You want to be among the chosen ones?

Oct 29, 2013

Chosen by God for choosing Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Redemption in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both[a] which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who[b]is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Question:  Who are the ones chosen and predestined by God?  

They are the ones who have chosen Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  This epistle of Ephesians one was addressed to the saints of Ephesus, who are faithful in Christ Jesus.  So Paul is talking to the faithful believers of Ephesus, not to everyone.  

The blood of Jesus was the ransom that purchase our souls back from satan.  His blood is the only divine sacrifice that can redeem us from the bondage of death.  The death penalty was placed upon us because of our sin.  But because Jesus paid the ransom, which is the shedding of His blood, we are forgiven and we are released and set free.  And because we have accepted Jesus Christ, we are obligated to Him.  

Romans 1:5   (NKJV)

5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,

God, the Father has chosen those who chose Jesus Christ.   In other words, if you chose Jesus as Lord and Savior, God will choose you to bless…. with every spiritual blessing from heaven.  And what are some of these blessings?  Redemption from the devil, eternal life, being sealed by the Holy Spirit, wisdom, the entering of His rest, the ability to comprehend the width, depth and height of God’s truth.    

What does it mean to be “sealed by the Holy Spirit?”

To be sealed by the Holy Spirit means that we are connected and cannot be separated from God liken unto an eternal umbilical cord.  

  

The only way that we can be severed from this connection with God is by refusing or rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  

In summary,  John 3:16 tells us that God loves the world and gave His only begotten Son.

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

So we know that God loves the world and He desires that all of humanity would love Him back.  But because of sin, we became separated from God and was headed for eternal damnation.  But because of God’s love for us, He sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, to paid the ransom to buy us back from the devil.  For those who makes the choice for Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit seals them.  

Why not receive the gift of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ?  

In conclusion, If you choose Jesus, God will chose you for His service and will bless you with eternal life and many more spiritual blessings.  These blessings are only afforded to the faithful in Christ.  Those who are not faithful in Christ or have rejected Jesus will receive eternal damnation.  Therefore, choose Christ Jesus and be blessed.  

Aldwin (Miyagi) Naruse

The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship

Makaha, HI USA

 

It's God's way or the hell way

Oct 23, 2013

Following God’s way

Psalm 37:23 (NKJV)

23 The steps of a good man are ordered (established) by the Lord,

And He delights in his way.

1 Samuel 2:9 (NKJV)

9 He will guard the feet of His saints,

But the wicked shall be silent in darkness.

“For by strength no man shall prevail.

1 Peter 1:5-9  (NKJV)

5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

Commentary:

So the trials for the present is used to draw us nearer to God.  We made have good intent or plans, but God is the One who will establish our steps.  He is the One who will see to it that we follow His way and His will in accomplishing all that He has intended for us to do.  Therefore, we are to remain steadfast in our faith and abiding close to Jesus and His Word so that we will receive clear directions every step of the way.  God wants us to be totally and completely dependent on Him.  He desires that we follow Him closely and heed every Word that He says to us.  We need God’s wisdom, direction and guidance in our lives.  Apart from Him, we will go astray.   He delights in us when we walk in His wisdom.  He desires our total obedience every moment of every day.  

Believers who are more than just Christians are kept and protected against all forces of evil which try to destroy their lives and salvation in Christ Jesus.  This is accomplished by the power of God.  This protection is not automatic.  The element that is needed on a daily basis is our faith.  God keeps us in His hand by His grace, but not just random and arbitrary.  This grace is only afforded to those whose faith is in Christ Jesus.  As believers of Jesus, we are protected by the power of God, just as only through faith a believer is saved.  The keyword is faith: Faith in Jesus Christ.  So therefore, a living faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is our personal responsibility in ensuring God’s continual protection against evil.  The goal of God’s protection through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ is salvation of your souls.   This future final salvation is obtaining an inheritance in heaven.  Therefore, the salvation of your soul is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and you need not be subjected to the second death.  This second death is more than hell.  It is burning in the Lake of Fire forever.  So in today’s theme, God has ordered and established our steps.  Our steps is walking in faith daily in Jesus Christ, applying our faith, building our faith, maturing our faith so that we may run the race with endurance and be perfected for the assurance of the salvation of our soul.  So this prize that we receive at the end of the race is the salvation of our soul to eternal life.  The Lord’s step is working out our salvation with fear and trembling everyday because at the end of the race, we shall receive the prize of eternal life.  (Stamps)

