Exodus 14:13 And Moses said to the people, g“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For hthe Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

2Chronicles 20:17 gYou will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ dDo not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, hand the LORD will be with you.”

Psalms 89:28     My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my kcovenant will stand firm* for him.

Isaiah 46:8       “Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, xyou transgressors,

Daniel 11:32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

1Corinthians 16:13   zBe watchful, astand firm in the faith, bact like men, cbe strong.

2Corinthians 1:24 Not that we slord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm tin your faith.

Galatians 5:1   For sfreedom Christ has tset us free; ustand firm therefore, and do not submit again to va yoke of wslavery.

Ephesians 6:13 Therefore ptake up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in qthe evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Philippians 4:1   Therefore, my brothers,* whom I love and jlong for, kmy joy and lcrown, mstand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

2Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers, dstand firm and hold to ethe traditions that you were taught by us, either fby our spoken word or by four letter.

1Peter 5:12   By oSilvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, pI have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is qthe true grace of God. rStand firm in it.

The glory of the gospel is this: The one from whom we need to be saved is the one who saved us.
– R C Sproul

God needs men today -

• Men who will stand before His face and hear His voice daily,
• Men who have no desire in their heart for anyone or anything other than God Himself,
• Men who fear Him so greatly that they hate sin in every form and love righteousness and truth in all their ways,
• Men who have overcome anger and sexually sinful thoughts, and who would rather die than sin even in thought or attitude,
• Men whose daily lifestyle is one of taking up the cross and pressing on to perfection, and who are constantly working out their own salvation with fear and trembling,
• Men, full of the Holy Spirit, who are so rooted and grounded in love that nothing can ever move them into an unloving attitude towards another human being, however great the provocation,
• Men who are so rooted and grounded in humility that neither human praise nor spiritual growth, neither a divinely endorsed ministry nor anything else will be able to make them lose the awareness of their being less than the least of all the saints,
• Men who have an understanding of God’s nature and purpose through His word, and who tremble at that word so that they will not disobey even the smallest commandment or neglect to teach it to others,
• Men who will proclaim the whole counsel of God and expose religious harlotry and unscriptural human traditions,
• Men who have the revelation of the Holy Spirit on the secret of godliness, on Christ having come in the flesh and opened a new and living way through the flesh,
• Men who are diligent and hard-working, but who also have a sense of humour, and know how to relax and play with children and enjoy God’s good gifts in nature,
• Men who are not ascetics, but who at the same time live a disciplined life and who are not afraid of hardships,
• Men who have no interest in expensive clothing or sight seeing and who will not waste their time in unprofitable activities or their money in unnecessary purchases,
• Men who have mastered their desire for fancy foods and who are not enslaved to music or sport or any other legitimate activity,
• Men who have been disciplined successfully by God in the fires of affliction, abuse, tribulations, false accusation, physical sickness, financial hardships and opposition from relatives and religious leaders,
• Men full of mercy, who can sympathise with the worst of sinners and the worst of believers, and have hope for them, because they consider themselves to be the foremost of all sinners,
• Men who are so deeply rooted in the security of the love of their Heavenly Father that they are never anxious about anything, or afraid of Satan or evil men or difficult situations or anything,
• Men who have entered into God’s rest, believing in the sovereign working of God in all matters for their best and who therefore give thanks always for all men, for all things and in all circumstances,
• Men who find their joy in God alone and who are therefore full of the joy of the Lord, having overcome all bad moods,
• Men of living faith, who have no confidence in themselves or their natural abilities, but complete confidence in God as their unfailing Helper in all situations,
• Men who live, not by the promptings of their own reason, but by the leading of the Holy Spirit,
• Men who have been genuinely baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire by Christ Himself (and not just thrilled by some emotional counterfeit or convinced by some theological argument),
• Men who live constantly under the anointing of the Spirit, endowed with the supernatural gifts that He has given them,
• Men who have revelation of the church as the body of Christ (and not a congregation or a denomination), and who give all their energies, their material wealth and spiritual gifts to build that church,
• Men who have learnt to bridle their tongues through the help of the Holy Spirit and whose tongues are now aflame with the divine Word,
• Men who have forsaken all, who are not attracted any more to money or material things, and who desire no gifts from others,
• Men who can trust God for all their earthly needs and who never hint about their material needs or boast about their labours, either in their conversation or through letters and reports,
• Men who are not stubborn, but gentle, and open to criticism and eager for correction from older and wiser brothers,
• Men who have no desire to dominate or advise others (although ready to give advice, when asked for), and who have no longing to be considered as ‘elder’ brothers, or leaders, but who only desire to be ordinary brothers and servants of all,
• Men who are easy to get along with, and who are willing to be inconvenienced and taken advantage of by others,
• Men who will make no distinction between the millionaire and the beggar, the white-skinned and the dark-skinned, the intellectual and the idiot, and the cultured and the barbarian, but who will treat them all alike,
• Men who will never be influenced by their wife, children, relatives, friends or other believers to cool off even slightly in their devotion to Christ or their obedience to God’s commandments,
• Men who can never be bribed to compromise by any reward that Satan may offer (whether honour or money or whatever),
• Men who are fearless witnesses for Christ, fearing neither religious heads nor secular heads,
• Men who desire to please no human being on the face of the earth, and who are willing to offend all men, if necessary, in order to please God alone,
• Men for whom God’s glory, God’s will and God’s kingdom always take priority over mere human need and their own comfort,
• Men who cannot be pressurised either by others or by their own reason into doing ‘dead works’ for God, but who are eager and content to do the revealed will of God for their lives alone,
• Men who have the discernment of the Spirit to distinguish between the soulish and the spiritual in Christian work,
• Men who look at things from a heavenly view point and not an earthly one,
• Men who will refuse all earthly honours and titles offered them for their labours for God,
• Men who know how to pray without ceasing, and also how to fast and pray when needed,
• Men who have learned to give generously, cheerfully, secretly and with wisdom,
• Men who are willing to be all things for all men, so that by all means they might save some,
• Men who have a longing to see others not only saved but also made disciples of Christ, and brought to the knowledge of the truth and to obedience to all of God’s commandments,
• Men who have a longing to see a pure testimony established for God in every place,
• Men who have a burning passion to see Christ glorified in the church,
• Men who do not seek their own in any matter,
• Men with spiritual authority and spiritual dignity,
• Men who will stand alone for God in the world, if need be,
• Men who are totally uncompromising, like the apostles and prophets of old.

