Go On Rejoicing!

Acts 8:32-40

The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

The story is that Philip was looking for what he was supposed to do next for the Lord. The Lord responded by telling him to follow the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch. When Philip followed, he heard the eunuch struggling to understand Isaiah 53:7,8. Philip asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading, and the eunuch responded asking "How can I unless someone explains it to me." Philip took a seat on the eunuch's chariot to discuss the passage. The eunuch asked Philip to please tell him. The eunuch was honestly trying to figure out who this person in Isaiah 53 was. "His hands were pierced... " "...he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Who was this? The eunuch wanted to know and was seeking an answer, to a point of asking a complete stranger to sit on his chariot with him. That's like asking a person you don't know a thing about to get in your car after he yells something at you. That's crazy and dangerous, but the eunuch was too desperate to give up an opportunity to know who this person could be.
When someone, regardless of there position seeks God, God gives the means for that person to know Him. This seems like a broad statement that is hard to grasp, and that seems unlikely. That is because it is. No one person of earth has been in the same situation as everyone else or knows how anyone else personally came to God unless they told them the story. We can't know. Such things are, as David said, "to great for us to understand." But we know how we have come to God and what He has taught us, and that we need to share that with as many people as possible around us. Philip understood this. Remember, Philip did not know the eunuch either, he could have been in trouble if he got on the chariot. But he took a seat anyways, because He knew that He had to explain the One written about in Isaiah 53. Philip told the eunuch the good news about Jesus having died on the cross, and that He was the One written about in Isaiah 53.

As they moved on and spoke, they passed by water and the eunuch said, "Why should I not be baptized?" So they stopped the journey and Philip baptized the eunuch as a display of the eunuch's faith in Jesus Christ. When they came out of the water, the Holy Spirit took Philip away and the eunuch never saw him again. How crazy would that be to see someone disappear in front of you and never see him again? But the most important part for this post is what came after. "... but the eunuch went on rejoicing." That "but" in the sentence implies two things. The first is that they went separate ways to follow God in their own way. The second is that their separation was not a crutch. Even though Philip had just told the eunuch about Jesus Christ and had a mass of other knowledge about Him and His teachings, God Himself made it evident that Philip himself was not necessary to help the eunuch stay faithful to Jesus alone. That's not saying, go tell someone about Jesus and walk out of their lives forever, no. It's just that it's not necessary. Why? Because the relationship of someone and God depends on just those two: God and the individual. That's how it has always been and always will be. Are we called to continue to encourage other Christians around us? Yes. And Philip did so, but where he was sent. Even though he told the eunuch first about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it was because God asked Him to and because the eunuch was earnestly seeking Him out. Philip was just a tool in that moment for God to work through for the eunuch. The eunuch's faith depended on Him and God's relationship, not on Philip.

We Christians like to believe we are responsible for whether someone believes in Jesus or not. We have nothing to do with it at all. A relationship's value depends on the people involved and no one else. A Christian telling someone about the Gospel is the equivalent of telling someone they should be with this person. It's up to the person to accept God's proposal. We tell other people of Gospel and of our story with God. That is what the great commission commands us to do. But then God comes in. We are not necessary to do God's work. God did not need Philip to bring the eunuch to Him, but Philip was willing to be used by God, so God used Him. We should be willing to be used God for any and all reasons. We should be without fear, and abandon ourselves to do His work. We must not take credit for anything He does through us, but thank Him that we could be used for something so Joyful and praise Him that we could experience Him work. Then we can go on rejoicing to find the next thing we can do for God, just as Philip and the eunuch did.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

The 1 or the 9?

Luke 17:11-19

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"
When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.
On of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him - and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

This post is to continue to previous post where I spoke of how God does so much to save us. So before reading this read that one first.

Now the beginning of the passage is Jesus walking along the border when 10 men with leprosy cry out to Him. Now, Jesus was God in human form on earth, He knew those men were there and were going to call to Him. In fact, He could have just healed them by looking at them or just when He passed by, He is God, He could have done anything. But He waited until they called out to Him for pity. God waits for us to call to Him for our sins to be forgiven. He waits for us to repent for how we have wronged Him and ruined what He made. He waits so that He might receive glory for forgiving us for our sins by making us clean.
God is the only one who can forgive our sins. So when He forgives us, He lets us, and all those around us know the He has forgiven us for our sins and changed us. As far as the reason why He does not just forgive us right away (I've been asked this many times at school) the best answer I have is, how can someone receive forgiveness if they do not face the fact that they did something wrong. The men with leprosy were of course going to yell out to Jesus for healing, they had leprosy! They were afflicted with this thing that was killing them, they wanted it gone. In the same way, our sin kills us. It can sometimes not be as obvious as a painful disease, but it all the more worse than leprosy. Our sin leads to eternal death. It is the most afflicting thing we suffer from. So we must see that it is wrong and cry out desperately for healing. Then when we are healed we are different and appear so to all.

