Learning To Be A Follower Of Jesus Christ

Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple

whom Jesus loved following, who also had

leaned on His breast at the supper, and said,

“Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus,

“But Lord, what about this man?”

Jesus said to him, “If I will that

he remain till I come, what is that

to you? You follow Me.”

John 21:20–22

            It is apparent that the apostle John had a special relationship with Jesus. And it is true that the Apostle John, even with all the turmoil of exile on the island of Patmos, lived to a ripe old age, possibly to 100 years. After the confrontation by Jesus with Satan in the desert Jesus began to preach: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Jesus seeing Peter, and Andrew the brother to Peter and said to them: “then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19. Then Jesus saw two other brothers, James and John sons of Zebedee, and they were fishing as they were making their living fishing and selling fish. When Jesus called them, they left immediately and followed Him. Jesus say Matthew and said to him, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). And this Matthew did as they dropped what they were doing and began to follow Jesus. Was this blind faith? No! Remember that the Jews were looking for the Messiah. They already had others proclaiming that they were the Messiah. They had the time-table that told them that it was time for the Messiah, and they probably knew of John the Baptist’s ministry. It was John who witnessed all that Jesus did, His miracles, his messages, and was one of the twelve sent out to the Jews to proclaim that the Messiah had come and is here in their presence. John was called: “James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). At the crucifixion of Jesus one of the people present was the mother of Zebedee’s sons” (Matthew 27:56). John was present also at the crucifixion of Jesus and Jesus spoke to him and gave him instruction: “Now here stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus therefore His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:25–27). The apostle John saw the risen Jesus: “Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after had risen” (Mark 16:14). Peter was impetuous, John apparently was strong and solid even though at times he faltered as we all do. Yet, this is not just about the apostle John. It is about the man John, “Loved” by Jesus and wrote to us about Jesus Christ and His love. We should listen to what he wrote. The command to “follow Him” is a command to all of us for we are to follow Jesus and this at all cost. Will you follow Him?

            The book of John gives us two witnesses which is a lawful demand for testimony. One was John the Baptist and the other is the apostle John. John gives this final important statement: “This is the disciple who testifies of these things ,and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true”(John 21:24).  There were those men who were attempting to draw away to another “truth” making for some to become weary or had been crushed by the violent clamor of contradictory voices. Have you felt this also? There is so much contradiction among theologians, pastors, and even those attending churches that it is wearisome. John leaps to the occasion of such heresy and false teaching and gives to us what he knows is true for he was there, present from the beginning until the end of Jesus’ earthly life. John gives in his letter the gospel affirming that Christ is the only consubstantial Son, and therefore the lawful heir of the eternal Father. Moreover, this testimony by the apostle John should ennoble us, the orphans whom Jesus Christ ahs by eternal decree enrolled us as heirs by and through His own blood. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb as the old hymn states and by this we are favored in our hope, which many attempt to imperil us those who zealously diminish the gospel. How is it that Jesus Christ could bequeath to us a heavenly heritage if not that He was the lawful owner of heaven. If Jesus did not come down from heaven then how could it be said that He was in possession of heaven? If Jesus was only the son of Mary, just another man albeit it that he was special, then how could He be the Messiah? John was the faithful witness and wrote to us to assist our faith, to give to us hope assured by his testimony through his presence with Jesus Christ. Is it not true that all of us who bear witness to the Son of God also bear witness to the Scriptures? And in the way of testimony, that is not just preaching, and teaching, but in our daily lives, bear witness to the truth and delight in all its riches?

            We are merchants of the Gospel. We should explore this testimony of John and inquire with all our heart, and we must come to covet it with all our soul and love it more than any riches.

Behold, bless the LORD,

            All you servants of

The LORD, who by night

            Stand in the house

Of the LORD! Lift up your

            Hands in the sanctuary,

And bless the LORD.

                        Psalm 134:1–2

Be a follower in all you do of Jesus

Richard L. Crumb

Jesus Christ: The Light Of The World And Is God!

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through Him,

and without Him nothing was made

that was made.