God’s work in the world suffers today, because such men are few in number. Determine with all your heart that you will be such a man for God, in the midst of a sinful and adulterous generation and a compromising Christendom. Since there is no partiality with God, it is possible for you too to be such a man, provided you yourself earnestly desire to be one. Since God demands commitment and obedience only in the conscious area of one’s life, it is possible for you to be such a man, even though the conscious area of your life may be limited. (That area will keep increasing as you walk in the light and press on to perfection). There is no excuse then why you cannot be such a man. Since nothing good dwells in the flesh, we have to seek for grace from God to have the virtues listed above. Cry out to God daily then, that He will give you grace to be such a man in these, the closing days of the age.

© Copyright - Zac Poonen

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Last night the message was about that one of the purposes; of suffering is to help us focus on being silent and with God. It helps us let go of all the shallow, banal, unimportant things in life and to focus in on the important things; God.The text we looked at was Lamentation 3. It is amazing to me to see Jeremiah how he starts looking at his suffering and then moves into the comfort of the Lord. Jeremiah states after listing off how the Lord has made him suffer; he states that the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord… Let him sit alone in silence… (Lamentations 3:25;28

hero |?hi(?)r?| |?hiro?| |?h??r??|

noun ( pl. -roes)

a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities : a war hero.

• the chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

• (in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semidivine origin, in particular one of those whose exploits and dealings with the gods were the subject of ancient Greek myths and legends.

• (also hero sandwich) another term for submarine sandwich .

Growing up I role played a lot of different super heroes. Some of my favorites were the Six Million Dollar man, Starbuck (Battle Star Galactica), Green Lantern and the Flash. I suppose it is a male thing. I wanted to be a super hero. Why not? Look at who they were. They had neat costumes, good writers, amazing powers and were out to make a difference.

