Who is Jesus?

How do we talk about this Jesus who lived on the earth about 2000 years ago in the land of Israel?

Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect man in one person.  Jesus,  the Son of God,  was sent by God to deal with the problem of sinful man. Without Jesus, sinful man has no way to approach the holy God.  To the Christian,  Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, Savior, Healer, Comforter, Teacher, and the example of a perfect human life.  He is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  (John 1:29)   The important highlights are: His birth, human living, 3 year public ministry, death on the cross for sinners, resurrection from the dead, ascension and His still anticipated Second Coming.

The Bible has two great sections that talk about Jesus Christ.
1. the Old Testament – which foretold or prophesied about the coming of Jesus Christ.
2. the New Testament – which talks about His birth, life, teaching, disciples, death, resurrection and the growth of the Christian church.
Both Old and New Testament sections talk about His anticipated Second Coming.

It is a difficult concept to understand that He is both fully perfect God and perfect man, and all in one person.  There are many verses in the Bible to show this.

Jesus Christ is God – Colossians 2:9 For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,    Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Jesus Christ is man –  Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary…    Luke 24:39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Tell Me About God

Let’s talk a little about God.

God has a plan for your life and has made a way through Jesus to make sinners like you and me right with God.

Let us consider several facts about God. First, God is love. Not everyone sees God as the God of love.  This at first may seem a little different than what people think about God.  Some think that God is out to “get” people, but the Bible says God is love. God is also righteous and must judge sin.  To deal with the sin problem, God sent His son Jesus Christ.   Romans 8:3-4. … God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Consider these brief eleven points about God:

1. God exists – Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

2. God loves and is love – He loves people. John 3:16  “For God loved the world in that: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

3. God Created everything from nothing  – He created the universe, Genesis 1 – In the beginning God created the  heavens and the earth.

4. God can be known – John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

5. God is eternal – Jude 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.

6. God is Spirit – John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

7. God is perfect and beautiful – Jesus tells us in Matthew 5: 48, “Your heavenly Father is perfect.”    Psalm 27:4  …to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

8. God knows and understands all things. 1 John 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

9.  God is good — Luke 18:19   And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

10. God is Holy (and man is sinful)  Psalm 99:9 Exalt the Lord our God,  and worship at his holy mountain;  for the Lord our God is holy!

11. God is righteous — Romand 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

There are many, many other aspects of God that could be talked about.  The word “God” is mentioned over 3000 times in the Bible.

So when someone says “Tell me about God“, now you have something to describe this wonderful God.  God is love, He is the creator and He exists.

What is Death?

According to to the Bible, physical death is a transition and not the end.

John 5:24 “ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

This verse indicates the confident hope that the person who was believed in Jesus Christ enjoys.

Daniel not only talks about the hope the believer has, but warns the person who rejects Jesus Christ of eternal judgment.
As Daniel 12:2 explains,  ”…those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt”

I hope this short answer to the question “What is Death” has helped you prepare for this transition.

How Do You Find God?

What a great question! How do you find God, and where is He. God is real, God is present. One just needs to simply talk to Him, and that talking is called prayer. Put aside all your thoughts about formal prayers, formal places to pray and just talk to God. “Hello God, sorry if you are busy but I have a need.” Talk to God just like a close friend. He understands you just the way you are.

Consider this simple prayer found in the Bible. Psalms 18:6 I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.

The Lord’s Teaching on Prayer – top key points

Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is  a key part of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew six where Jesus is teaching His disciples a wonderful teaching on prayer.  Notice the word “your” before the words “kingdom” and “will“.    This is a key passage on the spiritual warfare for God’s kingdom and will. God’s kingdom is the place where God is in full control.

Anxiety vs Good

In this passage one person choose to worry and be anxious, the other to stop and listen to Jesus and what He is speaking.   It is hard to stop what we are doing and just listen. Just to stop and listen to Jesus is the good portion that Mary choose.

Luke 10:41-42 but the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

What is Christian Burnout?

We think burnout is what happens to others, but we actually all go through it at some point in our life.  Sometimes it manifests itself as just frustration or constantly being tired or run-down.

Burnout happens when we are pulled in directions the Lord is not leading. God only emotionally “funds” the directions He is doing. The other directions and projects are on our energy, and we quickly run out. So find out what He is doing.   It’s easy to get or be involved in some work for the Lord that has grown and been blessed by the Lord, but somehow the Lord has moved on or is just not doing it anymore.  Yet we contine on and are faithful, yet sometimes we are not sensitive to the Lord’s change in direction.

So we need to learn how to pray “Lord, what are you doing?”, and then be sensitive enough to listen to what He is saying.

Sometimes saying “no” is hard to do.  Sometimes we just need to finish something we started even though it may seem difficult.

Acts 16:7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.  From Hebrews 12 “…active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,”    Sometimes God is holding back and sometimes He is moving forward, can we listen to what He is saying.

The Holy Spirit Prays in Us with Groanings

Great words from Andrew Murray about working with the Holy Spirit in our prayer time. Let the Holy Spirit be our prayer helper and teacher.

You complain that you do not feel able to pray thus, and ask how you may be fitted to do so.  You speak much of the feebleness of your faith in God, and love to souls, and delight in prayer.  The man who is to have power in intercession must cease these complaints.  He must know that he has A NATURE PERFECTLY ADAPTED TO THE WORK.  An apple tree is only expected to bear apples, because it has the apple nature within it.  “You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”  The eye was created so see:  how beautifully fitted it is for its work!  You are created in Christ to pray.  It is your very nature as a child of God.  The Spirit has been sent into your heart—what to do?  To cry Abba Father, to you draw your heart up in child-like prayer.  The Holy Spirit prays in us with groanings that cannot be uttered, with a divine power which our mind and feelings cannot understand.  Learn, if you would be an intercessor, to give the Holy Spirit much greater honors than is generally done.  Believe that He is praying within you, and be strong and of good courage.  As you pray, be still before God to believe and to yield to this wonderful power of prayer within you.

These are quotes from The Inner Chamber by Andrew Murray on Moses the man of prayer.