Who Am I Really? – common sense ministries

Who Am I Really – Your New Calling

Fri, 25 Oct 2013 01:28:11 +0000

Your New Calling

Don’t miss this part, my friend — you are no longer a sinner. You’re a saint now — a child of the living God. You are an ambassador of God on this earth — the boots on the ground in this world for Jesus Christ. It is now your job to share the love of Christ with everyone around you and to help build the Kingdom of God on this earth before His return.

What do I mean by “share the love of Christ with everyone around you?” You now have the fruits of the Spirit inside of you, (Galatians 5:22-23) so let those fruits begin to grow, and they will become evident in your life. The closer you draw to God and seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, your Savior, these fruits will begin to blossom in you, and others will begin to see Jesus in you and through you.

Remember, you are under a new covenant that says Jesus is in me and I am in Jesus. He lives in you as the Holy Spirit, and will lead you in a way (if you allow Him) where everything you do and say will come from God and nothing from you (your old nature).

Don’t think that you must confront everyone you meet and tell them that they are a sinner and going to hell if they don’t accept Jesus. Seek God first, and He will use the fruits of the Spirit in you to love the lost into finding Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Be open and willing to do His will, and He will lead you to the lost.

You will become a light in the darkness of this world and draw the lost to you by how you live your life for God. Sometimes God will use you to plant the seed of Jesus Christ in someone’s heart and sometimes He will use you to water that seed with an encouraging word or by your example of how you live your life through Jesus Christ. And for some, you will be given the extreme honor by God to lead a sinner to his or her salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

It’s a group effort and God will use each of us to fulfill His eternal plan, which involves the redemption of men and women from the curse of sin and death — you only have to allow Him. The body of Christ (all of your Christian brothers and sisters) needs the special gifts you were given so that we can stand together, arms linked around the world, to do battle through Christ against Satan and his demonic minions.

This is your new calling, my beloved. To share the love of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, expecting results from God — just living your faith (Jesus Christ) by being an example of the new spirit-filled nature you’ve been given (Holy Spirit). If you do this, God will take care of everything else. To me it just makes common sense.

Need a Bible to Get Started?

Common Sense Ministries was created by the Grace of God for one purpose — to teach the simplicity of the Bible. We want you to fall in love with the Word of God, not just a verse here and there, but the entire book. However, we know that you can’t fall in love with something you don’t have. If you need a Bible, Common Sense Ministries will send you one for free. Simply complete the request form, email it to us, and we’ll take care of the rest.

Until next time, my friend, may Mercy, Peace, and Love be multiplied to you.

Who Am I Really – Your First Steps as a Christian

Fri, 25 Oct 2013 01:26:58 +0000

Your First Steps as a New Christian

Since Lesson 1, you have been following God’s process. You’ve read the evidence, weighed the facts, and made a rational decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. What now?

1. Defend Against Satan. Know that Satan and his demonic minions are at work trying to steal your assurance of salvation. He is whispering in your ear right now that you aren’t truly saved, reminding you of bad things you’ve done, and making you question why God would want someone like you in Heaven. Stand firm, have faith, and learn that you no longer have to listen to the lies of Satan.

⁷So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and he will run away from you. James 4:7 (ERV)

2. Get Your Emotions In Gear. You’re a new creature, so it’s time to get excited, my friend. Tell someone — your best friend, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your husband or wife, your kids, your parents and grandparents, your neighbors, or your co-workers. Those who are Christians will get excited while those who are still lost will say something like “that’s nice” and give you a strange look (you can work on them later).

3. Engage your free will and take action.

Seek other Christians to help with your spiritual growth. Find a Christian church that teaches the only way to God is through His Son, Jesus Christ. If you have a church now and it is a place where believers come together to learn fellowship and encourage one another, stay there and get involved in a Bible study group.If your current church teaches the gospel of good works and religious rituals as the way to Heaven, you might be thinking that if you stay, you can change their teachings. But you will never change a cult or religion established by Satan. So it’s time to get out, and don’t look back.
Use the power of prayer (James 1:5) to seek God’s wisdom and direction for your life.