Jesus told the men with leprosy to go and show themselves to the priests. The men were healed along the way. So when the priests would see them later, they would see the difference and the power of Jesus. When we are forgiven, we are changed from the inside out. And all people around us see that. They see the Joy of God within us and God's Love and Power. They see it and God then receives glory through us. For we are put in God's light and exposed to the world when we are forgiven so that the world might see God's work in us and glorify His name. But also so that we might ourselves see the work God has done in and for us.

One of the men saw that he was clean, and ran back to Jesus to praise Him in a loud voice and fall at His feet. The Bible even mentions that he was a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered very low in the eyes of the Jews. And of all the men that were healed, this one who was so low came back running and screaming in praise of Jesus and fell at His feet in praise and thanks. I Love picturing myself as the Samaritan. I am a sinner, I am lowly and I fall short everyday. I know all of this, and then I see Jesus and call out to Him for the Mercy and Forgiveness that He freely gives. And when I see that my burden of sin is gone, I run back to Him and fall at His feet screaming and yelling in my Joy. I fall not because of my heavy burden of sin, that is gone. No! I fall at His feet because of the sheer weight of His wonderful Love and Forgiveness that is pouring out on me like the oceans of the world on my heart. I feel such Joy that I don't want to live in my sin or this world anymore and just want to stay on the ground at His feet singing and shouting for all eternity. For He is such a Loving God, and I never want to leave Him.

Jesus asked where the other nine men were, and there was no answer written, but that itself was the answer. What mattered was that they did not come back to Jesus to praise Him and thank Him. They did not come back. So Jesus told the Samaritan to rise and go, for his faith made him well. God forgives those that come to Him asking for forgiveness for the sins that afflict them. But those that change and then come back to Jesus are the faithful ones. They continue to have faith in Jesus. They continue to remember that even though they are forgiven, they messed up in the first place and are still lowly. So Jesus calls them to rise and go. He calls us to rise and shine in this world, to go out and be used by Him to change the things around us. He uses the weak to humble the great. And in the process, Jesus raises us up in His Love.

What will it feel like to have our shame completely cast away, and hear Jesus say "Rise"? Oh I wait for that with a heart filled with Joy and Hope. I am a sinner who cried out to Him for forgiveness for my wrongs. He answered with forgiveness, and with an ocean of Love that I am drowning in. Now I am fallen at His feet shouting thanks. And I will go and show all those around me that He has made me different, and that I no longer belong to this world, but to Him. And I do this while doing my best to not be like the other nine. To not forget the one who has saved me from my sin, but continue remembering my sinfulness. And I wait for the time where I am called to see Him. When I see Him, well I can write that part when I experience it, because for now words cannot express it. So this is me, now who are you? The 1 or the 9?

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

How Much To Save Someone

Genesis 19:16,17

When he (Lot) hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"

The men were the holy servants of the Lord that were sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. They told Lot to run so he might not perish with the sinful people of these cities. When he hesitated, they grabbed him and his wife and daughters and dragged them out of the city. Then they yelled at them to run away and not stop or look back.
God wanted to save Lot. That is the fact to keep in mind with this passage. God first had His servants tell Lot to run. When he hesitated, God had His servants forcibly make Lot leave his possessions and his home. When God wants someone to be saved, He makes sure to save them. Now this might start to sound like a lack of free will. Does that mean that God actually makes us become Christians and others not Christians? In no way is this true, not for us, and not for Lot and his family.
The servants of the Lord warned Lot and his family not to look back at all. To look back is trying to remember and worry about what is being left behind, to yearn for it. Lot's wife did not heed this warning. She looked back, and upon doing so, she was turned into a pillar of salt. God gave them every driving force besides taking control of them in order to save them. He left the final choice to them. In the same way, God can do everything in His power to bring someone to believe in His Son Jesus Christ. My life was filled with His intervention and power. I wouldn't exist if it weren't for His working in my parents' lives, let alone my being a Christian. There are some people who would argue with this as well and say that God is showing favoritism by doing more for other people to bring them to His glory and Love. That is a lie. Romans 1:20 makes that clear:
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
We have been given free will just like Lot and his wife and daughters. Because of this, we can have no excuse because God calls to everyone who lives, only those who listen to Him will receive Him.

