Walking With Jesus

Leadership

“Then the disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?’ Jesus replied, ‘Every plant not planted by My heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.’” (Matthew 15:12-14 NLT)

The term “leadership” isn’t used in the King James Version of the Bible but is illustrated in many ways in and through the teachings and actions of the Lord Jesus and many other men and women of His choosing. I think of men like Abraham, the “father of our faith,” Samuel and the many other Prophets who led nations, Esther, King David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and many more. What’s my point?

In the verses above Jesus clearly taught that those who profess to be leaders, who assume leadership because of education, ethnicity, or any other position of human origin by any means can be blind guides and to follow them is to put ourselves at risk.

Leadership is a quality Jesus possessed and freely shares with those who seek Him. Even the Great Commission is an example: “Go and make disciples of all the nations…And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” To me the clear implication of that command is: “Go in faith and I will guide you every step of the way.” Or another way to think about it: “Lead only as you are led by Me!” Fruit grows through those who stay connected to the Vine.

To the extent we lead out of our own wisdom, strength, ingenuity, or knowledge, to that extent we’ll fall flat on our faces, at least in terms of leading others to become more like Jesus. The only way to become more like Jesus is to be led by His Spirit. We cannot lead others in a God-honoring way unless and until we’re being led by the Spirit.

Seeking to lead out of the energy of the flesh is not only wrong, but also sinful. We can only effectively lead others to see Jesus more clearly, follow Him more nearly, and love Him more dearly if we ourselves are deeply committed to those things in our own life. We cannot lead others to places we haven’t been led by the Lord ourselves.

Yes, of course, He uses other godly men and women to show us the way, but ultimately everything we’re told to do in terms of our leadership, will first begin in prayer. Prayer opens avenues of learning that will come first from the Words of God in Holy Scripture, but also through the words of godly men and women, living and dead, who have heard His voice, and followed His commands.

George Müller was such a man, about whom I read when I was young in the Lord, a man so focused on the Lord he obeyed without question, trusting Him to do what He said He would do. The Lord prompted George to start an orphanage, though he had no money and no place to house children. The Lord provided everything he needed.

His only resource was the Lord Jesus and His only means of provision was prayer. He prayed in millions of dollars (in today’s currency) for the orphans and never asked anyone directly for money. He never took a salary in the last 68 years of his ministry, but trusted God to put in people’s hearts to send him what he needed. He never took out a loan or went into debt. And neither he nor the orphans were ever hungry. By God’s grace he was able to feed more than 10,000 orphans during his lifetime.

His leadership in love inspires and gives me hope that I can be more for Jesus than I ever imagined I could be. Are you a leader? Only if you’re being led by the Spirit to obey the commands of Jesus. How will you know if He wants you to lead? Ask Him!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Shock at the End of Our Voyage

*Please allow these powerful words of Ron Hutchcraft to motivate you to know with certainty that you have a right relationship with the Lord, but also, if you are certain that you’re going to heaven, to be more diligent in reaching those in your spheres of influence for the Lord before it’s eternally too late. Blessings, Ed 😊

For a long time, I have been fascinated with the story of the Titanic. The sinking of that seemingly “unsinkable” ship after a collision with an iceberg is filled with so much human drama that has inspired endless movies, books, and documentaries. Finding the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic fueled even greater information than ever before. Some of the drama of those discoveries has been within our reach as the Titanic artifacts exhibit went across the country in some of America’s leading museums. You could see many personal items recovered from the Titanic’s debris field along with displays that recreated the feeling of being a passenger on that doomed ship. And now there’s at least one permanent Titanic museum in the country. When I went into this one on the early tour, I was given a boarding pass with the name of a real person who’d been aboard that awful night. At the end of the exhibit, there’s this big wall with the names of everyone aboard – first class, second class, third class, crew. Every person is either on the list that says “saved” or “lost.” I looked hard for my name, and I discovered that I was one of the few crewmen who was “saved.”

A pastor I know, who I had told about my experience there, well, he went to see the exhibit for himself. But he told me about it. He looked me in the eye and he said very soberly, “Except I was lost.”

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Shock at the End of Our Voyage.”