⁵Do any of you need wisdom? Ask God for it. He is generous and enjoys giving to everyone. So he will give you wisdom. James 1:5 (ERV)

It is through prayer that you can have intimate and personal conversations with your Father, tell Him how much you love Him, confess your struggles and sins and find forgiveness, share your desires, and discuss your family and friends. Remember, there isn’t any temptation in your life that Jesus hasn’t already experienced (Hebrews 4:15) so He understands and has compassion. Even if you don’t know exactly what to pray for sometimes, God has provided the safety net you need through the Holy Spirit.

⁶To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, “Father, my Father. Galatians 4:6 (GNT)

The Holy Spirit knows exactly what you need, and will pray to your Father when you need Him to do so.

Read the Bible because it’s the only place God can speak to you and where you can build your relationship with your Father and your brother, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was given to you for the purpose of unlocking the scriptures and teaching you God’s way.

¹³We speak about these things also. We do not use words of man’s wisdom. We use words given to us by the Holy Spirit. We use these words to tell what the Holy Spirit wants to say to those who put their trust in Him. 1 Corinthians 2:13 (NLV)

Read this book like you would read a favorite novel. The late Tom Clancy was one of my favorite authors; in fact, you could call me a Tom Clancy groupie. He used the same format in each of his books — the first 300 pages were always a struggle for me, because that is where he introduced his characters and developed his plot. But, I knew that the remaining 500 or 600 pages would be filled with nonstop excitement and adventure.

The Bible is the much the same. No matter where you begin, you may find the first 300 pages difficult to understand, but trust me, the Holy Spirit will begin to reveal God’s word to you in ways that you could never even imagine.

You don’t have to start with Genesis — you can begin anywhere. I started in the Book of Acts, which talks about the conversion of the apostle, Paul, and the start of his ministry. Then I read the remainder of the New Testament and started on the Old Testament.

Just read it and don’t try to dissect each verse. If you don’t understand it all, don’t worry. You will eventually begin to grasp the broad concepts of God’s word, finding that He really loves you and wants to renew His relationship with you through His Son, Jesus Christ. And Satan is on earth to destroy anything good God has planned for you if you let him.

As you mature in Christ, the Holy Spirit will open more of the Bible to your understanding. Just read your Bible and the Holy Spirit will take it from there. Understanding will come only when you start reading God’s word on a regular basis.

Until next month, my friend, may His mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.

Who Am I Really – Promises That Will Never Be Broken

Fri, 25 Oct 2013 01:21:03 +0000

Promises That Will Never Be Broken

There are more than 3,000 promises from God found in the Bible and these all belong to you. The promises God has given us are not broken into categories (yes, no or maybe), based on how you now act or what you say. They are all answered with a resounding YES in Christ.

²⁰The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ. And that is why we say “Amen” through Christ to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20 (ERV)

Here are a few of my favorite promises:

Your salvation and eternity is guaranteed by God Himself.

³⁸And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, ²⁹for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. John 10:28-29 (NLT)

Your Heavenly Father will now provide for you from His own riches.

¹⁹My God will use his glorious riches to give you everything you need. He will do this through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 (ERV)

You now have access to your Father 24/7.

¹⁴We can come to God with no doubts. This means that when we ask God for things (and those things agree with what God wants for us), God cares about what we say. 15 He listens to us every time we ask him. So we know that he gives us whatever we ask from him.” 1 John 5:14-15 (ERV)

When you fall into temptation and sin (and you will, we all do), you have forgiveness.

⁹But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins. 1 John 1:9 (TLB)

Who Am I Really – Your New Life Eternal

Fri, 25 Oct 2013 01:15:23 +0000

Your New Life Eternal

Welcome back, my brothers and sisters. For those of you who have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you’ve begun a wonderful new life in Christ, and this final lesson in the “Who Am I Really?” series is for you. While accepting Jesus may have been an exciting moment for some of you, others may not have experienced that same emotion. Regardless of how you felt at that moment, let me assure you that if you believed in your heart that your prayer for salvation was genuine, you were saved. Accepting God’s gift by His Grace is that simple.

Look at the wonderful promise of 2 Corinthians 5:17:

¹⁷This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT)

You learned in Lesson 1 that you are God’s very own special creation. He knitted you together in your mother’s womb with His own hands, and He wrote down His plan for your life before you were born. Then Satan came along, and through sin, stole the special creation that God had made. But by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have taken back the life that God planned for you. You have to start getting excited about that, friend!