Who wouldn’t want to be Bruce Wayne living the millionaire life style and then every night suiting up and playing hero. What a great way to relieve the tension of hours in the board room or suffering the cocktail parties.

When I got a little older, I always wanted to be a samurai/ninja (Yes, yes I know that is an oxymoron, someday we can discuss Japanese history if you want). I always was fascinated with martial arts (took 10 years of karate when I was young, and in shape). I liked the idea of slipping unseen into a place and kicking butt.

One of the common themes I see in all these heroes whether super hero or just movie hero is anger, rage, cold steel determination. They are fueled with anger, (The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine), or the anger drives them to fight better (Martin Riggs (Lethal Weapon), Superman, Batman, Spider man). The other thing I notice is it seems that all of the super heroes that I can think of have had to use the “evil doers” methods. They will steal, hurt, kill in order to save people, usually their loved ones.

There is one, who was something incredibly different than what we consider a hero. This man was ordinary, gentle, despised by the world, probably thought of as a coward, never stooped to someone else’s level to win a battle. He has more power than any hero before or after him, real or make believe. He fought his battles in the most unexpected ways. He used love and kindness. He confounded his contemporaries, going against every worldly thought they had. He used gentleness instead of power, he used love instead of anger. What kind of hero was he?

He allowed himself to be sacrificed in the most humiliating way.

He was whipped, and beaten

He was nailed to the cross

He hung there in pain, each nail being pounded in to his hands.

He took all the sin, all the slime that this despicable world had and embraced it to take it from the world.

He hung there and did nothing. Why didn’t he do anything?

He had power beyond belief. He didn’t have to suffer.

He hung there because he HAD to die.

He had to die in order to save us!

Christ came to save us. From the time he started his ministry (maybe from the time he was born) he had one mission that is to prepare us for the moment on the cross. He did not do this for glory. He did not do this for fame. He did it out of love and obedience. He did it to fulfill his Father’s plan of our redemption.

Christ redefines what a hero is. My hero worship only goes to one place now!

“Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”” 
(Luke 18:25 NIV-G/K) 

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 
(1Corinthians 1:18 NIV-G/K) 

There is a question that have been repeatedly going through my mind in the last several days. 

Do I need a Savior? 

I have been thinking a lot about the verses above and how it not only relates to those that are not Christians but it relates to us, who are Christians as well, maybe even more so. 

If we need food, we drive to mcdonalds. 
If we need money, we get out our credit card. 
If we are bored, we turn on our televisions and computers. 
If we hurt, we go to the doctor. 
If we are depressed we take a prozac. 

In our society we worship wealth, power, and strength. We prize people who are independent and can solve their own problems. People are suppose to be self-sufficient. 

If you look at my upbringing, I lived in a house where we always had food, always had television (actually we had 6 or 7). If we are strong enough, if we are smart enough, if we had enough money, there is not a problem that cannot be solved. I understand perfectly well why my parents and sisters do not feel they need a savior. My family believes they have enough money to solve any problem. We are told we need to have self-esteem and that we are to be brave, strong and independent. The world owes us respect, we deserve prosperity and happiness. 

I am not writing this to the non-believers. I am writing this for myself. I am writing this to my brothers and sisters in Christ. We think to ourselves, “life is good”. we go to work or school, we come home, we watch television every night, we worship at church, we go to bible studies, we participate where needed. we have people who love us, we have plenty of food on the table, oh sure there are problems, but they are minor. We do all the right things in all the right ways and we just cruise along thinking God is blessing us and all is well. The enemy has brainwashed us into believing we are self-sufficient. 

What do our testimonies say? What do our lives say? Do we need a savior? I think that it would be very easy to exchange the word rich for the concept of being self-sufficient. Self-Sufficiency closes the door on God, our savior and puts us exactly where the enemy wants us. Alone and vulnerable. 

A decision needs to be made: Who is in control? God or us? 

Being a God fearing; Christ loving Christian is contradictory to being self-sufficient. God doesn’t need our help. God wants us to totally depend on Him. Our walk with Christ is counter-intuitive to the world. God calls us to: 

•Trust in him (Proverbs 3:5) 
•Depend on Him for our needs (Matthew 6:25-34) 
•Bring our broken heart and spirit to Him (Psalm 51:17) 
•God is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46 1-3) 
•Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you (Psalm 55:22) 
(And many other verses) 

Do we live a life of self-sufficiency or God-dependency? 