John 1:1–3

            The apostle John, the one who was loved especially by Jesus Christ, the one who leaned against His bosom (John 13:23), exhibits a true testimony that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God, in fact that Jesus is God, the Creator, not a co–creator, rather the creator, and that He, Jesus was there when all things began. When it is said that John leaned on the breast, or the bosom of Jesus we must come to understand how that could happen. Unlike us here in the United States where we sit in chairs separated from one anther, the way they ate in the days of Jesus was to lay on couches, feet towards the rear, and leaning on their left arm. Unlike the painting of the Last Supper, a late 15th-century mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria where the table is elongated with Jesus in the Middle and the disciples around the back of the table, the table in Jesus day was a square “U”. the Narrative of the last supper, and faced the door. On each end of the table would be a man who would have a sword for protection and they arte with their right hand. Often one would dip a morsel of bread into a broth and give it to be eaten by the man on the left. The Greek words: ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ, “in the bosom” does not mean bosom as we do which is the uterus, rather that it is the front of the body between the arms, therefore when a person is reclined at the table that his head covered, as it were the bosom of the one next to him. When it is said that Jesus “loved” John, the Greek word was agape, a principled, God–like love, a special love. Homosexuals would like to point out that was a homosexual admittance, but this is far from the truth, if it were so, as the homosexual likes to say the word would have been used for love: phileo, a brotherly love. Jesus loved all His disciples but the Scriptures are clear that He had a special love, a special principled love for John and this is clear when the Books of John are read.

            Jesus Christ was in the beginning, not the beginning, there s no place in Scripture that says that there are two beginnings, so Jesus had to exist before anything else existed, and was with God, that is that the Greek word, pros, is used to indicate location and that Jesus was in the same direction as God, the Father, and then the Greek is clear on the last part of verse one. “and the Word was God.” The Greek word, theos, is nominative without the definite article and often the article “a” is place in front of the noun, that is, when it is not describing a noun which it is doing so in this verse. The subject is Logos, and Theos, is a predicate nominative participle, and does not require the letter “a” for “Theos” is describing the subject “Logos.” This then makes clear that the Logos is Theos. Jesus Christ is God. The Jehovah Witnesses place the letter “a” in front of Theos because they are Arian in theology and believe that Jesus was not God, rather a god. This is like Mormonism because this admits to there being more than one God.

            Jesus Christ was a man. He had physicality. He need rest, food, sleep. He met all the requirements to pay the debt that a man, Adam, owed to God and had passed down to all his progeny. It is said that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God. This is true for Jesus is God, the Wisdom of God: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God––and righteousness and sanctification and redemption––“(1Corinthians 1:30). Jesus the Wisdom of God was made manifest to the world by His incarnation as foretold from all time: “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of god might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10–11).  All Scripture, being divinely inspired, bears witness to this truth. John defends this fact by setting forth that proposition in particular and does so in an especially lucid manner. This was necessary for at this time Emperor Domitian after Nero persecuted Christians and heretics entered into the Church. They came with good sounding words, advice, and analogies, but like wolves that entered into the sheepfold, they invaded the Church and deprived the Church of its Shepherd. Jehovah Witnesses were not the fist to deny that Jesus was God, and neither was Arius. Marcion, Cerinthus (Gnostic follower) Ebion, and other antichrists dented that Jesus existed before Mary and they stained this simplicity, albeit hard to understand in all its mystery, the simplicity of evangelical faith by their false teachings. This then led John to pen this letter. The Holy Spirit inspired him because the need was urgent. John the one loved especially by Jesus, and we can assume that it was because John converted wholly to Jesus Christ, wrote this to dispel the obscurity the heretics attempted and with some success, to quell the light, and that light was Jesus Christ the Light of the world (John 1:7–10).

Thus says the LORD:

            “Heaven and earth

is My footstool. Where is the

            house that you will

build Me? And where is the

            place of My rest?

For all those things My hand

            Has made, and all those

Things exist,” Says the LORD…

                        Isaiah 65:1–2a).

Let the Light of God shine in you

Richard L. Crumb

The Victory Of God's Word

In your seed all the nations

of the earth shall be blessed,

because you have obeyed

My voice.