The Holy Spirit now lives inside of you and will begin to work in your life, replacing your old sinful nature with your new spirit-filled nature.

²²But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things. Galatians 5:22-23 (ERV)

⁷The Spirit God gave us does not make us afraid. His Spirit is a source of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7

Who Am I Really – It’s Time to Take Back What Satan Has Stolen From You

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 19:52:35 +0000

It’s Time to Take Back What Satan Has Stolen From You

My friends, over these past five lessons I hope I have made some common sense of the greatest book ever written, the Bible. Below I will briefly summarize the five lessons I’ve written, and present you with a decision that each and every one of us must make at some point in our life. I feel sorry for those that have gone before us and neglected to make this decision. The scriptures clearly tell us that they are in Hell, spending eternity separated from their creator, God, our Heavenly Father.

Remember, as you read this invitation, you have the free will to decide to accept it or reject it. Right now, as you are reading this, I can assure you that Satan and his demonic minions are at work beside and in you trying to keep you from reading further. The phone will start ringing, someone will call out to you, the baby just woke up, the dog is barking at something outside, or you just remembered that television show you’ve been waiting all week to watch is about to come on.

I ask you to read on and to focus on you and God, blocking out everything else.

God created you and filled you with wonderful things and abilities; He deeply loves you and wants to be with you.
Satan stepped in and placed a wall of separation (sin) between you and God, and now you are physically and spiritually separated from Him.
Jesus Christ came to earth to destroy once and for all that wall of separation, and to restore your broken relationship with God. He died for you and your sinful nature so that you could be redeemed with your Heavenly Father who is waiting for you.
The Holy Spirit of God is waiting to come and live inside of you. He will unlock God’s Word to you, and He will help you build your new life and see all of the wonderful things God has hidden inside of you — things you can’t see because of your sinful nature.

Friend, this is your moment. Don’t let Satan interfere because he doesn’t care at all about you, and neither does this world we live in. His only goal is to destroy everything God wants for you and to keep you in Hell along with all the others that walked away at this moment.

Prepare your heart by reading what God has written in Romans 10:9-13 and Ephesians 2:8-9

⁹If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. ¹¹As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” ¹²Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. ¹³For “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” (NLT)

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (NKJV)

This is the first step of faith the Bible talks about — God’s gift to you, no strings attached. You can take it, accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, by just reading this simple prayer out loud from your heart, not your mind:

Dear God, I realize I am a sinner in need of salvation. I know that all my own good works and religious rituals can never save me. Only Jesus can save me. I believe that Jesus, my Savior, came to earth for me and that he died on the cross for my sins. I believe that He was buried and on the third day rose and now sits at your right hand as my advocate. I am asking Jesus to forgive my sins and to come into my life now and be my Lord and Savior now and forever more. Thank you for accepting me and giving me eternal life.

If you prayed this prayer with your heart and believe that Jesus Christ is now your Lord and Savior except for your birth, this is the most exciting day of your life. You are now redeemed with God, your Father. You have now secured your place in eternity with Him. The Bible tells us that right now everyone in Heaven is rejoicing with you. Can you hear them?

Welcome, my brother or sister, to the Kingdom of God.

I have one more lesson in the Who Am I Really series, and it is written especially for you. I will share with you all of the wonderful promises the Word of God now holds for you. You can now finish the puzzle of Who Am I Really. All of those colorful pieces that make you who you are will now fit together perfectly and you will see who God really intended you to be.

If you haven’t taken the step of faith above your lesson ends here. The final lesson is only for the saved, those who have accepted God’s gift of salvation.

If you didn’t take the step of faith yet, I would ask you to start the series again from the beginning. You need to decide why you would believe the lies of Satan and the world we live in rather than what the Bible says. Just like Satan and the rest of us, you have a free will to say yes or no to God. My prayer is that you won’t wait too long. Remember, you are only one short heartbeat away from eternity, and where you spend it is entirely up to you.

Until next time, my brothers and sisters, may Mercy, Peace, and Love be multiplied to you.

Who Am I Really – The Ministry of Jesus

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 19:47:46 +0000

The Ministry of Jesus

Some people may think that Jesus’ earthly ministry, ordained by God, was a failure. What did He really accomplish? He succeeded in alienating the very people he came to save, the Jews, who then crucified him.

