Peaceful Morning & A Bold Word

Good morning everyone!  That is a photo I took of the beautiful sunrise this morning.  My little girl is home sick today, so I will be taking care of her.  Prayers are appreciated!  It’s her tummy.  I hope her food didn’t get contaminated by wheat at school some how.  I’m so excited she is home though!  I already gave her cinnamon/sugar toast and some yogurt and she is feeling better, so she will be okay soon.  She is nice and cozy with her snowman fleece blanket emailing her friend at school.  She loves the movie “Leap!” about the little orphan girl who becomes a ballerina, so she will snuggle up and watch that soon too.  That is a funny movie by the way with a great message.  My sweets takes ballet at school and she loves dance and art.  I love you sweetheart!

Pike’s Peak is lookin’ good today!  Now you know why Katharine Lee Bates penned the words “purple mountain majesty” in her poem, which eventually became the patriotic song “America the Beautiful.”  She wrote that while standing atop the summit of Pike’s!  Cool history, look it up!

Okay, now for that bold word.  I wanted to share something this morning.  The last couple days I have been dealing with people who preach lies and they tell people they can lose their salvation in Christ.  They actually think you have to work your way into Heaven, which is not what the Bible teaches!  That makes me very sad and very mad.  I had to stop following one of the blogs.  I won’t name names.  The other person was a very legalistic Catholic who I’ve never met and he was sweating me about my post “You CANNOT Lose Your Salvation!”  I defended God’s Word, told him we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and I told him to stop worshiping Mary and saints because that is blasphemy and idolatry.  He never messaged back after that.  I know not all Catholics are legalistic like that.  Unfortunately many do pray to Mary and saints and that is completely against God’s Word.  If you do that, then turn from it and place your trust fully in Jesus.  Mary never died on a cross for your sins, and neither did any of his apostles (indeed some of the apostles were crucified, but not for your sins).  Quit praying to them and glorifying them above Jesus!

“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

John 19:30

When you preach the truth boldly, you will draw heat from the enemy.  It’s when you are over the target that you draw the most flak!  I don’t tolerate false preachers, so if you challenge me, then be ready for me to stand up strong and defend God’s Word!  I am a nice guy, but not so nice that I’m going to let you walk on God’s Word and lie to people while you beat people over the head with Bible verses you don’t understand while you tell me that I am preaching a “cheap grace” Gospel!  Preaching the truth that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is not cheap grace!  It is blasphemy to say that and I rebuke it in the Name of Jesus!  Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s mercy, grace, forgiveness, power, and love and there is nothing cheap about it!  It is truly sad when people live in spiritual fear.  God’s perfect love drives out fear and we can trust Him and take Him at His Word when He says we are saved through faith in Jesus!

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

1 John 4:18

“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.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

John 3:16-18

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

Romans 8:1-2

We are not saved by works folks and Mary and “saints” can’t hear prayers.  Any good works we do after we accept Christ are done by the power of the Holy Spirit and God gets the glory!  There is only One mediator between God and men and that is Jesus!  I belong to Jesus Christ and I will stand up for Him and defend the Truth by the power of the Holy Spirit and I will not back down for anybody!  Glory to Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord or lords!  Jesus is Lord!

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men–the testimony given in its proper time.”

1 Timothy 2:5-6

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 2:20-21

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

There is nothing you could do to earn your salvation and thinking you can work your way into Heaven is the height of arrogance against God!  As Paul said, if we could be made righteous through obeying the law, then Christ died for nothing!  I don’t understand how someone who claims to follow Jesus doesn’t understand that!  As if God owes you something!  We are saved by grace and Christians who forget that foundational truth to our faith act just like legalistic Pharisees!  God doesn’t owe us anything!  It was our sin that put Jesus on the cross and we are saved by grace and I rebuke any false preacher who says otherwise!

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”

Romans 11:35

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:22-24

Is that clear enough?  I don’t take God’s Word out of context.  I give you plenty of Scripture and plenty of context in all of my blog posts.  If you try to work your way to Heaven by doing a bunch of “good works,” you will fall short of God’s glory every time!  Our salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, and that is a free gift by the grace of God!  There are no points to be racked up.  God doesn’t owe you!  If you belong to Jesus Christ through your faith in Him, then you are saved and nothing can snatch you out of His hand!  Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can lose your salvation!  We are saved by grace, not by works and that is clear throughout the entire New Testament.  If you believe in Jesus, then take comfort that you belong to Him both now and forevermore and He will never leave you nor forsake you!

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

John 10:27-30

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 6:40

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

Check out what King David said about it:

“David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are they

whose transgressions are

forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man

whose sin the Lord will

never count against

him.”

Romans 4:6-8

I hope that is clear as day now.  I leave you with famous verses from the Apostle Paul who also struggled with sin (Romans 7) and declared that he was not perfect.  He put all of his faith in Jesus Christ for his salvation and Paul knew very well that there was nothing he could do to earn it!

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.  And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”

Philippians 3:12-16

“What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!…”

Romans 7:24-25

I am praying for the people that are still living in fear believing and teaching that they can lose their salvation.  I pray God makes it very clear to them that they are only saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  There was a big thing called “The Reformation” that started on October 31, 1517 and we are still having that argument to this day.  I stand up for Jesus Christ and give Him glory for dying for us on that cross!  Thank You Jesus!  You deserve all the praise and glory and we deserve absolutely none!  Any good works we do now are done through You for Your glory!  There are no good works we could ever do to save ourselves Lord!  We will never be righteous enough on our own!  I know You finished it at the cross and I give you praise!  Amen, Lord Jesus, come Lord!

Grace and peace to you all!  Have a blessed day resting in the fullness of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, power, and love!

P.S.

Here is that pretty doe that came through this morning.  God bless you all!  Jesus loves you so much more than you could ever imagine!