Romans 6:22-23 (NKJV)

22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our faith in Christ is the secret to be free from sin and to be made sanctified and holy as vessels of honor to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  The fruit is righteousness, peace, joy, holiness and faithfulness and in return, the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.  So to keep on making excuses for sin that “we are all sinners” or “nobody’s perfect” is operating under grace and mercy.   When a person proves his faith in Jesus Christ, he is more than a past sinner.  He now becomes a perfected saint, moving from glory to glory.  the choice is up to us.  We can choose to be carnal and keep making excuses for our sin, or we can work out our salvation with fear and trembling to be perfected in the image of Jesus Christ.  What for?  So that we may receive the gift, the prize of eternal life of the salvation of our souls.  ( Stamps)

In conclusion,  faith in Christ Jesus will cause us to follow Jesus every moment of the day.  When we do this, when we choose to work out our salvation with fear and trembling on a daily basis,we are walking in His will and in His word.   In doing so, we shall  receive the gift of God at the end of the race, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  

Works cited

Stamps, Donald C., The Full Life Study Bible King James Version, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.  

Aldwin (Miyagi) Naruse

The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship

Makaha, HI USA

Got Spirit? Know the difference between the real thing and the fake.

October 22, 2013

Testing the spirits

1 John 4:1-6   (NKJV)

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, is now already in the world.  4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Commentary:

According to God’s word, we must test the spirits because of the false teachers who give the appearance of being godly but are corrupted.  All teachings must be tested against the revelation of God’s truth and scripture.  It must be backed up by scripture.  The spirit of the teaching must be tested.  Does the teaching bear the same kind of spirits and emphasis of apostolic teaching?  Beware of any teaching that a person claims to have received from angels that cannot be supported by sound doctrine.  No personal theology should be the final authority on interpreting scripture.  God gave us the Holy Spirit as our counselor and teacher and comforter.  A teacher’s life must be tested as to have consistency over what he says and does.  The two must match.  (Stamps)

One evidence of false teaching is when the full deity of Jesus Christ is denied.  Jesus is both God and man.  He was of virgin birth.  His death was redemptive.  He redeemed us from the devil by the shedding of His blood and demonstrated the power of God through the resurrection on the third day for our salvation.  Any teaching that departs from this revelation of Jesus Christ will open a person to demonic forces which creates deception, false teachings, and misunderstanding.  The main reason is because this teaching sets aside the divine authority and complete trustworthiness of God’s word.  So any person who denies this full deity of God and man, his divine sacrifice at the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, or his redemptive power from the dead and He being resurrected and has ascended to Heaven is not of God.   

This is the spirit of the prevailing condition.  This anti-christ spirit has invaded the churches, the families, the government, and every aspect of the world’s society.  So now that it is confirmed by scripture and the Holy Spirit that you are of God and that by faith, you have a higher power residing in you and living in you, this higher power is Jesus Christ.  Because you have accepted, believed and received Jesus  who came in the flesh, you are already established as a child of God.  Therefore, you have become born again with a new spirit: the spirit of Jesus Christ.  So scripture says He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world.   (1 John 4:4)  This “He” is Jesus Christ, the higher power.  

So this part emphasizes that the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer.  Through the Holy Spirit, we can look upon the evil in this world, including satan, sin, self, persecution, the false teachings and have victorious achievement of God’s will in our lives.  (Stamps)

1 John 5:1-5  NKJV

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

1 John 5:18-19 NKJV

18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself,  and the wicked one does not touch him.  19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

One of God’s will is for us to sin no more because if you are born of God as we have just discussed, you are now a child of God.   

In conclusion,  we must test every spirit so that we would know the difference between the child of God and the anti-christ.  We know that according to His word today, whomever confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and believes in his heart that God has raised HIm from the dead and that He was sent as a gift and a sacrifice for our sins and for our eternal life.  He had to first demonstrate His power and authority by His death, burial and resurrection.  Otherwise, people would think that He is merely just another prophet or godly person.  So therefore, for me personally, if I am born of God, I am a child of God, only in Christ Jesus.  

Work Cited

Stamps, Donald C., The Full Life Study Bible King James Version, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992

Aldwin (Miyagi) Naruse

The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship

Makaha, HI USA