For centuries the Jews had been promised by their prophets that their Messiah would soon come. I’m sure they waited with much anticipation for the arrival of a great King who would destroy the control of the Roman Empire and restore them to the days when King David ruled and they prospered They would celebrate this royal birth, and the Kingdom of Israel would be re-established for the entire world to see, envy, and fear.

But instead, a young man from Nazareth, a carpenter’s son, followed by a group of 12 men, some just fisherman and others of questionable reputation, enters the picture. I’m sure some said, “Really, this is the Messiah we were promised?”

But Jesus did not come to establish an earthly Kingdom to rule over them and restore them to greatness, instead he came to establish His Heavenly Kingdom for all eternity. The ministry of Jesus lasted just three years but with a definite purpose:

To testify to the truth of God.
To prepare a group of 12 men to go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world after His death and return to Heaven.
To die for our sins on the cross so that we can be reconciled to God our Father, thus breaking Satan’s hold through sin.

Let’s take a look at each purpose in more detail:

1. Testify to the truth of God:

Jesus’ response to Pilate as He stood before him a condemned man:

³⁷So Pilate asked him, “Are you a king, then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me.” John 18:37 (GNT)

What is this truth Jesus was talking about? We find the answer in John 14:5-6:

“⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way to get there?”
⁶Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.”
So we find that the only way to God, our Father, is through believing the truth of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection for our sins.

2. Prepare a group of 12 men to go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world after His death and return to Heaven.

For three years, these men followed Jesus. They witnessed Jesus heal the sick, make the lame walk, raise the dead, and feed 5,000 people with just five loafs of bread and two fishes. They listened to Him give the Sermon on the Mount and rebuke the religions’ leaders of the day, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They watched as he threw out the money changers in the Temple. They watched Him walk on water. They shared His last meal with Him before His crucifixion. They watched as one of their own betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. They saw Him arrested, beaten, and crucified. They saw Him after His resurrection from the dead. They watched as He ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God. And they were filled with His Holy Spirit so that they could carry on His ministry after He was gone. They witnessed everything.

Let’s listen to Jesus’ final instruction to His apostles just before He ascends up to Heaven to be with the Father.

⁴⁴Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. ⁴⁷It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’⁴⁸You are witnesses of all these things.
⁴⁹“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” Luke 24:44-49

Many of you may have heard Jesus say it this way in Mark 16:15-16:

¹⁵And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (NKJV)

It seems appropriate for Jesus to end His ministry on earth where He began it when he was baptized in Bethany.

⁵⁰And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Luke 24:50-51 (NASB)

3. Die for our sins and reconcile us to God, thus breaking Satan’s hold.

Paul best describes this in the book of Romans:

⁶For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷(For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? ¹¹Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11 (NET)

Don’t get me wrong, my friends. Jesus’ ministry on earth was only a failure in the eyes of the Jews. They were looking for a short term earthly solution to their pain and suffering. But Jesus was bringing an eternal Heavenly solution through His death, burial and resurrection that they didn’t understand, and when we don’t understand something what do we normally do?

It was important for Jesus to do what He did and to leave us an example of how God truly wants us to live our Christian life. You can turn to any page in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and find examples and practical answers to today’s problems. Jesus’ ministry was truly amazing. Who do you know who has had such a profound impact on the world since His death over 2,000 years ago?

Who Am I Really – The True Identity of Jesus

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 19:40:31 +0000

The True Identity of Jesus

Let’s correct a misconception, perpetuated by Satan, that Jesus was a great spiritual man, a prophet sent by God, and nothing more. Friends, this is a lie taught by those through cults and religions who preach Satan’s gospel of good works as the way to get to Heaven.

It is important that you understand the deity (his true identity) of Jesus Christ. Satan is constantly attacking this very truth in the world we live in order to keep you away from the redemptive power of believing in Jesus.

God has revealed Himself to us in three distinct Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — the Holy Trinity as it is referred to. Each Person plays a distinct role in our redemption with God. If I were able to explain to you how God can be three distinct persons, I would be in Heaven right now, because that is the only place the Bible says I will fully understand everything. I just believe it, why, because the Bible tells me so.

I would encourage you to stop now and read the book of John, chapter 14. You will learn how, at the Last Supper, Jesus prepared His disciples for His coming death on the cross. He told them to believe that He is in the Father and that the Father is in Him.

