Thursday, December 17, 2015

Lifting Jesus Up By How You Live And How You Love

My Utmost For His Highest
 
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him… —1 Corinthians 2:14
 
“The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe…” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. […]

Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).”  CHAMBERS
 
Someone once asked me, “How can I explain the Bible to someone who is not a Christian?” My answer, “you” can’t.  The Bible, physically is nothing more than leather, wood pulp, and ink.  The words themselves are words that can be found in a dictionary of whatever language the Bible is translated to from Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek.  But unless the Spirit of God is at work, there will be no understanding of the Spiritual truth contained in it.  A lost person does not have the capacity to understand spiritual truth.  The power of the Word is unleashed by the Spirit of God. And how does that happen?  That is a great question. (I am glad I asked it!)  Is it God who chooses me, or did I choose God?  The chicken or the egg.  That question has been the seed for new denominations rising up, great debates and the subject of thousands of books.  I am not going to attempt to address it, especially in 200 words or less.  Let me say … there was a time when I was not interested in spiritual matters.  And then, there was a time when I was.  There was a time when I suddenly became aware of who Jesus is, what He did, and why I needed a savior.  Like nuclear fusion, I can’t explain it, but I suddenly knew that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus and that is where I desperately needed and wanted to be.
 
I can remember the first time I heard John 12:32.  I had read it many times, but the truth of the text, the spiritual truth, had never sunk in.  I was at an early Promise Keepers conference in Boulder Colorado in 1993.  Coach Bill McCartney, the founder of the ministry, was speaking and he shared that verse.  There were 56,000 Christian men in the stadium.  We were singing hymns that were ringing out from the stadium into the city.  It was at that point that I realized that my faith was not just a ticket to heaven, but it was an obligation to lift Jesus up to the world.  And so I did and do.  God does things His way.  That is really OK because He is the creator … Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith … (Hebrews 12:2) “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  I am sure you know many people who have no interest in spiritual matters .. who don’t really care that they are on the fast track to an eternity in hell.  Your job is to lift Jesus up.  Not just by what you say(although if the Spirit gives you opportunity you should speak up), but how you live (don’t be conformed to this world) and how you love (love God first and others second).  God will do the rest.  ELGIN
 
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
 
Charley Elgin

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