One of the most sobering truths in the Bible is this: God has two lists. Each of us is on one of those lists. Everyone we know, everyone we care about, is on one of these two lists. In 1 John 5:11-12, God plainly says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” There it is – the “saved” and the “lost.” And it all depends on one thing – whether or not you have Jesus in your heart.

It doesn’t say, “Whoever has religion has life” or “whoever lives a good life has life.” No, it’s all about Jesus and whether or not you’ve ever begun a personal relationship with Him. That life-saving relationship begins when you realize that Jesus’ dying on that cross was the only thing that can pay the death penalty that you deserve for running your own life, for hijacking your life from your Creator. And that means you know now that you’ve got to put all your trust in Him to save you, because you can’t do a thing to save yourself.

For my pastor friend, it was a shock to get to the end and find out he was “lost.” That’s the shock that for real so many are going to experience when they meet God. My friend didn’t know until the end. But we can know right now which list we’re on – depending on whether or not we’ve given ourselves to Jesus. If you know you’ve done that, you are among God’s rescued.

But now it’s up to you to rescue those around you who are still on the “lost” list. The” saved” and “lost” list from the Titanic can never be changed. But there’s still time for people you know to be moved from God’s “lost” list to His list of those who are “saved.” But you’ve got to do something about their lostness. You’ll have to step up to tell them about Jesus, to be their rescuer.

The devil – who wants as many lost as possible – is working hard to keep people on both lists preoccupied with something other than eternity. If you’re lost, he’s trying desperately to keep you from Jesus, even right now, until time runs out. If you’re saved, he’s trying desperately to keep you from reaching out to rescue the people around you until time runs out.

If you’ve never reached out to Jesus to rescue you, grab the hand of the Rescuer who came all the way from heaven to come and die so He could rescue you. If you want to go to sleep tonight knowing you belong to Jesus, tell Him now, “Jesus, I’m Yours. The battle’s over. I’m Yours!”

Get over to our website as soon as you can today, ANewStory.com, because I think you will find there everything you need to know about how to be sure you belong to Jesus.

When you’ve taken your last breath, lost is forever; but not yet. This very day, you can move from death to life, and from lost to saved.

Is Our Soul Immortal?

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28 NLT)

Obviously, our soul is not preexistent, in the sense it was present before God created humankind, so, the real question becomes, does our soul have an end? The verse above states clearly that God has the capacity to destroy our soul in hell, but what does that mean? Does it mean it ceases to exist?

The Lord has shown me at least two ways to gain a clearer understanding of Scripture. First, the best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture. If you find a confusing or hard to understand verse(s) or teaching, keep reading. The worst enemy of a clear understanding of Scripture is taking it out of context. Proof-texting is the enemy of the Church and has been an issue as long as there has been Scripture.

The second tool that has proven invaluable is an exhaustive Concordance. Few people, including many Pastors, have a command of the Biblical languages. A Concordance defines the words used in the Bible, seeking to give you an understanding of what the word meant in its original context.

So, let’s look first at Matthew 25:46 where Jesus says: “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” Who are “they” who will go away into eternal punishment? And who are “the righteous”? “They” are those who will be refused entrance into God’s eternal Kingdom because they refused to submit to the Lord’s authority in their lives, were not attentive to the needs of those He placed on their paths and because they didn’t place their trust in Jesus as Savior.

On the other hand, “the righteous” are those who prioritized their devotion to the Lord and made Him visible through their efforts to help those in their spheres of influence see Jesus more clearly through their loving kindness and service to them. The issue is Lordship: who owns our heart, mind, soul, and body? To whom or what have we given our allegiance?

The truth is, the Lord can do with us as He pleases whether we serve Him or not, and He will prove that at the end of time, but the issue in front of us is does “death” extinguish our existence or does it lead to eternal life somewhere? My contention, based on the clear teaching of God’s Word, is that God plants eternity in our heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11) at birth and never extinguishes it. “Yeh, but what about the verse above where Jesus said God “can destroy both soul and body in hell”?

The word Jesus used that is translated “destroy” in many English translations is “apollumi” (ap-ol’-loo-mee) and it means “to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to, ruin; render useless; to kill; to declare that one must be put to death; metaphor meaning to devote or give over to eternal misery in hell; to perish, to be lost, ruined, destroyed.”