The disciples begin to realize their Rabbi and Lord for the past three years is about to leave them to fulfill His true purpose on this earth. They struggle with what Jesus is telling them and become afraid. What will happen to them once He is gone? Will the Jews turn on them next?

In John 14:18 Jesus gives them this assurance.

¹⁸“I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you.”

But, if Jesus is going to die and ascend up to Heaven to be with the Father, what does He mean “I will come to you”? Jesus introduced the third person of the Trinity — the Holy Spirit. Here is what Jesus explained to His disciples:

¹⁵“If you love me, you will do what I command. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever. ¹⁷The Helper is the Spirit of truth [who or what is the truth. The people of the world cannot accept him, because they don’t see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you. ¹⁸“I will not leave you all alone like orphans. I will come back to you. John 14:15-18 (ERV)

So when someone tells you that Jesus is not God, simply ask them to explain the 14th chapter of John.

Who Am I Really – Jesus Versus Satan – Round 1

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 19:37:12 +0000

Jesus vs Satan – Round 1

Let’s fast forward from the Garden of Eden about 4,000 years in the future, and meet a young man of 30, from Nazareth, as he walks down the hill in Bethany towards the Jordan River. He sees a large group of people who are being baptized by a scruffy- looking man, John the Baptist.

²⁸These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing. ²⁹On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ ³¹I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel.” ³²Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. ³³And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining—this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God.” John 1:28-34 (NET)

Thus begins the ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that will change the entire world for eternity. Satan had free reign up until now, but his worst nightmare has just arrived, as God foretold back in the Garden of Eden over 4,000 years ago.

After Jesus was baptized and full of the Holy Spirit, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to confront Satan. Satan had to realize that this was his best shot at getting Jesus to sin and break the chain of events (God revealed throughout the Bible) predicting his final doom. So I’m sure Satan was ready to pull out all the stops and give it that good, old college try. Pride can make us do stupid things sometimes.

For forty days, Jesus endured temptations from the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, he was famished. Remember Jesus is true God and true man. So the human side of Him had to be tired, hungry, and even weak — just where Satan wanted Him. When our ability to resist is at its lowest point, Satan will always present us with a temptation that plays on our emotions — a promise of instant gratification and escape from the trouble we are experiencing.
Three times Satan tries to get Jesus to sin (body, soul and spirit) against God, and three times he fails.

¹¹Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs. Matthew 4:11 (NET)

However, Satan knows that if Jesus succeeds in God’s plan, his reign as the god of this world is over. Why did God send His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth?

¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. John 3:16-17 (NKJV)

Simply put, Jesus came to destroy the power of sin that separates us from our Father and to restore our fellowship with Him. So Satan slinks away, and will bide his time, looking to strike again later.

¹³So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time. Luke 4:13 (NET)

So you see, friends, during His earthly ministry, Jesus was constantly tempted by Satan. So when you cry out to God that you are going through something that no one else has experienced, you are not correct because Jesus went through the very same thing.

¹⁴Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:14-15 (NET)

I’m going to stop here and move on, because how Jesus handles Satan’s temptation is a wonderful series unto itself, and I will write about that in a future study called “Handling Temptations the Jesus Way.”

First Round goes to Jesus!

Who Am I Really – The Announcement of Our Savior

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 19:33:01 +0000

The Announcement of Our Savior

Welcome back, friend. I hope after reading the last lesson, you have started to think about who you are, and that you can now make more sense out of some of the dark puzzle pieces that fit together to make you. Like you, I too, am a sinner, and have the same dark qualities as you. When I study and prepare to write my lessons, I feel the same way you do when you read them.

Before we move on, let’s go back and see what happened to Satan in the Garden of Eden. Satan had been forced out of Heaven for his prideful rebellion against God, and on Earth, he had separated God’s most cherished creations from Him through Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. God didn’t bother to ask Satan why he had done what he did. He had enough of Satan. In Genesis 3:14-15, God pronounces His judgment on Satan He has placed him under an eternal curse:

¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. (NKJV)

Satan was once the most beautiful and smartest angel in Heaven. A Cherub, he wore clothing covered in jewels and trimmed in gold, and guarded the very throne of God. But now, in front of all, Satan is forced to eat humble pie. God humiliates him in his own earthly kingdom by making him lower than any other human being or animal on earth.

