JESUS

JESUS

JESUS -

He is the demarcation,

the dividing line,

the absolute truth
that makes a distinction between truth and falsehood.

His birth divided the two eras - BD and AC

Your birth in Him brings you into a new era of GOD’S grace.

His birth in you releases you into the doors of heaven.

If you are in CHRIST you are under GOD’S grace.

If you are not in CHRIST you are under GOD’S wrath.

If you have JESUS you are a part of the body of CHRIST.

If you don’t have JESUS
you are not a part of the body of CHRIST.

Therefore there is no division in CHRIST.

The question is whether one is in CHRIST or not

because He is the dividing line and the demarcation.

He is the One Who separates me
from everyone and everything and makes me Holy.

He is my next of kin (like my skin),

my first contact with everyone and everything in the world.

All my relationships are in and through Him.

He reveals to me the good and the bad

and teaches me about truth and falsehood.

He is my everything. Without Him I am nothing.

I am alive in Him. Without Him, I have no life.

I can do all things through Him.

I can do nothing without Him.

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

 Psalms 2:12

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life;

and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life,

but the wrath of God abides on him."

John 3:36

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:3

"I am the vine, you [are] the branches.

He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;

for without Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

"I have been crucified with Christ;

it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;

and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:6-10

JESUS:

He is the 'Connector' of man with GOD.
He is the Son of GOD Who became Son of Man.

He continues to be the Intercessor for man

in the Presence of the Father.

He revealed to man the image of the invisible GOD.

He was there from the beginning. He will be there forever. All things were made through Him

and for Him. He is the Savior of the world. He is the Judge of all mankind.

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things,

through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory
and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Hebrews 1:1-3
Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing.

But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

Hebrews 7:23-24
Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know

that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." John 4:42
For the Father judges no one,
but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son
just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

John 5:22-23
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 17:3

What is in you?

What is in you?

The box may be elegant and the wrapping paper and ribbons may look fancy but what is inside is what matters most. The moment you receive such a gift, the question arises in your heart and at times comes out of your mouth, "What is inside this?"

The most important question is, "What is inside you?"

How would you know?

Squeeze a tube of toothpaste or a tube of hand cream.

Simply, things that come out of you are an indication of what is inside you!

When you get an injury or when a needle is poked into your vein, blood comes out.

Most of us are careful not to allow the undesirable things within us to show out.

When we are stressed or treated unlovingly or disrespectfully, such things show out as reactions. Anger, fear, hatred, bad words, pride, impatience are some of them. If your reactions are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control, the indication is that CHRIST is in you. The former attitudes indicate that the world is in you. Although all of us are in the world, we need to be careful not to let the spirit of this world get into us. This we do by renewing our minds by the diligent study of the truth of the Bible which is GOD'S word to us.

 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, 

but the Spirit who is from God, 

that we might know the things 

that have been freely given to us by God. 

1 Corinthians 2:12 

Now hope does not disappoint,

because the love of God

 has been poured out in our hearts

 by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 

Romans 5:5

I am the vine, you are the branches. 

He who abides in Me, and I in him,

bears much fruit; 

for without Me you can do nothing.   

John 15:5 

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 

longsuffering, kindness, goodness,

 faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

Against such there is no law. 

Galatians 5:22-23 

 To them God willed to make known

 what are the riches of the glory 

of this mystery among the Gentiles:

 which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

Colossians 1:27 

 You are of God, little children,

 and have overcome them, 

because He who is in you

 is greater than he who is in the world. 

1 John 4:4 

The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal Son  

Luke 15:11-32

The two sons mentioned here grew up together.
When they were little, I can imagine their father
getting the servants
to set up many play equipment on the farmyard
including a ‘seesaw’!
If you have two sons or two daughters or more,
you will realise that each child has his or her own personality.

The older son was on the legalistic end of the scale
while the younger son was on the lawless end of the scale.

See saw, up and down..
Legalism is prone to pride and is the up end.

Lawlessness is prone to rebellion and is the down end.

Both need to slide towards the centre
to become humbly lawful to keep the balance!