Jesus used many illustrations (parables), stories and expressions that were metaphors or pictures of things to help people understand what they had little or no frames of reference to understand. Throughout the Bible death is illustrated as separation from life, existence in life in our earthly bodies without Jesus, but not separation from consciousness and awareness of our surroundings, not even after leaving this life.

As sin separates us from God in this life, death separates us from Him in the next. That’s why Jesus’ victory on the Cross is so critical, as through His death He paid the penalty for our sin, overcame death, and the grave by His blood, purchasing for us the gift of life with Him for all eternity.

Death ends (destroys) our physical life on earth, but not the life of our soul, the essence of who we are. Our soul is eternal, but if we don’t submit our life to the Lord while there’s time, we will forever be separated from life’s Author, the Lord Jesus. If you don’t know for sure when you close your eyes in death they will open in the presence of the Lord Jesus, please tap anewstory.com and allow Ron Hutchcraft to help you know you have eternal life.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Great Commandment

“Jesus came and told His disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20 NLT)

Recently I asked someone a question that I believe is important for each believer in Jesus to ask. This is the question: “If every believer in Jesus was just like me, how effectively would the Great Commandment (Commission) be fulfilled?”

A more personal way to ask the same question might be: “If everyone’s efforts to reach the lost were just like mine, how quickly would the world be won to Jesus?” Contextually, the Lord was speaking to His disciples; thus, the implication was to them individually and collectively. Which raises some questions. First, are you connected to a church body that is committed to reaching the lost? And, if so, what is their strategy? And especially if you are not connected to an active body of believers, what is YOUR strategy to reach the lost?

As a rule, evangelical churches do some form of evangelism during their normal services. They invite people to come to Christ during the course of a worship service; however, that in and of itself doesn’t help reach the vast majority of people who never darken the doors of a church or the ones who do attend a church that doesn’t even preach the Gospel.

Ultimately, if we as individual believers don’t take it upon ourselves to learn a relevant, meaningful, and simple way to present our faith to our lost friends and loved ones, the very real possibility is, they will never learn who Jesus is, at least not in a way that would encourage them to open their heart and life to Him. What’s commonly referred to as “the Roman Road” is a firm foundation for understanding the basic steps to helping someone understand their need of a Savior.

But we must understand that our words, no matter how well rehearsed, will not lead anyone to Jesus. If our heart isn’t focused on Jesus and our words flowing from a heart of love for Him, we’re wasting our time. I’ve learned the most important way to prepare to share my faith is to spend time with the Lord allowing Him to build my faith to the point I can’t help but share it.

Understanding that tools can be very helpful, please tap the link to go to Ray Comfort’s website livingwaters.com and peruse the many resources he has available to help you learn different ways to help people come to the Lord. The bottom line is, we are accountable to the Lord for our obedience to His direct command to share His story with those who are lost.

Please understand, this isn’t about guilt or shame, it’s about our responsibility to the Lord to do what He’s asked us to do. Don’t you want to obey Him? If not, why are you professing to follow Him. Obedience is a qualification of discipleship. To profess faith in Jesus without any intention of obeying His directives is blasphemous. He called us to follow Him, to become like Him, to share His life and love with others. Those, like the Great Commission, aren’t suggestions to be pondered, they are commands to be obeyed.

Perhaps the weakness of the modern church is in direct correlation with the weakness of our personal faith, based on our misunderstanding of who we are in Christ. Yes, of course, we’re His beloved child, blood bought and redeemed, but we’re also His servant, His slave, subject to His directives.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Where’s Your Confidence?

“I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.” (1 John 5:13-15 NLT)

There is never any reason to have confidence in ourselves when it comes to spiritual progress or success, especially when praying. To grow in grace is to depend entirely on the ministry of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. Any progress we make in living, loving, praying, serving, worshiping, witnessing or in any other way is only and always by the grace of God engineered and accomplished through the Spirit of God.

Yes, of course, the Spirit always works in cooperation with us, but there would be no work in or through us without the Spirit. We’re the vessel, He is the source, resource and power. There would be no growth and development without the seed of faith planted in our heart by the Spirit of God. Our confidence must always and only be centered and focused on the Lord Jesus and the invaluable work He has done on the Cross and is doing in and through us by His Spirit.