Please let me know what you think? Am I thinking right or am I just insane? What am I missing?

The year is ending and a new one is just about ready to begin. This is the time of year where many people take a look at their life and evaluate it. This is the time to celebrate or regret the past and move on into the future. It is out with the old and in with the new. A time of transition.

We are at the end of the holiday season. A time for togetherness, family and love. The holiday season has always been a very hard time for me. From the first of November to the first week of January, I want to hide, hibernate in my apartment. Let’s just say I do not have an idyllic relationship with my family and I always seemed to bring everyone else down or cause problems.

This holiday season, my mind has been drifting to the parable of the “Prodigal (Lost) Son” in Luke 15. The prodigal lived life with his father who loved him. He was attracted to the world by the seeming glitz, glamor and freedom. The prodigal was unhappy with his home life and was convinced he would find the happiness he so richly deserved out in the world. He left home, only to find out how deceptive and empty all of that is. He spent everything, had nothing and became everything he despised. He decided he should go home, at least his father would treat him no worse than the other employees. He expected to come home to be chastised and to be treated like a slave/employee. He came home and was celebrated over and shown how much he is loved.

This year kicking and screaming and with much fan fair (thanks I think, you know who you are), I turned 40 years old. A realization hit me (God dropped an anvil on my head). I finally came home. I came home to my Father and my family. I was celebrated over and shown how much I am loved. I came home to the Father I never knew that I had, to be loved in a way I never knew possible.

I grew up in a reformed Jewish home. I might even go as far as saying that my family agnostic. They at the very least feel that faith in God is not something to be discussed, but most likely do not really know in their mind if God exists. Growing up, there always seemed something missing out of my life. I fell into depression and acting out. I became uncontrollable at home. As I grew older it always seemed that something was missing from my life. I say that with 20/20 hindsight. I am not even sure if I knew that something was missing. I grew more and more desperate to fill that hole inside me. The more desperate I became the farther away from God I went. I slowly became everything that I hated. I was extremely depressed, very unstable and ready to die. In May 2005 somehow, someway God reached out to me and started me on the journey home to a home I never knew I had.

I have made it home to a Father that loved me so much that he created a world where he could show us His love. Even though we failed him, and became everything he hated, our Father paved a road to salvation with the blood of His only begotten Son Jesus. Our Father took the wrath and punishment we deserved and took it out on His only begotten Son in order to be able to be with us. I have come home to a church family of sisters and brothers in Christ that reflects that love. I have come home to where I belong to live a life, with a purpose and fulfillment of glorifying our God and His Son Jesus Christ.

It is with my new family I celebrate this time of year. Celebrate the birth of our King, celebrate the love of our God. Thank you God for being my Father, and Christ for being my King. Thank you to all my church family and brothers and sisters of Christ that have taken me in and have continuously reflected God’s love.

God bless you All!

I sit here early Christmas morning beginning to comprehend the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. Jesus Christ’s physical death on the cross was heinous, gruesome and brutal. Jesus not only died physically on the cross, he took the punishment for all the sin of mankind. As Isaiah 53 describes so vividly is that “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we were healed.” In 1Corinthians Paul talks about “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God took the submissive, pure and innocent lamb and slaughtered him physically on the cross and crushed him with His wrath. That is the punishment we deserve. That is the punishment I deserve. The apostle Paul knew who we were, “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””
(Romans 3:10-18 NIV-G/K)

Jesus willingly took the punishment that we deserved. There is a word that describes what Jesus did for us it is propitiation. Propitiation means “that which appeases the wrath of God against sin.” Jesus Christ became our atoning sacrifice. His death on the cross turned aside the wrath of God.

Jerry Bridges in his book “The Discipline of Grace” describes it this way: “First God presented Him, or set Him forth as an atoning sacrifice. It is God the Father who initiated the whole plan of salvation. It is God the Father who provide the sacrifice of His Son to satisfy His justice and appease His own wrath.”

Did you catch that? God the Father KNEW he was going to have to give up his Son in order to save the wretched creatures he created.

