Christ In You, The Hope Of Glory

Today's devotion scripture is from Colossians 1:26, 27 and it says, "...the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Looking at these two verses, I began to focus strongly on only two phrases in the second verse and those in the last half of the verse which reads "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

I just finished writing a very lengthy email to a person who is of Jewish heritage and she had a few questions about the Christian church. Being the "wordy" person that I am, I said "absolutely, send me your questions and I will dwell on them."

After she sent them, my thoughts were, "boy, I sure jumped into that one." And I realized that not everyone thinks like I do or like a "Fully Devoted Follower Of Jesus Christ" would think. Her questions, though perplexing, were a great challenge for me and I pray that the word given to me by God went to her heart and she ponders them with strong conviction.

The very last thing I said to her was "If I am wrong about my faith in Christ Jesus, when I die, I have lost nothing. I have been good and moral, loving God and my neighbors. If you are wrong about your lack of faith in Christ when you die, you lose everything for eternity." And I am sincere in that statement. Then I looked at my devotion scripture for today and thought, Wow! God is really lining up my life so that everything has a purpose.

Look at the phrase "Christ in you"! When you communicate with others, do they see Christ in you? Are they thinking to themselves, what can I do to have the peace and joy that he/she has? Or are you just another body in the way of their fight to get to the top of their class? "Christ in you"! I not only want Christ in me, but I want others to see Christ in me! It's a good feeling when someone comes to you and says I am struggling with a spiritual difficulty and I think you can help me. "Christ in you"!

What about the last phrase: "The hope of glory"! When I was explaining to this gal in response to her questions, I realized that according to her religious heritage, she still has no hope in glory. And suddenly it became a "mission" for me to help her understand what it means to have "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

You've heard me say this on numerous occasions that this world is heading for a "crash landing" and it is in "high gear". We are experiencing dangers all around us. Some are losing their careers and others are losing their pensions. Retirement may soon be an obsolete word in America. Paul tells us that Jesus said, in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." Truthfully, that is my retirement plan. That statement alone is all I need to retire on.

Is Christ in you? Do you have hope in His glory? Are you secure in your relationship with Him? One pastor said, "Do you have your ticket to heaven?" Boy, I do! And you know how I know? Because Christ is in me and He is my Hope in glory.

Dave

What Is It "There For"?

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Paul ends this chapter to the Corinthians by offering this encouragement to help us understand that the trials we face will not be in vain. A lot of years ago, a pastor once said to us, that if we saw the word "Therefore" in the Bible, that we should go back and see what it is "there for" and so we can go back to the beginning of this chapter and see what's going on here.

First of all Paul offers the facts of Christ's Resurrection and says, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also" (1 Cor. 15:3-8).

He also said, "and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only; we are of all men most to be pitied" (1 Cor. 15:17-19).

After he had explained the facts of the resurrection and helped those understand the importance of the faith in which they believe, he continues later on in the same chapter to explain the mystery of the resurrection by saying in verses 51 & 52, "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." After which he shares this proclamation in verse 55 as he quotes Hosea 13:14 from the Old Testament prophet, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" And we begin to see that the sting of death is the sin, and it's power, the law, but "thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

So we hear Paul say to us and we read with conviction that we should remain steadfast and be immovable and that we should always "abound" in the work of the Lord, because of the facts given in these passages which is the power that "drives" us through the difficult times in our lives. Some of you are experiencing such a "heavy load" presently and sometimes you don't know where to go or what to do. But the Apostle Paul believes and shares that he knows that your trials will not be in vain. God is watching us. He is seeing every valley we walk through and seeing how we handle it and how we prepare it for the next person to walk through (Psalm 84:5-7).

We are His children and He loves us with a "Never ending" love, that you can be sure of. So when the storm you are walking through gets too tough to handle, you can go to verse 58 of First Corinthians 15 and see that there are those who see, who understand and who know; and then encourage you to "stand tall" because God is with you.

Some will say, "those devotions you write, they are just words, just metaphors to make another feel good about themselves", but I would say, these words are the Words of Truth, straight from the lips of God. It is up to you to choose if you will walk in that Truth!

Dave

The Promise Is For You!

In Acts 2, Peter gives his first sermon after the crowd had witnessed the fulfilling of the Holy Spirit in the world and in verses 37 through 40 he proclaims, "Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation!"

I'm sure that if I had been at this event, I would have probably "wet my pants," especially if I were without understanding as most of these people were. Even though it was one of the most precious gifts given to us by our Father in heaven, it had to be somewhat traumatic. With so many different sects of people there, so many different dialects, different understandings and languages; it had to be both spectacular and frightening. I counted at least eighteen different "countrymen" there to witness as God laid the Holy Spirit upon some of these people.

Peter recognizes this and raises his voice to declare from the prophet Joel: "And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; Even upon My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:28-32).

Peter continues in verses 22 to 24 saying, "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know -- this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. And God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."

Now I realize that there is more "text" here than I usually offer up, but it is very important for us to understand Peter in the context of the first passage. "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off..."

And the last verse of chapter 2 declares, "And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." He was adding day by day, those who would call on the name of the Lord. They received the gift of the Holy Spirit which was offered to each of us when we came to Christ as well. Peter is offering the best advise ever given when he suggests that they repent and be baptised, for the forgiveness of their sins. This is where we are today as well. There are lots and lots of things going on in the world today that we just do not understand and we are probably never going to truly understand them in light of this world. Only when we have entered into eternal life, might we understand the significance of these events, however, will it really matter then? I myself was reminded just late last week that the disease that was found in me, is rearing it's ugly head once again, but in light of eternity, does it really matter?

I only care to number myself with those like Peter and John, Paul and the other disciples who believe that repentance matters more than anything happening now or every to happen in this world.

I think back to January 28, 1985 (I remember what class I was in when the announcement came), President Reagen stood before the country and made this comment about the shuttle disaster just a few minutes off the launch pad. He said "They slipped through the surly bonds of heaven to touch the face of God." I'm sure that our President at the time was not even aware of how profound a statement it was that he made. For a day will come when you and I, those of us who have trusted our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ will slip through the bonds of heaven and earth, and we will "see" Jesus, face to face.

Now if you can't get excited about that prospect, I'm supposing that your "exciter" is broken!

Dave

The Four F's Of The Church

Good Sunday morning to all of you. Most of you who are reading this devotion a just "stirring" and getting your families ready to go to your church. How wonderful it is to have the freedom and ability to come together as a "family of God" to worship together.

I would just like to share a couple of verses with you this morning and then wish you a wonderful "Lord's" day. I'm looking at Acts 2: 42 where it says, "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and in prayer." This passage of scripture has, in the past, been referred to as "the four F's of the Church." Let me share them with you:

1. "Fitting In" - continually devoting themselves to the apostles teachings" This is how we learn and grow as we come together to teach one another about the Lord.
2. "Fellowship" - as we come together consistantly, we grow in the Fellowship of the Lord.
3. "Fed" - the breaking of bread with the disciples was a very intimate part of their relationship with the Lord. It all comes together as you are taught, are in fellowship and fed concerning the Lord.
4. "Fruitful" - what other way is there to be a fruitful witness of God's if you are not particapating in the other three parts above.

So here we see a very simple illustration of the church. One where people Fit In, are in Fellowship together, are Fed (not only with food but with the Word of God), and becoming Fruitful as they go forth and share their faith and learning with others.

Finally, in verse 43, Doctor Luke says that "everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles." I participate in that kind of church today. We come together specifically for the purpose of spreading the Word and that cannot be done without these disclipines. So if you, or your church is not involved in these disclipines, you need to get there. You are who God has chosen to see that His Word is spread and you and I must be responsible to do it right. Not to mention the joy of fellowship with His saints (that's you and me, man)!

Dave

I appreciate and covet your prayers as my oncologist has expressed some concerns about a few recent tests I have had. Probably nothing and I'd be just fine with keeping it that way, so thanks.

The Blood That Forgives

"When He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:27,28).

Here our Lord Jesus has instituted the covenant of the Lord's Supper. What I see here is that Jesus reaches almost back to the beginning by using the drink as an analogy of His blood. In Exodus 24:8 "Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words." And also in Hebrews 9:22 it says... "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

Jesus taught from the beginning of His ministry that the answer to the forgiveness of sin was the spilling of blood. All over the Bible you can find "the shedding of blood." So after Jesus had experienced the agonizing six hours on the cross, dying for the sins of the world, He reminds His disciples that His sacrifice, in shedding His blood, gave to them, and whoever would ask, eternal life in Him.

When life throws something at you that you just cannot understand, go back to the cross. When you can't quite wrap your brain around an unsuspected diagnosis, a financial difficulty, an unexplained tragedy, you need to go back to the cross where the blood was shed. This is the one that counts. This is the blood of the Savior. This is the blood that He referred to with His disciples when He said "for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins."

Sometimes the weight of the world gets to be too much for us to take, however, Jesus has given us "an out." He exclaimed "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne."

Can you see the blood from where you are? You can learn more on my website at www.nowwhut.org.

Dave

From Here To Eternity

"Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will morn over Him. Even so, Amen" (Revelation 1:7).

Notice in this verse that John writes that "every eye will see Him?" In fact, he even goes back to those who nailed Him to the cross when he says "even those who pierced Him." And John tells that all the tribes "of the earth will morn over Him." We do know that when Jesus returns He will judge, the "just and the unjust," so I think that John has pretty much included everybody here in this scripture that he can think of. And Paul writes in Philippians 3:10 that ... "every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." It's that "under the earth" that gives us the remainder of those who will stand before God on that "great and terrible day." In other words, there isn't anyone who is alive or has lived that will not be at this event. You and I included!

I wonder how many of us are looking forward to that day and then how many are frightful of these coming events. If your security is in Christ Jesus as your Savior and Lord, there is really nothing to fear. Oh, I feel confident that it will be somewhat intimidating, but fearful...I say no. I am very much so looking forward to that day when Jesus breaks through the clouds and claims us, the church of Jesus Christ as His own, and takes us with Him to "forevermore" be with the Lord.

If you want to be free from the fearfulness of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, you just need to recognize that you are a sinner (Ro.3:23), that He died to save you from your sin (1Cor.15:3), and accept His free gift of eternal life by inviting Him into your heart (Ro.6:23). Will that change you immediately? Not sure, but probably not. It takes time to "grow in Christ" so what are you waiting for. Romans 10:9 & 10 says "that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." I can promise you that you are NOT going to get a better deal than that from this world.

Things in the world are changing rapidly, and you never know when your last opportunity will come and go. I wonder about those FEDEX pilots who died suddenly in a fiery crash in Japan a few days ago. What about those three precious families who perished suddenly in a crash in Montana on the same day. When they breathed their last, their fate was sealed. Don't take that chance with your eternity. It's way too long to be separated from God.

Dave

Hope Restored

In Paul's introduction to the book of Titus he says in verse 2, "in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago..."

Hope is a very big word these days. We think of hope when there is a sickness in the family. We rally around hope when we find ourselves in financial difficulties. We are never short of hope of the outcome of a sporting event. And we also hope that America rebounds from the terrible difficulties she finds herself in today.

We look to our leaders for this hope. We hope they have the intellect to bring us through the storm and safely to the other side, with as little damage as possible. Some are experiencing extreme difficulties today as they open the quarterly reports of their 401K's to find that they have lost even more of their retirement. Some have lost ALL of it already. There are plenty of reasons, in the world for us to have hope and they are, for the most part, very valid.

But without minimizing these tribulations, I believe that there is a hope that most of us, as Christians share, that begins and ends with Jesus Christ. I can remember reading the story of the disciples all huddled together in the "upper room" after the Crucifixion of Jesus, feeling that the leadership of the world had just destroyed all of their hope by hanging Him to a cross. In fact, they buried their hope in a borrowed tomb. But in John 20:26,27 Jesus declares to his band of disciples "Peace be with you." Relatively shocking to the disciples, I'm sure, but they witnessed Thomas placing his finger in His hands and touching His side and making his wonderful declaration of hope when he said "My Lord and my God!" Hope restored.

What we know and understand from study of the scripture and our faith is that even a tomb does not have the ability to hold onto our HOPE which is in Christ Jesus. We believe that Jesus, the Son of God was born of a virgin, He ministered on this earth for about 3 years, was crucified, buried and then rose from the dead. An act that no other, claiming to be God, has been able to achieve.

So in the middle of chaos, even this present day chaos that we experience, we can still have hope. Oh of course, they can take our money, perhaps our cars and homes, they can literally destroy the America that we have cherished for a lifetime, but they cannot have our "souls" and Jesus Christ, the Nazarene (the Son of God) made sure of that when He made that trip to Calvary to pay off our mortgages in heaven. Jesus said in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

I know that we all place a lot of hope on leadership to put things back on track so that our lives may experience some peace again but remember the real peace, the real hope that you and I share that is the hope of eternity is in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to secure our souls, not our bank accounts.

So when you feel like there may be no hope in fixing problems that we may have gotten ourselves into, remember that Jesus Christ came that we might have life, and that life in His name.

Dave