This can sound harsh to so many people on the outside of God's Love, but to me, this passage is beautiful. Replace Lot with yourself, and the Lord's servants with the Lord Himself. Imagine our God being so Loving as to come down to our lowly place in order to tell us to run to Him and have faith in Him so we don't perish. And every time we might hesitate, He grabs us by the hand and pulls us while yelling clearly that this world is going to perish and that He doesn't want us to desire it. He yells that He wants us to desire Him instead, so that instead of dying, we get to live on with Him. The part where He grabs my hand to pull me to safety, it gives me so much Joy to know I am saved by this God, this God who never changes or lets go. He has forgiven us so long ago knowing full well all of our sins, and He still died and says even now, you are forgiven, now please come with me and let me Love you. That is our God.
So go out and share Him with those around you, for you might just be one of the servants God is trying to save someone else with.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Curses to Cures

Genesis 1:27

God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:31

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.

If there was one thing about yourself that you could change, what would it be? Be honest. For me it would be my Crohn's disease, which for a couple years now has been my thorn. We all have something we would change. But no matter how much we ask God, He usually doesn't change them. Why? Because He made us that way. Yeah I suffer from my Crohn's disease repeatedly and I've missed out on some stuff because of it, but I have learned many important lessons from it. This disease has been used by God to teach me a ton of lessons that have changed me for the better.

We are all made unique by God. And yes there are things about us that are not what we or the world would call glamorous or beautiful. But these things make us who we are. We need to accept them as parts of ourselves, not just the parts we like. There are things in this world deemed as lesser: Downs, autism, genetic defects. There are things people get: Cancer, diabetes, diseases. These things become part of the person they affect. Many wonder, "How can a God of Love do this to someone if He Loves them?" But we have been cursed since Adam and Eve instilled the sinful nature within us and this world. All our suffering comes from our sin. But just like God made sure Cain was taken care of after he was exiled for killing Abel, God has made sure we are safe despite our bodies being cursed by this world's sinful existence. He has given us His Son, Jesus Christ, to put our hope in for a future in Heaven with Him and our Father. So now of being forever stuck with the things that afflict us, we are allowed a new future. And with this God has turned our bodies' curses to cures.

Now instead of a curse that plagues us, it is a reminder of the hope we have. These things are now also being used by God to change us and teach us. To change us into better followers in order to spread God's Kingdom on earth and to help store up our treasures in Heaven. We are no longer cursed, but are cured. That is why God sees all that He has made and calls it good. He calls us His children and Loves us the way we are made. Every part of us has been made for glorifying Him and for growing us in preparation for the time when we are called by God to come into His Kingdom.

We don not always understand why things happen the way they do, but God does. He knows everything about our future and says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jer. 29:11 Take pride in humble position God has put you in as it says in James, for the things that we and this world call "faults" and "curses" are the things that will bring us the most in Heaven, if we let God use them to teach us. I can now say, that I would not ask God to take away my Crohn's Disease unless there wasn't a single thing that I could not learn from it or use to glorify Him more. The things that curse us are truly the things the God uses to cure us. So don't desire physical change, desire Spiritual change, for our Loving God will surely give it.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Thank You For the Good

No one is good not even one. This is true, meaning I am not good. If I am not good then I have done nothing good in this life. I have only done bad. So, I declare that it is God who has done every good thing through me, and He has also forgiven me for all the bad. God thank you for using me to bring what good this life has brought to this world. I'm sorry for the bad I've brought and the time I've wasted. Please forgive me, and help me change. Because the time is coming, when all of this won't matter. That day, I will be able to boast of the one good thing I did: Accepting You O Lord as my Savior, and my Friend. Thank You!