True experience of GOD’S grace
enables us to walk in this balance.
Because of this amazing grace of GOD,
I love Him and I desire to walk in absolute obedience to Him.
Yet, I recognize that I fall short and nothing I do
can match GOD’S standard to sufficiently justify myself.

 For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves;

it is the gift of God,

not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10

The attitude of one
who has understood the grace of GOD would be:

I don’t deserve what I receive.

I am grateful.

I love GOD.

I want to serve Him in obedience.

Therefore he would obediently serve GOD.

The older boy served the father, but not as a son.

The younger boy was a son who did not want to serve the father.

We should be children who love and serve our Heavenly Father.

The older son did right with the wrong attitude.

When we serve GOD with the attitude
‘I deserve all I receive and more’,
what we receive is counted as wages.
Then we will be angry about what we do not get.

We will be angry about what others receive through grace.

We will be angry with GOD; we will be angry with our brethren.

We will not have love nor joy in our service for the LORD.

Ultimately, like the older son, we will refuse to go into heaven
because it is a place of celebration of the grace of GOD!
If you are not comfortable to joyously celebrate
the evidence of abounding grace on an ungodly sinner
that is drawing him to GOD, you will not fit into heaven.

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

Romans 5:20

GOD freely releases His grace to us first.

Having experienced His grace,
we willingly serve Him because we love Him.

GOD does not expect us to serve Him first
so that He might pay us wages.

Now to him who works,

the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

But to him who does not work

but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly,

his faith is accounted for righteousness, Romans 4:4-5

The younger son’s attitude was, ‘I have the right to have it now’.

But when he came to himself, his attitude was, ‘I am not worthy’.

How often do we say to ourselves

“If only this matter is completely settled, I will be at peace”

Or “When I get my Permanent Residency, I will be happy”

or “I will have faith in GOD when my medical test results are clear”

or “when my bank account is built up, I can serve the LORD”.

Does your prayer sound like that of the prodigal son?

“Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.”

Often it is a need that keeps us depending on GOD
and in relationship with Him.

Such a situation is better than being self sufficient
and independent of GOD.

This was the apostle Paul’s experience regarding an illness.

And lest I should be exalted above measure

by the abundance of the revelations,

a thorn in the flesh was given to me,

a messenger of Satan to buffet me,

lest I be exalted above measure.

Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times

that it might depart from me.

And He said to me,

"My grace is sufficient for you,

for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities,

that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Don’t let the very things you expect to receive from GOD,

disconnect you from Him like the younger son.

Don’t let your diligent service and ministry for Him,

disconnect you from His Father heart
like the situation of the older son.

We should have faith before we see a matter settled.

We should experience peace and rest in CHRIST,

in the midst of unresolved problems and difficult situations.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

Both sons did not completely understand
the privileges of living with the father in relationship with him.
The love, the constant flow of provision, the protection
and the grace available to ask for and receive ‘extra blessings’!
The fatted calf and party with friends
would have been their enjoyment under their father’s roof
if only they had asked!
If they did, they would have lovingly and joyously
served their father!

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,

you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

John 15:7

And in that day you will ask Me nothing.

Most assuredly, I say to you,

whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.

Until now you have asked nothing in My name.

Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

John 16:23-24

In a sense, all of us as mankind are like prodigals in this world.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:6

It takes various experiences through which
each of us ‘Comes to himself’.
It is at that point that we turn towards the LORD.

From then on, every appointment we have with the LORD
-  our personal devotion time,
discussion of Scripture with other Christians,
Church service, listening to messages
- enables us to steer our thoughts
towards our eternal home on the highway of holiness.

Let us continue to steer our thoughts
towards our Father by responding to His grace,
with all our heart, and progress on this path
by loving one another.

This is My commandment,

that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12

The best is yet to be for us in our Father’s home!
It will be a party in the Presence of the Father
and in perfect relationships with others!

I can imagine the angels in heaven busy
arranging a specifically customised
‘Welcome Home’ party for the arrival of each child of GOD!!