October 4th 2015
We Were Aliens Until Jesus’ Work Was Completed!
Ephesians 2:17-19 (NIV)
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
People who believe in evolution are searching the skies in the hope of finding an alien who may have brought life to the earth, because they know life could not have started on this earth. Giving themselves billions of years does not help, because life cannot start from non-life. The law of biogenesis prohibits life to come from chemical non-life. Scientifically evolution is impossible to have occurred on this earth, so they must hope there are conditions on some distant planet where science there would allow creation of life from non-life!
Did you know that you are an alien in God’s sight? Until we take Jesus into our life we remain as a “foreigners and aliens.” However, God’s plan for those who love Him included a plan that Jesus would come into this wicked world and save all those who know and love God from their sins, by having Jesus pay the price by dying on that cross. Then when Jesus was leaving this earth, temporarily, He left behind the Holy Spirit to indwell all of those who claim this price paid on that old rugged cross! All that is required is for you to claim the prize Jesus captured by dying on that cross. If that wasn’t good enough Jesus also gives you the Holy Spirit to aid you in understanding this great plan, and to also assist you when you pray!
Do you have “Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” in your life? If you have then you should be experiencing the feeling of being controlled by the Holy Spirit, pushing you to do good for other people. Paul wrote about such feelings in the book of Romans. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23) Are you in slavery to God or instead to the temptations offered by this world?
Many people do not believe in these basic tenants of faith, and have instead turned their lives toward the earthly pleasures offered by Satan, and supported by a god other than the true and only God, as defined in the Bible. Are we now in the last days, and approaching the time of the Tribulation? But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Another rampage has been experienced in the USA, where again some fool has decided he should go on some campus, and shoot people for some reason that apparently seemed logical to him. Obviously this person had no love for anyone, and believed he was the judge who should bring their judgment on this earth by performing these executions. Did this person believe they were a god, who could discern what the punishment should be for all the people they shot? So far, the early reports indicate that he asked a question about religious affiliation, before he shot people. We now have the information that he shot people in the head who professed to be a Christian, and he shot others in the legs.
One of the things that Jesus tried to teach all those who would choose to follow Him was a form of humility that Paul wrote to the Philippians and us. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3) A person who decides to kill others, for no good reason, must believe they have a good reason, and could not profess any form of humility, as they must believe their execution of people puts them in a godlike status. They could never believe they should treat other people as being in any way better than they are, “in humility consider others better than yourselves.” They represent themselves as a perfect executioner, and may believe they are doing a service to humanity in some way. They would be culling out the unacceptable members of mankind, so to speak.
In the USA today more people believe that Christians are dangerous people who take away their ability to be free. Unfortunately since all Christians are also humans, there is likely some truth to such accusations. It is difficult to come off as humble when we claim to be better than others, and that we are the only people who will be saved. And of course, this is a true statement. Jesus tried to help us understand that we need humility to be obvious in our lives. Matthew wrote how Jesus responded when He was asked. "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:36) Jesus replied: "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)
The element that is missing in people’s lives is this true ability to love one another. This commentary will not supply any answer to this problem of people who hate each other, as that is too broad of a topic to easily answer. However, as Christians we must be working on becoming more Christ-like, and that holds hope, only if it causes us to consider others better than us, and to love them in spite of their different belief systems.
Guns do kill when it is being held by a person who hates other human beings. We need to consider how to get a gun out of their hands, but more importantly we need to pray for Jesus to remove the hate from their heart, then it would not matter that they possess a weapon! In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (1John 4:17)
Please pray for those who died in this terrible incident, but most importantly pray for the survivors that they will increase their dependence upon Jesus. Jesus is the only answer!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Ephesians 2:17-19 (NIV)
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
People who believe in evolution are searching the skies in the hope of finding an alien who may have brought life to the earth, because they know life could not have started on this earth. Giving themselves billions of years does not help, because life cannot start from non-life. The law of biogenesis prohibits life to come from chemical non-life. Scientifically evolution is impossible to have occurred on this earth, so they must hope there are conditions on some distant planet where science there would allow creation of life from non-life!
Did you know that you are an alien in God’s sight? Until we take Jesus into our life we remain as a “foreigners and aliens.” However, God’s plan for those who love Him included a plan that Jesus would come into this wicked world and save all those who know and love God from their sins, by having Jesus pay the price by dying on that cross. Then when Jesus was leaving this earth, temporarily, He left behind the Holy Spirit to indwell all of those who claim this price paid on that old rugged cross! All that is required is for you to claim the prize Jesus captured by dying on that cross. If that wasn’t good enough Jesus also gives you the Holy Spirit to aid you in understanding this great plan, and to also assist you when you pray!
Do you have “Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” in your life? If you have then you should be experiencing the feeling of being controlled by the Holy Spirit, pushing you to do good for other people. Paul wrote about such feelings in the book of Romans. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23) Are you in slavery to God or instead to the temptations offered by this world?
Many people do not believe in these basic tenants of faith, and have instead turned their lives toward the earthly pleasures offered by Satan, and supported by a god other than the true and only God, as defined in the Bible. Are we now in the last days, and approaching the time of the Tribulation? But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Another rampage has been experienced in the USA, where again some fool has decided he should go on some campus, and shoot people for some reason that apparently seemed logical to him. Obviously this person had no love for anyone, and believed he was the judge who should bring their judgment on this earth by performing these executions. Did this person believe they were a god, who could discern what the punishment should be for all the people they shot? So far, the early reports indicate that he asked a question about religious affiliation, before he shot people. We now have the information that he shot people in the head who professed to be a Christian, and he shot others in the legs.
One of the things that Jesus tried to teach all those who would choose to follow Him was a form of humility that Paul wrote to the Philippians and us. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3) A person who decides to kill others, for no good reason, must believe they have a good reason, and could not profess any form of humility, as they must believe their execution of people puts them in a godlike status. They could never believe they should treat other people as being in any way better than they are, “in humility consider others better than yourselves.” They represent themselves as a perfect executioner, and may believe they are doing a service to humanity in some way. They would be culling out the unacceptable members of mankind, so to speak.
In the USA today more people believe that Christians are dangerous people who take away their ability to be free. Unfortunately since all Christians are also humans, there is likely some truth to such accusations. It is difficult to come off as humble when we claim to be better than others, and that we are the only people who will be saved. And of course, this is a true statement. Jesus tried to help us understand that we need humility to be obvious in our lives. Matthew wrote how Jesus responded when He was asked. "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:36) Jesus replied: "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)
The element that is missing in people’s lives is this true ability to love one another. This commentary will not supply any answer to this problem of people who hate each other, as that is too broad of a topic to easily answer. However, as Christians we must be working on becoming more Christ-like, and that holds hope, only if it causes us to consider others better than us, and to love them in spite of their different belief systems.
Guns do kill when it is being held by a person who hates other human beings. We need to consider how to get a gun out of their hands, but more importantly we need to pray for Jesus to remove the hate from their heart, then it would not matter that they possess a weapon! In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (1John 4:17)
Please pray for those who died in this terrible incident, but most importantly pray for the survivors that they will increase their dependence upon Jesus. Jesus is the only answer!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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