One two cent theory is that the creation of the universe was created out of an outpouring of God’s love. God knew that by the creation of the universe we were going to need the sacrifice of His son. The plan of salvation by sacrificing His Son was created before He created the universe.

John Piper in an article called “The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God” says “The entire universe exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God“ Piper goes on to say that “the death of Christ in supreme suffering is the highest, clearest, surest display of the glory of the grace of God…. The suffering of the utterly innocent and infinitely holy Son of God in the place of utterly undeserving sinners to bring us to everlasting joy is the greatest display of the glory of God’s grace that ever was, or ever could be.

Grace has been defined as the undeserved favor of God shown to those who deserve His wrath. In simpler terms it is love. All of what God has done is about love. He created us to show us his outpouring of love. He gave us the Old Covenant Law to help us realize that we need a savior. He gave us a savior, His only Son, to rescue us from the consequences of our actions. He gives us a path towards everlasting life and fellowship with Him.

In the end, Jesus had to die on the cross in order to show us how much God, the Father and Jesus the Son loves us.

Merry Christmas and remember God’s love for us!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
(John 3:16 NIV-G/K)

“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.”
(Ephesians 2:3-5 NIV-G/K)

Every Sunday I go to a Remembrance Meeting. This is a time where we praise and worship God, we take the Lord’s Supper and we remember what God and Christ has done for us. I am a Christian and this is a central point of my life. Sadly, sometimes I find it very easy to gloss over what the Son of God has done for us. We are talking about the greatest tragedy, the greatest love story and the greatest victory of all time. Nothing that man has ever done, will do, or could do, could compare. My goal over the next several days is to write about the tragedy, the love story and the victory that our Savior gave us to help us remember the importance of living for Him.

Jesus, the Son of God, who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens, tempted but never sinned. He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. He came down to earth as a man, ”but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. (Hebrews 4:15; 7:26 Philipians 2:7-8; Isaiah 53:7,9). And that is exactly what we did to Him.

In the United States, in this day and age we execute people as humanely as possible. Execution is the exception, usually taking years before it happens making sure every legal recourse is taken. Two thousand years ago, there was no such legal protection. Crucifixion was designed to produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering. There is an article written by doctors at the Mayo Clinic and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association called “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” which details the physical trauma that the human body goes through in crucifixion. This article gives us some perspective on what a heinous death our Lord suffered. The article details how flogging was the legal preliminary to most crucifixion, the whip typically used had sharp sheep bones and iron balls braided into it. It details how scourging would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of flesh. Usually by the time the flogging is done the victim is going into shock. It talks about the condemned having to carry the cross bar (patibulum) which weighs between 75 - 100 pounds and carrying it to execution ground. The Romans then took the spikes and nailed His wrist to the cross. The positioning of the spike went through nerve and muscle would have caused excruciating pain. To prolong the crucifixion process, a horizontal block would be secured serving as a crude seat. One poignant detail to me is this statement ”The major pathophysicologic effect, beyond the excruciating pain, was a marked interference with normal exhalation…. Adequate exhaltion required lifting the body by pushing up on the feet and by flexing the elbows and adducting the shoulders… However this maneuver would place the entire weight of the body on the tarsals and would produce searing pain.“ Crucifixion was not about killing someone it was about torturing him, punishing him, death was only the end of the process.

Christ came down as the least of men, to be tortured and to die the most humiliating and painful death man could conceive. Jesus certainly didn’t have to do this, he could of stopped this at any time, he could of called legions of angels to prevent this. Why didn’t he? One answer is found in Matthew 26:53-54. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

More on this in part 2.

I haven’t written because I have been dealing with personal issues. My life is a mess right now. I don’t have a job right now, don’t have money to support myself and feel very discouraged right now. (Blah, blah blah blah blah)

Whenever my life seems to fall apart , that seems about every week, I feel I have no right to share my life journey with God. Maybe I have that backwards. Maybe as my life is falling apart I need to be writing and sharing

I don’t claim to be smart. I don’t claim to be a teacher. I am not a bible scholar. I wish I was sometimes. All I am is a struggling Christian trying to follow my Savior and to live a life that glorify Him.