Genesis 22:18

            We are to be concerned with the authority of the Holy Scriptures and our conversation should have this as our topic so that we engage with our minds, in advancing our faith, and our ability to defend the truth. What is the most often topic of your conversation? How often we celebrate those who in warlike defense of our country with hymns, and praises, even lessons and do not do the same with those martyrs who did not make any such defense. They simply spoke the word of God wherever they traveled, and yet they are so little spoken of in our Churches and in our conversations. This is probable true, often not taught to us in our Sunday Schools, or from the pulpit. The question that comes to mind is: “If God’s Kingdom is truly one of peace, or charity, and of brotherhood, one of devotion, and truth, justice, and meekness, and those in this Kingdom have resisted warlike bloodthirsty barbarity; as this is a good definition of war, why then do we celebrate those involved in such barbarity, as war, and have received such illustrious remembrance in God’s Church and not those who have resisted such a war and were involved in a war spreading the Gospel of God: Why?” This is a good question so I will attempt to give an answer. I will use the world of Rupert of Deutz (? To 1135 A.D.), in his response to this question spoken to him by Abbot Cuno: “Their struggle and their military might have, with God’s help, been of inestimable profit to us and to the whole world. For the devil was working through Antiochus Epiphanes (c. 215 BC – 164 BC), to destroy all memory of and all hope and faith in the promise of God to Abraham that in his seed all nations would be blessed. What was it that Antiochus did? He erected on god’s altar the detestable idol of abomination; throughout the cities of Judea his men erected sanctuaries; at the doors of homes and in the streets they burned incense and offered sacrifice; the books of God’s law they tore up0 and cast into the flames. And if anyone was found with the books of God’s covenant or if anyone was found observing God’s law, him they put to death according to the royal edict.[1] All this was done in an effort to annihilate the Jewish people, so that in Abraham’s seed, that is, in Christ, all nations should not be blessed and so that God’s purpose and promise might be of no effect. But, thanks be to God, good Cuno, the foundations was successfully defended and from it have come great results. God’s truth has been mightily fulfilled and the Maccabees were the ones who accomplished that feat. For that reason they can rightfully claim an illustrious renown in God’s church.[2]

            God’s purpose to bless all nations according to the promise given to Abraham will be accomplished by all sorts of means, especially true is the mean of using such barbarous wars that often stop the flow of Satanic influence upon people. It was and is necessary for God through His word protect the people through whom he intended to become incarnate for the salvation of the human race. It is this I write about: the victory of God’s Word!. Great and powerful is God’s Word, who has prevailed, but great also is the enemy who was conquered, conquered by the death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven by Jesus Christ. God uses today forces that are not Christian to ward off those who would hinder and if possible, to annihilate the Word of God and His people. God uses Christians to do the same although often we are not engaged in open warfare, our war is silently done in our workplaces, our homes, with our neighbors and in our Churches. Satan is defeated, but he is not destroyed and he still in the ways he can devise attempt to stop this promise of God to Abraham: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1Peter 5:8–9. If you are not at war with sin, and this means to be at war with Satan, and his hordes of demons, who have but one thing in mind, to destroy God’s children, to rule this world. And if Satan can do so, then he believes that God will give to him this world for he would then have usurped God’s authority over mankind. This is the battle Satan has with God, not power, it is authority, who will be the ruler of man is at stake. God has decided and has adjudicated this by His Son, the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ.

            This war, wherever it is being fought by God’s children is filled with terror, suffering at times, especially so for those in countries that are openly opposed to Christianity and will kill Christians, and it may seem difficult to carry out this mandate to live as God has commanded, then, remember the promise of God to Abraham, for God will bless all those in all the nations that turn to Him and live for and by Him. You are already winners in this war, personally, you are legally in heaven, and in God’s timing you will reap the reward of eternal life, no Satan, not demonic hordes to try and destroy your faith; “But may the god of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1Peter 5:10–11).

If you are reproached for the

            Name of Christ,

Blessed are you, for the Spirit

            Of glory and of God rests

Upon you. On their part He is

            Blasphemed, but on your

Part He is glorified.

                        1Peter 4:14

Live Victoriously

Richard L. Crumb

---

[1] I Maccabees 1:54–57

[2] Rupert, On the Victory of God’s Word, a letter to Cuno

Living In The Power of God

And He said to them, “It is not for you

to know times or seasons which the Father

has put in His own authority. But you shall

receive power when the Holy Spirit has come

upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me

in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,

and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:7–8

            How we chase the wind! How we seek that which Jesus Christ has told us not to seek! The Seventh Day Adventist relish in teaching and speaking about the “End Times” and many follow after them seeking some secrete hidden from all others except those who want to know the future.  Well, we know the future: Jesus Christ is coming on the LAST DAY. When is the last day? Who knows for we are not told, but we are told that it is not for us to know the times or seasons: so quit looking. I am not saying we are to be ignorant of the times and all the changes that come with time, rather we are to acknowledge the sin and corruption that may occur. And then we do what Jesus said for us to do: Be HIS WITNESSES. Some chase after some supernatural spiritual awakening so that they see miracles, i.e., healings, even speaking of raising the dead, etc., but that is not the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit did not give us power to heal (I am not saying that we don’t pray for those who need healing, and other needs, financial, and other problems). The Holy Spirit gives us power to be His witnesses. We are His ambassadors are we not. We have been reconciled to God by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ; have we not. We serve a holy God and God is angry with sin, both in the world of unbelievers and the sin that remains and at times resides in His children. Yet God is loving and gives common grace to all, both believers and unbelievers, and gives saving grace to those whom He chose: His children, the bride of Christ which you are so why are we chasing after the wind. If God acted on His anger instantly and execute His justice then this execution of perfect patience, that which is part of His goodness, we would never have the opportunity to discover His glory. That is why He created the world in the first place: to demonstrate His glory, not that He needed that to be demonstrated, rather that by His love He extends who He is so that we can revel in this fact: God loves, God is Just, and God is longsuffering, and God is God who saves. If God was not this loving patient, longsuffering, and Savior then the world would never know Him and in this obscurity God would be stripped of this knowledge of Him. What would the world be like if not for the restraining hand of God? We have examples of this almost every day: Islam killing infidels, even in the past those who claimed to be Christians killing others who claimed to be Christian albeit not of the faith of the ruling Church (Roman Catholicism: but don’t think that the Protestants did not kill as well; they did). In all the seasons that come and go, those times that pass are all times and seasons whereby God is manifested by the truth which He inspired men to write so that we have revealed to God, His love, His willingness to aid His children while they pass through those times and seasons facing all sorts of trials and tribulations. There are so many hurdles that we must cross, those things which are so abnormal, i.e., a train going to fast leaving the track and killing many people, or such as the shooting at schools killing many children and adults, or the bombing at events, and we may wonder: where is God? Why is God waiting? Why is He delaying His justice? In the light of eternity this is only a short period, a short time and the day is coming when all of God’s children will know in full why God was so patient, with us, and with the world in general. Justice is not wronged by patience, rather it is made more illustrious and is fuller in its scope. The day is coming when the dam of restraint will burst, this dam of long–suffering will be removed, and the floods of justice will rush down with tremendous force and violence. Justice will be fully recompensed for the delay. The authority of God will no longer be questioned. Peter gives us great insight as to the long–suffering and patience of God and our part as Christians: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2Peter 3:9–14).

            We all once lived in sin and were far away from God, His Savior, and followed after doctrines of men, and our own prejudices and beliefs. Then God spoke to you, by His word, by other men and women who they themselves became transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, they changed from the inside out and began to live according to Scripture. We they now perfect? NO! but they are forgiven and when they approach our Holy God in repentance for our failures, God is forgiving. We learn, we change, and we live so that we are what Jesus Christ says we are: WITNESSES for Him. God has all the power in regards to times and seasons, we have  been given the power to be ambassadors for Him.  The question: Are you plugged into that power or not?

            Sunday is coming, are you now preparing for the Sabbath, a day in which we give to God? Or is it just a weekend? My prayer is that it is a day to fellowship with other believers and a day for God.

Lt us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

            Fear God and keep His commandments.

For this is man’s all. for God will bring every

            Word into judgment, including every

Secret thing, whether good or evil.

                                    Ecclesiastes 12:14–14

Live Today In The Power of God

Richard L. Crumb

The Meaning Of Reconciliation And That "God Is In Christ."

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die;

yet perhaps for a good man someone would

even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own

love toward us, in that while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having

now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from

wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies

we were reconciled to God through the death

of His Son, much more, having been reconciled,

we shall be saved by His life.

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God

through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom

we have now received the reconciliation.

Romans 5:7–11

            Sometimes we lose true understanding when we hear or have been taught certain things without explanation; that is, we here “Christian” phrases or words but there is no insight; so we accept them on faith, but this faith is of blind faith.  For instance, what does it mean: “God was in Christ?” Is it as the Mormons would state: “Jesus was just another God.” Is this true, that Jesus Christ is another God, therefore it can be said that God, the Father, conjoined Himself to this other God? Or is it as Jehovah Witnesses teach, “Jesus Christ is a created being?” If those two theological theories are true then Jesus Christ had to be reconciled to God. This reconciliation had to be imbued into Him before he could become the Messiah. This has implication in regards to the doctrine of the Trinity. So how are we to understand that phrase: “God was in Christ”? It may be meant of the Trinity that the Father was in Christ constitution and directing, and the Son was in Christ by personal union, and the Holy Spirit was in Christ gifting Him for this work of reconciliation. My personal feelings, on this matter, all is of the Father. There is then this “inness” (a word that cannot be found in the dictionary unless you go online) but it is what we are attempting to understand: how God was “inness” in Christ. Inness is an informal noun and has two meanings: 1. The state or quality of being fashionable: the inness of his new wardrobe. 2. the state or quality of being part of a select or exclusive group: here inness with the literary crowd.

            Wow! That seems very philosophical and tough to wrap our minds around, “inness”? But the Scriptures do say that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Him. First, we must admit that Jesus Christ was not some wardrobe of God the Father, that is what the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses make of Him. Yes God was in Christ and Christ had a body as we do when He was here on earth as the Son of God, but this is not as though God needed a wardrobe to impress Himself to others. Secondly, God being in Jesus Christ did make the Father to be a part (in a loose sense) of a select state.  Was He not in Jesus Christ and in this state He would reconcile lost sinners to Himself? Yes!

            Let us examine this: “God was in Christ” so we can come to know what is meant, and, what is not meant. What is not meant by that phrase? First: We must so confound this doctrine of the essence of God the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit so as to resemble that of man. Man has a son and that son is of the same essence and nature as the father, and even may have the temper of his father, and in many ways resembles his father. Yet, is this what is meant when we speak of the “inness” or the “essential inness” whereby the Father and the Son are one in essence? If so, then Jesus Christ is not exactly God, only a representation by lineage of God and being so is a separate being. Again, this would mean that Jesus Christ had to in some fashion be reconciled to the Father, God. The truth from Scripture is plain and clear that the Father and the Son have the same nature, the same perfections and excellencies. Why? Because Jesus Christ is God, a person of the Godhead as is the Holy Spirit. God the Father is in the Son without any respect to reconciliation. God is in the Son in creation, and He is also one with the Holy Spirit, not in some manner of “inness” is He is Jesus Christ as the definition would provide if that is what is meant by “inness.”  The fact remains that for Jesus to be the One who reconciles lost sinners to God, He must not have had to be reconciled to God whether or not He sinned. It is not by the reason of your sin God reconciles you to Himself. God reconciles you to Himself by means of His will alone, and not by anything you do or are. This is the mercy and the love of God towards all whom He chose to be the bride of His Son Jesus Christ and to give to this bride all that the Son has to give, and the most He gives is a reconciliation to God by means of the propitiation Jesus Christ gave to those chose by God. Why did God choose some and not others? I don’t know! I only know what God has revealed in His word. I do know this: God is just, God is Love, God is merciful, and God is God who is Good and all that He does is Good and for the good of those whom He chose. Now! Are one of the chosen ones? Do you desire to know and convert your life to Him: no matter the cost? Do you really believe that God through the death of His Son on the cross will deliver you from this world and by doing so will create for you, and all those chosen, to have a new world, and that by your faith, your conversion to Him, you have eternal life and all that comes with eternal life? This desire must germinate and this germination comes about by the Holy Spirit in you leading you to read His word, and apply His word in your life. You are an ambassador for God, for Jesus Christ, and a new creature, now, legally in heaven, now. What then is holding you back? I hope and pray: nothing.

            There is much more and I will continue to write on this subject so that we can complete our learning in regards to God reconciling Himself through Jesus Christ to all those who will believe on Him. You must choose to follow Him, He does not fill up an empty cistern.

Here am I and the children

            Whom the LORD

Has given me!

            We are the signs and

Wonders in Israel from the

            LORD of hosts,

Who dwells in Mount Zion.

                                    Isaiah 8:18

Live today whose you are

Richard L. Crumb

Living Our Faith: Our Witness To The World

These things I command you,

that you love one another.

If the world hates you, you know

that it hated Me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would

love its own. Yet because you are out of

the world, therefore the world hates you.

remember the word that I said to you;

“A servant is not greater than its master.”

If they persecuted Me, they will also

persecute you. If they kept My word,

they will keep yours also.

But all these things they will do to you

for My name’s sake, because they do

not know Him who sent Me.

John 15:17–21

            We are not to “love” one another because it is Christian. We are to love one another because Jesus Christ commanded us to do so. If you love Jesus Christ you will do what He commanded. If you love God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit you will do all that God, the Godhead, that includes Jesus Christ, all that was commanded by Him. I am afraid that too many people who call themselves Christian, and they are, at least by God they are, are fearful to live the life that God has outlined for us to live. We do not want to be persecuted, therefore, we do not walk away from the so-called water cooler conversations that turn into idle jokes and are often filled will illicit words and examples, funny, yes to the unsaved, but not to a Christian for we are not to associate with such ones: “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits” (1Corinthians 15:33). Oh, you say: “I don’t go to bars, or drink with them, or do other things that would be considered an association. But you do associate with them if you do not walk away from such things that are not of God. Will they hate you? Yes, probably, but then they hate Jesus Christ before they hated you. You are not of this world, heaven is your home you are just a–passing thru, so goes that old hymn. If you are a lover of God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit is in you then you are a servant, a bond servant, to the One you love, and He is greater than you and will never give to you more than you can handle.  I know, at times it seems that the problems are so great, yet do you believe that God is in control and your situation is not going unnoticed by God? We are to grow in sanctification and by doing so the world does not need to be necessarily told that you are a Christian, they see Christ in all that you do. You are not doing this for your sanctification, that is imparted to you by God who sanctified you when He elected you, so you are legally sanctified and heaven awaits your coming, not by what you do, but by the will of God. If we love our brothers and sisters in Christ then we do all we can to assist them in their times of joy, and times of trouble. Do they need their lawn mowed?  Do then need groceries? Do they need to have fellowship outside of church? Do you invite, when you can, someone to come to you home to have lunch or dinner, and to just be around other brothers and sisters? Or, is church all there is and you go home, off to you world, and glad to have you church card punched? Who are you living for? Now, there are times when you cannot do much for you need that help, or other situations may occur. The question is: did you push the ox into the ditch or did the ox by himself fall into the ditch?

            As I write this I am convicted of my own short fallings, those times when I allowed myself to do that which I know not to do and I fall upon my knees to God and ask forgiveness. I sinned against a Holy God, not that I am caught in my sin, rather that I sinned even though I knew what not to do. I have been asked: “How did that work out for you?” “Not well,” I answered. Hindsight is always 20/20, but foresight is wisdom. The worst teacher is experience. The best teacher is God who has revealed to us all we need to live this life in accordance to His will. How do I know His will? Read His word, daily, meditate upon it, and pray for guidance and the Holy Spirit will do just that. This life is for us to enjoy, not to go around as some pious monk, or some pious Christian. We are to live it, and enjoy all that God has done, His creation, His church, and our families.  Those times to go camping, or shopping, or fishing (that is for me) and to create beautiful pictures, or some art, to play music, to sing, dance, and be happy.  How can we do this? Focus on this fact. God called you to eternal life. God will be with you in this life. All we have to do is allow His commandments to be our mantel. God is not some imaginary being, giving some hope for eternal life. It was God in Jesus Christ that saved you and why not then live for Him? I ask myself this same question. Yes, we must make decisions that are hard: do it by the use of prayer and Scripture. Yes, not all will agree with you, or your choices. If your choices are by means of God’s commands, His word, what does that matter? Let me end this blog with this by the apostle Paul: “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent form the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him” (2Corinthians 4:6–9).

Beloved, do not imitate,

            What is evil,

But what is good. He does

            Good is of God,

But he who does evil

            Has not seen God.

                                    3John 11

Praise God Today In Your life

Richard L. Crumb

You Are Glorified: You Are Reconciled: Do You Believe?

A little while longer and the world

will see me no more, but you

will see Me. Because I live,

you will live also. At that day you

will know that I am in My Father,

and you in Me, and I in you.

He who has My commandments

and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.

And he who loves me will be loved

by My Father, and I will love him

and manifest Myself to him.

John 14:19–21

            Here is a promise that should make you fall on your knees in gratitude to God.  For it is God Who reconciled you and this by means of His Son Jesus Christ. You will live! Forever! Are you questioning now about how it is that God saved you? Are you questioning how it is that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for your sin? Questioning is not wrong. Some think differently and are in such a conflagration in their minds that this confusion has led to antipathy. It may be hard now, but in that day: what day? The LAST DAY! There is no other coming of Jesus Christ as taught in some churches.  Jesus Christ comes on the LAST DAY, and no sooner to redeem His bride and carry His bride home to the mansion He has prepared for His bride.  You are that bride.  On that day, you will not question any longer for you will know will all assurance that Jesus Christ is our Savior, He is God, and He did pay for your sins. Are you looking for the rapture? Don’t! there is no Scriptural proof that Jesus comes twice, and the word rapture is not found in the Bible and there is no other Scriptures that lead to that conclusion of a rapture as there are for the Trinity, a word not found in the Bible. Quit looking! Keep God’s commandments for by doing so you are loving your Savior Jesus Christ and by loving Jesus Christ in this way you are loving God your creator, your Savior, and the One who has reconciled you to Himself. If you keep the commandments of god Jesus Christ will manifest Himself to you and through you will manifest Himself to the world. This is sanctification, not that you earned it, not that you acquire it, for you do not, for it is imparted to you and manifested that it has been imparted to you in how you live according to the commandments of God. This Scripture, among others, is telling you something important: Jesus Christ is: ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεσθε ὑμεῖς ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί μου καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν. Notice this Greek word, ἐν: it means “in” but has several uses according to the context; therefore we must understand this if we are to understand this Scripture and not misuse it to develop a theology that is not Scriptural. When the  ἐν is used as to that Day, then it is being used of time, during, or in the course of, (cf. Matthew 2:1). When ἐν is used that Jesus is “in” you then it is being used instrumentally: that is the efficient cause, (Accts 4:12) or being equipped with, furnished with (Luke 14:31). And when it is said that Jesus is ἐν the Father, and the Father is ἐν is in Him then it is referring to a place, being “in” as a person being in a house (Matthew 8:6; Mark 12:26; Revelation 6:6). The question then is; How is it that Jesus Christ is ἐν us and manifests Himself “in” us, and the Bible is clear on this; it is by the Holy Sprit living in you, through you, guiding you, and Jesus promised this when He said: “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:25–26).

            So how should we live? In fear of the world? In fear of being persecuted? In fear that we might lose our job, our reputation? Why? Will you walk away from those who are using risqué jokes, or asking you to come and be with them when you know that the place they are going is not the place you would take Jesus? Will you read the Bible so that the Holy Spirit can recall to you that which you have stored in your brain? Although if you are like me, I need help in remembering, Oh! The Holy Spirit can do that, but He will not fill up an empty cistern. Listen again to the words of Jesus: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27). Yes, Jesus was speaking to His disciples but why record this conversation if not to be applied to all who are disciples of Christ? Are you not a disciple of Jesus Christ? If so, then those words apply to you.

            Is this not GOOD NEWS? Does not this drive you to live for Him? Are you living for now, the temporary life, or for life eternal, that which Jesus Christ says He will do, on the LAST DAY. Yes we are aware of the times and seasons, but we are not to concentrate on that DAY, it is coming, we concentrate on allowing the Holy Spirit to manifest Jesus Christ in us.  LIVE LIFE! LOVE GOD!

Nevertheless I tell you the truth.

            It is to your advantage

That I go away; for if I do not go away,

The Helper will not come to you;

but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

                                    John 16:7

You are glorified by God: Hallelujah

Richard L. Crumb