Your List

Matthew 7:13,14

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

What is the way into the narrow gate? It is Jesus. For a Christian that is an immediate and easy answer. But we usually answer the question and leave it at that. We don't let ourselves start thinking about the answers other people come up with, or if they even have an answer. But we know one thing, that Jesus is the ONLY way through the narrow gate.
Think of the 10 nicest people you know in life. Next to each of their names, put down Christian, Not a Christian, or I don't know. Unless the answer was Christian, then there is little to no chance of that person going to Heaven. One of the nicest people you know, not going to Heaven? That's one of the thoughts I have personally avoided thinking about because of how grim it sounds, but that was a great mistake that I feel guilty for making. God tells us that the end is near. He also tells us that man's life is but a breath. Take a normal breath right now... there is your life. That's how fast life seems when taking eternal life into account. Today could be the last day for you or the people on your list. That's another grim thought that I seem to avoid at all costs, and sadly I feel like I'm not alone in this. But the time to change this is now. We might not have tomorrow. And the thing is, who's list of people ends at 10? We know a lot more people than that. How many are there that you need to talk to?
The passage says that few will find the narrow gate, and looking at the world now, this seems more true than ever. But why do the people we know already have to be counted with the many? The faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain, who says that Christians can't change the world around them? Has it not been done before? Yes, and more than once. We are walking on the narrow road toward the small gate of Life. It is up to God and to the person whether they will stop walking on the broad road and take the narrow, but we can still reach out and call to them and tell them about the road we are walking on.

Time is short, the paths are long, and the worlds at the end of each are forever. Are you on the narrow? If you are, are those around you on it as well? If they are, have Joy and encouragement with them. If they are not, do everything in your power to change that. Pray and do not end the flow of words from God through your hands and mouth. I learned that not writing and speaking when God is asking you to only seems to hurt everyone. So I say again, time is short, who is on your list?

The Flower's Lesson

I walked along the valley's edge,

And I noticed it coming out of the hedge.

A plant covered in flowers, growing over the trail.

Each flower was beautiful, but frail.

At the base the flowers were already dead.

Their purpose in life was done and said.

But at the other end, the flowers had yet to grow.

When I saw this plant, I knew it was not time for a devo.

The plant showed how short life is from beginning to end.

And how this "long life" we think we have is only pretend.

This sight told me to go,

And talk to the people I know.

The people who I have neglected,

Who's lives I could have affected.

But I have chosen to do nothing,

When so often I should have done something.

To feel this conviction from a flower,

It shows me how far reaching is God's power.

So I turned around and started to leave,

To talk to those for whom I did not want to grieve.

The God who made the earth and space,

And Loves me enough to give me Grace;

Told me with a plant to tell others

That those who are saved are Jesus' brothers.

God's message I was not going to miss.

And so I decided to finally act upon this,

I got up to do

What God told me to.

I went and talked to the first person that came to mind.

And when I talked to her, she was nothing but kind.

For Jesus receiving,

Is better than grieving.

Talk to that person,

Before their lives worsen.

For we are like this plant's flowers.

We might build legacies and towers,

But very soon one day,

We will all fade away.

-JoshuaJJ

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen

That Moment

Isaiah 12

In that day you will say:

"I will praise you O Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say:

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

The God whose anger has turned away, who has comforted me and given me salvation. The God who has taken my fears away, and has become my strength and my song of Joy. I know now that when I leave this earth, that I will experience the greatest moment of my now, entire eternal life. It will be the first time that I see the face that was twisted in pain. The face that could not turn away as the Son was slain. The face that has rivers of tears that dwarfed the world's oceans, flowing down as He saw the King murdered by the people He was saving. It will be when I look into the eyes that are more pure and piercing than a blade of diamond. It will be when I hear the voice filled with authority, power, and kindness telling me I am forgiven for my sins. And it will be the embrace of gentle comfort that brings eternal Peace. That will be the best moment of my life. I will no longer be sad or afraid, then, or now. Instead, I will give thanks and praise Him. I will call on Him in the hard times to remind me of this moment that will come in but a breath of time. I will go out and make known of Him, what He has done, and of this moment that I wait for to all of this world. I will sing before all the world without shame and hold on to Him when I am ridiculed for it. I will shout aloud and sing for Joy. For He has given me Joy in my Hope to see His face before I fall before Him in praise and feelings that cannot be know to me as a man, but will be made known to me when I see Him. I was all things wrong and broken, but now I am Free and Joyful. There is no limit to His Love and Salvation.

God, You have saved me, and so many others. Please use us to save more, because we cannot keep this feeling to ourselves. This moment must be experience by as many as possible. Help us to fill Your house for all eternity, a word we use so lightly, but that holds meaning beyond our understanding. God, help me remember that I'm small, that You are God, and that I am Free thanks to You and You only. Thank You for my Freedom, I await the day I come home to You, and live this moment. Thank You for Loving me.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen