April 17th 2016
For It Is By Grace You Have Been Saved, Through Faith!
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)
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. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Are you living in the grace of Jesus, or are you contending for some form of grace from the members of mankind? In other words, are you trying to live for Christ, or are you bending the knee to gain acceptance of mankind? We all want to fit-in with the people we choose to associate with; it seems to be a natural thing, when we live in a fallen world. However, when we are inclined to do what everyone else is doing, hopefully we recognize that we are also following Satan! The real leader in this life by natural consequences is not you or some group of like-minded people, it is Satan. Satan is still roaming this earth and persuading the unsaved to continue their sinful lives. Jesus knew this and left the Holy Spirit behind for all those who claim salvation through Jesus Christ.
In the selected verses Paul writes “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” How can we do good works in a cursed world controlled by Satan? The only way to stay available to do good works is by being tapped into the Holy Spirit! Followers of Jesus Christ gain freedom from the oppression of Satan, through our attachment to this Holy Spirit. You cannot do it alone! Not only do we need the Holy Spirit, but we also need the company of other people who are saved, and they are like minded too. We MUST go to a church of your choice to be strengthened to carry on the Good News! Choose your church wisely, and pray for the Spirits prompting in your choice.
Jesus told His disciples about this Holy Spirit and what having Him available would mean to them (us)! But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:7-11) To obtain the help of this Spirit, you MUST believe He actually exists! Please believe that Satan does exist, and thus, you MUST have the Holy Spirit indwelling you to be able to defeat Satan’s control of you in this lifetime!
Paul wrote to the church in Galatia about the positive effect of using this Holy Spirit to change you from being a worldly follower of Satan to a new creation through the perfect sacrifice Jesus made to guarantee your salvation! But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT) Following any law or laws cannot save your immortal soul; only by following Jesus Christ can you gain salvation for your soul. As Paul wrote there is no law needed when you are in the Spirit that is what is meant by, “There is no law against these things!”
As we see our world being turned away from Jesus and thus toward Satan, what Paul wrote to the church in Rome makes sense of what we see happening in our world where good equals evil and evil equals good! As Jesus taught you are either for Him or against Him, there is no middle of the road or gray areas. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. (Matthew 12:30) Now for the controversial part of this commentary! The following seems to sum up what we see happening in our world today with regard to morality, which it appears to me is not based on Biblical belief, see (Romans 1:25-32) following. Note: Before you read this, yes I know this was written a long time ago, but it shows how mankind has not changed much over time! Mankind has always disagreed with God, and thus, they have created their own version of a god or gods to better fit their desires!
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is for ever praised. Amen. Our world now professes to believe in evolution to account for all of the life forms on this earth, and everything else in this universe, which teaches everything came about on its own volition, no God or gods were required to create what we see.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
God allows mankind freedom to choose what their lifestyle will look like, and how they will live. They can choose to live as mankind dictates, or as God has dictated to us. We can live by God’s Word or by mankind’s ideas.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
We see our world becoming more and more violent; it is no longer safe just to walk down any street in any city of our world. There are more and more terrorist organizations all over our world, that desire to kill everyone they can!
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
In the USA today, this is where I live, so it is best known to me, but I suspect this trend, while not new is getting worse all over this world! We are in the end times, and have been since Jesus went back to heaven to be with Our Father! The Politically Correct movement in this country is causing more people to turn away from God, and to identify with the ideas of mankind as being better than the commands of God.
To end on a good note, please believe that salvation is available to all of mankind, as Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for all of mankind! Salvation through Jesus is available to all those who can accept it! For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)
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. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Are you living in the grace of Jesus, or are you contending for some form of grace from the members of mankind? In other words, are you trying to live for Christ, or are you bending the knee to gain acceptance of mankind? We all want to fit-in with the people we choose to associate with; it seems to be a natural thing, when we live in a fallen world. However, when we are inclined to do what everyone else is doing, hopefully we recognize that we are also following Satan! The real leader in this life by natural consequences is not you or some group of like-minded people, it is Satan. Satan is still roaming this earth and persuading the unsaved to continue their sinful lives. Jesus knew this and left the Holy Spirit behind for all those who claim salvation through Jesus Christ.
In the selected verses Paul writes “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” How can we do good works in a cursed world controlled by Satan? The only way to stay available to do good works is by being tapped into the Holy Spirit! Followers of Jesus Christ gain freedom from the oppression of Satan, through our attachment to this Holy Spirit. You cannot do it alone! Not only do we need the Holy Spirit, but we also need the company of other people who are saved, and they are like minded too. We MUST go to a church of your choice to be strengthened to carry on the Good News! Choose your church wisely, and pray for the Spirits prompting in your choice.
Jesus told His disciples about this Holy Spirit and what having Him available would mean to them (us)! But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:7-11) To obtain the help of this Spirit, you MUST believe He actually exists! Please believe that Satan does exist, and thus, you MUST have the Holy Spirit indwelling you to be able to defeat Satan’s control of you in this lifetime!
Paul wrote to the church in Galatia about the positive effect of using this Holy Spirit to change you from being a worldly follower of Satan to a new creation through the perfect sacrifice Jesus made to guarantee your salvation! But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT) Following any law or laws cannot save your immortal soul; only by following Jesus Christ can you gain salvation for your soul. As Paul wrote there is no law needed when you are in the Spirit that is what is meant by, “There is no law against these things!”
As we see our world being turned away from Jesus and thus toward Satan, what Paul wrote to the church in Rome makes sense of what we see happening in our world where good equals evil and evil equals good! As Jesus taught you are either for Him or against Him, there is no middle of the road or gray areas. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. (Matthew 12:30) Now for the controversial part of this commentary! The following seems to sum up what we see happening in our world today with regard to morality, which it appears to me is not based on Biblical belief, see (Romans 1:25-32) following. Note: Before you read this, yes I know this was written a long time ago, but it shows how mankind has not changed much over time! Mankind has always disagreed with God, and thus, they have created their own version of a god or gods to better fit their desires!
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is for ever praised. Amen. Our world now professes to believe in evolution to account for all of the life forms on this earth, and everything else in this universe, which teaches everything came about on its own volition, no God or gods were required to create what we see.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
God allows mankind freedom to choose what their lifestyle will look like, and how they will live. They can choose to live as mankind dictates, or as God has dictated to us. We can live by God’s Word or by mankind’s ideas.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
We see our world becoming more and more violent; it is no longer safe just to walk down any street in any city of our world. There are more and more terrorist organizations all over our world, that desire to kill everyone they can!
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
In the USA today, this is where I live, so it is best known to me, but I suspect this trend, while not new is getting worse all over this world! We are in the end times, and have been since Jesus went back to heaven to be with Our Father! The Politically Correct movement in this country is causing more people to turn away from God, and to identify with the ideas of mankind as being better than the commands of God.
To end on a good note, please believe that salvation is available to all of mankind, as Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for all of mankind! Salvation through Jesus is available to all those who can accept it! For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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