R. C. Sproul said it well when he wrote: “We rest on confidence in the efficacy of the prayers of Jesus, not our own consistency as Christians.” Efficacy essentially means effectiveness, value, or fruitfulness of something. So, in reference to the efficacy of Jesus’ prayers, we have full confidence that every prayer He ever prayed was heard and answered in absolute accordance with the will of God the Father. EVERY prayer of Jesus WAS answered in a manner that pleased Him and honored His heavenly Father.

Isn’t that what we want when we pray? Our confidence can never be in how spiritual we are, how close we believe we are to God, how refined we’ve become in formulating our prayers, how well-versed we are in the Scriptures, how long or often we pray, how well practiced we are in our prayer language, or in any other man-oriented means of measuring success or evaluating our effectiveness in prayer.

Our confidence in prayer must always and only be focused on the One who answers prayer, not on the one who offers it. Human effort, while certainly required, is never the sole factor in not only whether a prayer is answered, but whether a prayer is even heard. A prayer offered with pride and self-confidence will never reach the ear of God, only those that are offered from a contrite heart and spirit that is aligned with God’s heart and mind.

Growth in prayer is a gift from God that is derived from a heart that longs to please and honor Him, not simply to use Him to get answers that would satisfy or edify us. When I pray, I ask in full confidence that the Lord is hearing and will answer as I’ve asked. If He doesn’t, He often lets me know why. If I’m being selfish, asking awry or in an inappropriate way, He corrects me and helps me understand a better way to ask.

Once we get to the place we believe we have “this prayer thing down pat,” is when we’re allowing the enemy to gain too much ground in our heart and mind. Prayer is conversation with the Lord that issues from a heart that seeks to be in tune with the heart of God. How is that possible? It’s possible as we learn to love Jesus more than we love our sin; when we learn to desire God’s will more than our own will. Then it becomes easier to pray in line with God’s heart because all we want is for Him to gain glory in and through us and to do that which pleases Him the most.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What Makes a Person Good?

“As Jesus was starting out on His way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to Him, knelt down, and asked, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call Me good’ Jesus asked. ‘Only God is truly good.’” (Mark 10:17-18 NLT)

This is the story of the rich man who wanted to justify himself by acknowledging “factual” things, but avoiding what was separating him from the Lord. There is reason given in the text to believe the young man recognized Jesus’ deity, that Jesus truly was God in human form; he also said he knew the Commandments and kept them, which is questionable, but his bondage to his wealth was completely hidden from him. How like so many of us today who come to church every Sunday, without a clue we are miles from the God we supposedly love and serve.

Is that judgmental? More an observation than a judgment. We’re to be “fruit inspectors,” primarily of ourselves, but when someone who professes faith in Jesus is clearly not living like Jesus, it becomes apparent that something isn’t right. Should we simply ignore it and go about our business? Perhaps, it depends on how closely we’re walking with the Lord and to them. If the Lord says to ignore it, we ignore it; otherwise, we do whatever He directs us to do.

Jesus obviously had insights into this man’s heart that others who knew him didn’t have. On the outside he was the kind of man every Pastor would want on his Board and in leadership. He has money, influence, lives a decent life, has so much going for him, Jesus just isn’t his first love. A person isn’t good because of what they do or don’t do, they’re good because of who owns their heart.

In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote: “You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.” If that’s true in society, and I believe it is, how much truer is it in the Church. I’ve seen firsthand how “good” people worm their way into leadership of a small church, only to commandeer the direction the Pastor believes the Lord was leading them to go. For that reason, and many more, I believe hell will be full of very good people whose god was money, power, or some other ungodly source.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in an address at Western Michigan University in the 60’s, after acknowledging that law cannot make someone good, said: “But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated…It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless…It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also. So, there is a need for executive orders. There is a need for judicial decrees.”

So, what does make a person good? Jesus said in Matthew 12:33-37: “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

Do you love Jesus? Does His Spirit live in your heart? How do you know? What’s coming out of your mouth? How are you investing your time and money? Are you consistently praying for and speaking with the lost about salvation and hope in Jesus? Have you established a meaningful and ongoing relationship with a Christ-centered, Bible teaching, Gospel proclaiming Church? Are you serving in and through that church? Our goodness can only be reflected in and through our commitment to the King and to His Kingdom.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Trust In The Midst of Uncertainty

By Elizabeth Gunter Powell

*As I do the 15^th of each month, I’m giving you the privilege of being blessed by Sylvia Gunter’s ministry. Today’s devotion is written by her daughter, Elizabeth. If you’d like to learn more about Sylvia and her vital ministry, just click here. Blessings, Ed 😊

The world feels scary and out of control. We live in the midst of headlines that unsettle us, situations we cannot fix, and questions with no clear answers. It is so easy to focus on the circumstances and become overwhelmed with fear, doubt, and despair. When the ground feels like it is shifting beneath our feet, vulnerability rises quickly. The enemy is eager to exploit these moments, whispering the lie that God is distant, distracted, or uncaring. Left unchecked, those lies can leave us feeling exposed, isolated, and alone.

In times of crisis, trust is a powerful weapon. I define trust as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, and truth of God. When troubles come, we can ground ourselves not in what is happening around us, but in the unchanging truth of who God is for us. God longs for us to know Him and to truly trust Him as Father. When our accuser wages war against our minds, we can draw from a deep reservoir of who God has revealed Himself to be and the promises He has spoken over us.

Trust begins more with what and Whom you know than with what you feel. Paul gives us this profound statement of trust: “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Trust thrives when we know we are loved. Trust believes the best about God and His nature toward us, because love always trusts (1 Corinthians 13:7). Trust actively lives in expectation of seeing God come through, even when circumstances are hard and outcomes unclear. A God-conscious heart anticipates the goodness of God, even in the dark.

Trust looks for evidence that He is working—both when we can clearly see Him and when we can’t. For the past 25 years, there is a phrase our family has clung to when times get hard: “The moon is round.” It comes from a song by Allen Levi.

The lyrics explain that, from our perspective, the moon appears to constantly change from full to half to a quarter, and sometimes to just a thin sliver in the sky. Some nights, clouds cover it completely. But the truth remains: the moon is always round. God can seem like the moon. Sometimes His presence is unmistakable and easy to see. At other times, we can’t discern what He is doing at all, and we are invited to trust that He is still there in all His fullness.

God does not change. God does not leave us. Even when He feels distant, He is near. In moments of crisis, it may be hard to see Him or sense His presence. In the middle of hard days, when I try to pray and don’t have the words, sometimes all I can say is, “The moon is round.” It is my way of saying, God, I don’t know what You are doing, but I trust You.

If you look up tonight, you may not see much of the moon because of the phase it is in. But we can all look into the darkness and trust that the moon is still there and still round. Both globally and in the deeply personal issues many of us are facing, where answers feel scarce, and clarity feels distant, God is inviting us to lean into Him and trust once again that the moon is round.

Pray with me:

Father God,

In a world that feels uncertain and unsteady, we come to You as Your children. You see our fears, our questions, and the places where our hearts feel overwhelmed. When the noise around us is loud, and the darkness feels heavy, help us to lift our eyes and remember who You are.

We choose to trust You not because everything makes sense, but because You are faithful. Anchor our hearts in the truth of Your character. Silence the voice of the accuser and replace it with the assurance of Your love. When we cannot see what You are doing, remind us that You are still at work, still near, still good.

Teach us to rest in knowing that You do not change. Guard what we have entrusted to You. Strengthen our faith to believe the best about Your heart toward us. Fill us with a quiet, steady confidence that even in the darkness, You remain whole, present, and powerful.

And when all we have are simple words, let it be enough to whisper, “The moon is round.”

We trust You, Father.

Amen.

Strength To Equal Your Days: 365 Days of Prayers and Blessings is a year-long journey of encouragement, filled with daily reminders of God’s love, faithfulness, and strength. Each page invites readers to pause, pray, and be refreshed by timeless truth.

It’s the perfect gift for anyone who could use a touch of hope and peace: friends, family, coworkers, or even yourself. Give a gift that nourishes the soul and strengthens the spirit: 365 days of hope, faith, and blessings.

The Fate of the Lost

“Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will remove from His Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” (Matthew 13:40-43 NLT)

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the eternal “fire” of hell, isn’t literal and will not destroy the souls of the condemned. Quite to the contrary, they will have an eternity to ponder their negligence and stupidity for what they ignored in this life. But the seeming logical question remains: “How can a loving, kind, compassionate God level such a harsh sentence for the disobedience of His creation?” I will offer some highlights, but for a more complete explanation click on this link to the Bible Hub.