And then the final blow is dealt when Satan is told that his goal of separating man from God, our Father, will fail. God shares His eternal plan, which involves the redemption of men and women from the curse of sin and death. He is the first to announce the birth of our Redeemer and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

God has already given us hope of a Redeemer, (Genesis 3:15) which is sometimes referred to as the protoevangelium, the first announcement of Jesus in Scripture

What does between your offspring and hers mean? Aren’t all children born by woman? Yes, but all offspring of Satan are born by man’s seed because of the sin of Adam. There is only one person — Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior — who was not born by man’s seed, but by woman, a virgin, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born sinless because He was not conceived or corrupted by man’s seed.

Who Am I Really – Satan and His Followers Construct Even Greater Deception

Sun, 06 Oct 2013 22:45:51 +0000

Satan and His Minions Construct an Even Greater Deception

If Satan and his demonic minions, sworn enemies of God, work diligently to blind us to the truth of God’s Word, why wouldn’t they build on that by creating another way to God —a way that excludes the redemption with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, and that is based on following rituals and doing good works as a way to get to Heaven?

Now let’s take your knowledge of right and wrong (your moral compass), combine it with your pride and selfishness (your old nature, the flesh) and take an imaginary trip to a meeting of Satan and his demonic minions. Take a deep breath and use your imagination as you read these next paragraphs.

You are now in the war room of Satan and his demonic minions. They are planning their revenge and how to attack God.

Satan: We need a better way to confuse the people of earth so that God cannot redeem them to Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. These people and their souls belong to me, and I’m not going to give them up without a fight. I’ve copied everything God has done so far and twisted it for my own use so that non-believers cannot see the truth of God’s Word. But we’re still losing the battle.

One of his minions: What if you start your own gospel of salvation, one that runs parallel to God’s true plan for salvation?

Satan: What do you mean?

One of his minions: Well you’ve successfully corrupted their souls through sin, so why not build on it?

Satan: Go on.

One of his minions: We know what drives these people; they are no different than we are. Let’s play to their pride and selfishness. You’ve become the master of temptation — use it against their belief in God.

Satan: You’re losing me.

One of his minions: What if you provided them a gospel of salvation that played on their moral compass and their sinful nature? It would be a gospel that allows them to take pride in achieving their way to Heaven through their ability to work for it. Then they can boast to their friends and family about what they’ve done. It would be an alternative to God’s gospel of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Satan: What would you call this gospel, and how would we get this message to the lost?

One of his minions: The Gospel of Good Works is your way to Heaven, but leave out the part that true redemption only comes through grace and the belief in Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

Another demonic minion: Next we establish different kinds of cults for people to follow— ones that suit their individual sinful desires. Then we establish different religions that preach the way to God is by keeping religious rituals and by your own good deeds —things they can do and keep track of, things that make them feel good about themselves. We’ll teach and promote the harder you work at being a good person, the easier it will be to get into heaven. But, from the pulpit and from their religious leaders they will never hear the truth that God’s gospel of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ as the only way to Heaven.

Satan: I like it! This will keep them busy and away from the truth of God’s Word. Let’s put everything we have into establishing these cults and religions. This should really put a kink into God’s plans.

Does this sound weird or a little farfetched? Take a look at 2 Timothy 4:3-4:

“³The time will come when people will not listen to the truth. They will look for teachers who will tell them only what they want to hear. ⁴They will not listen to the truth. Instead, they will listen to stories made up by men.” (NLV)

Now read Colossians 2:20-23:

“²⁰Since you died, as it were, with Christ and this has set you free from following the world’s ideas of how to be saved—by doing good and obeying various rules—why do you keep right on following them anyway, still bound by such rules as ²¹not eating, tasting, or even touching certain foods? ²²Such rules are mere human teachings, for food was made to be eaten and used up. ²³These rules may seem good, for rules of this kind require strong devotion and are humiliating and hard on the body, but they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires. They only make him proud.” (TLB)

Friends, do not sell Satan short and ignore what is going on around you and inside of you. But, God’s Word assures us that Satan and his demonic minions will lose in the end.

In our next chapter you will learn how to turn the life I’ve just described around 180 degrees. Join me as we turn your defeat into glorious victory.

Until next time, my friend, may Mercy, Peace, and Love be multiplied to you.