knowledge: suggests fullness of knowledge.
Paul literally saw this knowledge. It was alive, real, & powerful. This knowing is something that happens to us when we give up ALL desire to be righteous on our own. When we realize our pathetic attempts to be clean is an exercise in futilitly then and only then can God show us, let us see, that we have always been clean.
He also said, "I AM PERSUADED". What was he persuaded of?
He was persuaded by Jesus Christ THAT THERE IS NOTHING UNCLEAN OF ITSELF. WOW, what a statement. We have been saying on this site that we are all perfect in Christ, not because of our own attempts but because God says we are. WE KNOW IT, WE ARE PERSUADED, JUST LIKE PAUL WAS.
Unfortunately there are many that do not see God’s creation as CLEAN. To those unfortunate souls life is filled with the UNCLEAN and their very lives reflect that lie in how they treat others. I feel so sorry for them and most of them are in church every Sunday. They are taught to judge those that aren’t like them even though God says he has accepted ALL in Christ and that NOTHING is UNCLEAN. Thank God that Christ is LORD, both of the living and the dead. Wow, where can we go that he will not be there for us. WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS!
Rom 14:7-9 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Start this day KNOWING & BEING PERSUADED that every person you meet is PERFECT. Treat them that way even if they don’t see themselves that way. You might just be shocked at how they will change before your very eyes. I’m so glad Jesus looked at me that way.
PEACE TO ALL. THANK YOU LORD JESUS.
But That’s Not What They Believe!
Please check out my friend PJ’s article. This young man has a lot to say.
Check PJ out —You won’t be disappointed–CLICK!
Power to Bring Together
This evening, on ESPN, I watched the story of how the Philadelphia Phillies Senior RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) team, comprised of 16 to 18-year-old boys, defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the championship game in the 2007 MLB RBI World Series. One of the mothers of the Phillies told how proud she was that the Philadelphia team came together and related with one another so well even though they were from such varying backgrounds.
Baseball did this…..a little round tightly wound ball of string with a cowhide cover sown around it. It brought young men together in a way that resulted in them laying aside all of their cultural, economic, religious, racial and social differences to become a team of young men with relationships so strong that they will never forget them.
It made me think of how hungry people are for something to unite us and to set aside our differences. It also made me consider how much more potential there is for the power of the good news and the love of the Son of God to bring people together in lasting relationships.
Christ is in that baseball league and those ball players and all of the good that came of it and He is in the gospel, the very power of God. May it be heard by all people with no baggage attached. Amen.
Christ Alone!
HE DID IT ALL!
Is It Possible?
Is it possible to truly be at peace if at the same time you know your brother will suffer in an eternal HELL without any possibility of a reprieve?
I ask that question in all seriousness to those Christians who believe that God will punish all those who do not acknowledge His son and follow His commandments.
This really is a very simple question that any honest person needs to answer. We all know someone we love who by even the most liberal criteria of church doctrine does not fit the bill. How does it make you feel that they will suffer endless torture? Are you at peace with that thought? If you are then you’re not a person I care to know, and if you are not at peace with it then why is your heart kinder then your doctrine?
You see, I believe if we can just get people to trust their hearts there would be a lot more peace in this world. The new covenant that God has with us says just that.
HEB 8:10-12 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
According to the scriptures above we ought to be able to trust our hearts. We shouldn’t need anyone to show us what is right, and even when we mess up we our hearts should remind us that we ARE forgiven. Why doesn’t the churches of today teach this covenant? Could it be that they know if you trust your heart that their doctrines of condemnation won’t stand? Could it be that if you trust your heart you would no longer need to be under the authority of some pastor who demands your money week in and week out?
The answer to the question "Is It Possible?" is YES, YES, YES. In Christ all the answers are YES.
- Yes, you can be at peace.
- Yes, you can trust your heart.
- Yes, He will be merciful to our unrighteousness.
- Yes, He will not remember our sins and iniquities.
- Yes, you are his beloved child and there is nothing that will ever separate you from your Father.
What does your heart say? Are you at peace? If not, try trusting your heart for a change and quit listening to some preacher who’s telling you to follow some doctrine that is separating you from a brother or sister that Christ died for.
BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.
-
Stats
-