As I consider the answers to that question I first turn to the nature of God. He is not only loving, He’s also just. To ignore sin in us as human beings is to ignore that which separates us from Him. It’s like saying to our new bride: “Sure, I understand your need to continue to see other men but just come home some of the time so that I can remember how much you love me.” It’s idiotic. No man in their right man would desire a marriage like that. But even as I write that, I realize there ARE men like that, which simply deepens our understanding of how far we’ve strayed from our Creator.

Satan sears our conscience and deadens our spiritual senses to enable us to ignore God and pretend He doesn’t exist, as illustrated by the quote in the picture above. It doesn’t stand to reason that the same God who rewards those who love and obey Him for all eternity wouldn’t punish those who break His laws, ignore His commands, and deliberately separate themselves in this life, in the same way. There is a very real sense in which those who have rejected the Lord in this life are finally getting what they’ve always wanted, to be separated from the Lord, but in eternity they will finally understand what that means.

Revelation 21:4 outlines some of the ways the Lord rewards His own when John writes: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” What is clearly implied by each of these benefits? His eternal presence! The Lord Himself is the Treasure, the reward, not the benefits He offers. They’re the proverbial “icing on the cake.” He’s the “cake”, the prize, the reward and to be with Him in this life and the next is the greatest benefit of our devotion to Him.

So, are we to assume if Jesus is the issue, then when people reject Him, it’s not worthy of eternal punishment? That’s laughable. It’s ironic to me that those who would reject God on the basis of the severity of the punishment leveled against those who reject Him are blinded to the reality that that same God is giving them a means of escape of that punishment. Yet, they knowingly choose that punishment rather than open their heart and life to Him now so that can begin to enjoy heaven here on earth.

The word used most frequently in the Old Testament that is translated death is “thanatos”. According to Strong’s Concordance the term means: “the death of the body: 1a) that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul and the body by which life on earth is ended. 1b) with the implied idea of future misery in hell. Death is often used as a metaphor, the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name, 2a) the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell.”

It continues, but that should suffice to illustrate that the Bible’s use of the term “death” means separation from God, either by sin in this life, or for all eternity in hell in the next. This is obviously not a subject to be taken lightly, and my heart is grieved even as I type.

My life’s goal as a believer in Jesus is to pray and work in every conceivable way to reach everyone I can by any means I can for as long as I can to the glory of the One with whom I will spend eternity. It’s not even that my highest priority is that people miss hell, it’s that I don’t want anyone to miss Jesus. It’s a choice we must make with eternal consequences, but one that must be made before death. To ignore that fact is on us, not God. He’s opened a way to Him, but it’s up to us to take it.

If you’d like to come to your senses and yield your life and allegiance to Jesus while you still can, please tap this link anewstory.com.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Another Look at Death

“But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22 NLT)

There is a sense in which as believers in the Lord Jesus we never really die, we simply move from life to life; from physical life to eternal spiritual life. It’s interesting that Paul uses the metaphor of sleep in verse 20. The New Living Translation simply translates verse 20 as “He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died,” but the King James Version uses the expression “the firstfruits of them that slept.”

There are those who build a case that when anyone dies, including believers, it means they go into an unconscious state of sleep, being unaware of anything that is then happening. If Jesus was to be an example of that concept, it fails because Jesus obviously didn’t sleep. Yes, of course His body rested (slept?), but His spirit was active, alive, and according to Peter (1 Peter 3:18-20) visited those whose spirits were in prison, but obviously not asleep, otherwise, how would they have known of the Lord’s presence preaching to them?

The metaphor of “sleep” in death is also an issue with eternal life or punishment in death for unbelievers. In Matthew 25:46 the Bible says: “And they (the unrighteous) will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” The same word is used to describe the longevity of the life of the righteous and the life of the unrighteous. There’s no mention of sleep or rest from punishment or celebration of life with Jesus.

Additionally, the story Jesus shares in Luke 16 refers to two people who die, a rich man and Lazarus, neither of whom went to sleep, but immediately into torment or the comfort of Abraham. Ecclesiastes 9:5 can seem contradictory when the Bible says: “The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered.” But the Bible doesn’t contradict itself, so there must be another explanation. The key to understanding this text is knowing the context of the whole of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Its focus is on life from a completely human perspective, apart from God. For a better understanding of this passage click here.

Death, which is the final manifestation of sin, is separation from the life of God. That’s what sin does, it separates us from the life of God, His love, power, presence. Separation does not imply sleep or lack of knowledge or emotional unawareness. Quite to the contrary, the torment of hell isn’t about physical torture, but the mental and emotional anguish of the lost being fully aware of what was forfeited by their denying the Lord Jesus ownership of and Lordship over their lives and their clear understanding as to how it could have been avoided. If you don’t yet know Jesus, please don’t let this happen to you. Click on anewstory.com and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through a simple plan to find Jesus today.

Obviously, a human body could not withstand the flames of an eternal fire. This, too, is a metaphor to describe the agonizing pain of something that is too difficult to withstand but should heighten our awareness of our need to make a decision for the Lord now, while there’s time. But it should also alert us of our need as believers to do all within our power to reach lost people with the truth of eternal life while we can.

Of course, this raises the question of why a loving God would allow someone He supposedly loves to agonize for eternity for their sin? That’s a great question. Let’s look at the answer in tomorrow’s post.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Sin That Leads to Death

“If you see a Christian brother or sister sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.” (1 John 5:16-17 NLT)

Realizing this is a passage that has been debated for centuries, I’m not pretending to know with certainty that I have the answer, but I do believe the Lord has given me insight to at least begin to understand what John is saying here. In this context I’m reminded of Proverbs 7:4-23 where Solomon describes a young man caught in the trap of a seductive woman. Verses 22-23 are the most revealing to me when he writes: “He followed her at once, like an ox going to the slaughter. He was like a stag caught in a trap, awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing it would cost him his life.”

On the other hand, I think of Joseph, held captive by the Egyptians, who was sought after by Pharaoh’s wife to be seduced, but the writer of the Hebrew letter said of Joseph: “He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.”

The sin that leads to death is not a single sin we commit, but a lifestyle in which we seek the pleasures and satisfaction of the world that rob us of the joy, peace, and satisfaction that only Christ can give. It may be a lifestyle of affluence where money is our god, and we seek the pleasures it can afford; or a homosexual lifestyle where our pleasure is sought in ungodly sexual relationships; or even in heterosexual promiscuity where sex is essentially our god that we seek; or habitual lying, cheating, stealing, or unbelief in whatever form it rears its ugly head we set a pattern with our life that digs our grave and builds our coffin around us.

“Yeh, but isn’t EVERY sin pattern like this?” Yes, but remember John is speaking to the Church. He’s speaking to those who have professed faith in Christ and are supposedly seeking to live godly lives. What if the sin that leads to death is being committed by professing believers who have lost their way? They may have made a commitment to the Lord at one point and regularly attend church. They may not miss services very often and may even hold leadership positions, but their hearts aren’t owned by Jesus.

Like the young man in Proverbs, the lure of being a “successful Christian” outranks and overshadows their need to be a slave of Christ? Jesus fades as the image of ourselves grows larger. Our sin gets swallowed up in our success and status as a “leader” and we no longer need God’s grace, as our grace is sufficient. It happens to Pastors as well as those who are lay leaders of congregations large and small.

It’s frightening to me the number of “Christian” Denominations that have accepted homosexual behavior and lifestyle as “normal” and “acceptable,” even though the Bible clearly teaches it is sin and is NOT acceptable to a holy God. Can’t any of these people turn from their sin and be forgiven? Yes, of course, but that’s the point, the sin that leads to death sees no reason to repent; thus, they can never be forgiven. To not ask is to forfeit our privilege of being forgiven.

Ultimately, the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the one for which no forgiveness is asked, but to be so ingrained in an ungodly lifestyle we wrongly believe is okay with God is a road that leads straight to hell.

Admittedly, this is a gray area, so my “policy” is to not make a hasty judgment, so, I continue to pray for lost people regardless of their circumstances until they come to Christ, die, or the Lord makes it clear there’s no longer any reason to continue to pray for them, which to date hasn’t happened.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