Manifesting Jesus Chrsit Under Trial

We are hard-pressed on every side,

yet not crushed; we are perplexed,

but not in despair; persecuted,

but not forsaken; struck down,

but not destroyed -- always carrying

about in the body the dying

of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus

also may be manifested in our body.

2 Corinthians 4: 8 -- 10

            We must not forget history so that we can understand the words of Paul in context.  Claudius, otherwise known as Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, (41 -- 54) and then followed by the infamous Nero (54 -- 68) the question of deification had created a serious crisis in the East among the Jews a question that began (37 -- 41) with Caligula and particularly at Alexandria in (38) where there came to be a large-scale violent fighting by the Jews against the Greek majority, the Grecian inhabitants of the inhabitants who rejected the Jews claim to a full citizenship of the city whereby there was a forced entry into synagogues and set up of statues of the Emperor. Localized persecution extended from the Jews to the Christians who all lower once considered just a sect of the Jews had now become a sect all of their own and in opposition to the Emperor and emperor worship.  Nero as reported by Tacitus describes how Nero began to appear before a Roman spectators.  And due to this testimony tacitus went on to describe how the Emperor instituted Youth Games that was attended by every sort of immorality in which he himself performed.  These aberrations while not affecting the sound government of the Empire as a whole fed violence among Christians who would not submit to emperor worship.  Rome was taken a turn for the worse and we all know about this crucial event called the Great Fire (64).  Nero tried to pin the blame upon the city's small Christian community who were regarded as a dissident group of Jews and burned many of them alive, it was at this time the history of speech of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul.  Paul faced death wherever he went he had to undergo trials and persecutions and this would be true of Christians who were trying to perform their Christian faith in the face of opposition that was often violent.  So, when Paul said that they were hard-pressed, and all those who traveled with him did not become crushed due to the opposition and persecution.  Yes, Paul was perplexed: under any trial and persecution that you may undergo may also perplexed you, but as Paul said he was not forsaken.  Even though been struck down, he was not destroyed.  Can this be said of you?  Paul was persecuted but he knew that he was never forsaken, and this very fact is also true for you when you are persecuted.  That which gave Paul peace and a was the fact that Jesus Christ held a priority for his life, not just Jesus Christ but the dying Jesus Christ upon a cross and that the life of Jesus was manifested in his life.  Is this true of you are you finding peace in all things seem to be going against you is Jesus Christ being carried about by you in your life?  Let's face this fact: we all are going to die; it is not whether or not, it is when and how.  We are often uncertain what will occur or happen to us, what will become of us, but we do not despair even in the face of the greatest perplexity these knowing that God is able to support and to deliver, and in Him we always place our trust and hope.  Our enemy, Satan and his hordes and what they throw against is a great measure of prevail and when this occurs so often our spirits began to falter and fail, even with all this we are not destroyed.  We have the support of God for He has given His Holy Spirit to all of His children. Now here is the question for us: "For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So in death is working in us, but life in you; (2 Corinthians 4: 11 -- 12): is this true of you that you are living even if you are delivered unto death for Jesus sake and is Jesus being manifested in your flesh?  Whatever the burdensome troubles for all Christian believers may be, they have no reason, we have no reason, to faint.  This will require faith that is the operation of the Holy Spirit, it is the same Spirit that the saints of old believed and suffer such great things and were able to do it because of their faith and God.  This grace and faith is an effectual anecdote against a poisonous things being thrown at Christians those things that are troubled times.  The question again for us is will we allow this faith in the Holy Spirit to give us a to bear up under any of the infirmities and persecution, trials, that may come your way?  How is it possible?  The same as it was for Paul: "And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke (Psalm 11 6:10; 2 Peter 1: 1) we believe also am therefore we speak, knowing that He will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present this with you.  For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, many cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4: 13 -- 15).  This may seem hard but the sufferings of Christians and the preaching of God's Word come our conversations come are intended for the good of God's people and the glory of God.  If we are not in this category then we are bringing upon God disdain.  Therefore, make it your duty, your priority, for your life to do it exactly that: be a manifestation of Jesus Christ on earth.

Before I add a closing verse, I had to leave to do work that I did not expect to take all day today therefore this blog took a little longer and I missed one day but it is now you are free to read into peruse and consider and to look at God's Word for the truth that I have attempted to give to you.

The fruit of the righteous

            is a tree of life.

And he who wins souls

is wise.

            Proverbs 11: 30

God is not hidden from you

Richard L. Crumb

LIving As A Friend To Our True Friend Jesus Christ

For we do not preach ourselves,

but Christ Jesus the Lord,

and ourselves your bondservants

for Jesus' sake.  For it is the God

who commanded light to shine the light

 out of darkness, who has shone

in our hearts to give the light

of knowledge of the glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have

this treasure in earthen vessels,

that the excellence of the power

may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4: 5 -- 7

            Paul, as well as the other apostles, had integrity in regards to their service for the Lord Jesus Christ and not to have their service pointing to themselves, rather they pointed to Jesus Christ.  Self was not what mattered or was the end of their preaching for they did not set forth their own notions or their own private opinions.  How far have some of the churches claiming to be Christian have fallen from the truth and the examples set forth by the apostles of Jesus Christ.  We find pastors and church leaders preaching their own opinions, their own ideologies, that which has come to be their theology, their passions, and their prejudices, rather than preach the will of God.  Paul did not seek to advance his own secular interest.  Paul pointed in this letter that he preached Jesus Christ the Lord, and this shown by the very fact that he called himself their bondservants for the sake of Jesus Christ.  Christians are to be Authentic in their preaching and they are daily activities in this life that requires that authentic Christians be bondservants for the sake of Jesus Christ and not for their own glory or sake.  How does one be a bondservants?  Valentines Day, and even Mothers Day, find men rushing about to buy special gifts or flowers, even candies, purchasing cards that have wonderful loving poetic sayings on them telling of their love for their special friend and spouse.  Jesus outlined friendship: "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You all are My friends if you do what ever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15 12 -- 15).  Think upon this fact: Jesus Christ calls you friend.  This means  that you are a friend of God and you will receive the blessings of God and we can only expect God's blessing if we are doing His will by following His commandments.  Bondservants are such because they have decided by their will to be servants of another and in this case it is to be a servant, or bondservant of Jesus Christ and we gladly do this because we are His friends and He is our friend and has not left us destitute from the truth.  Paul reminds the Corinthians that God commanded light to shine out of darkness, furthermore God has commanded light to shine in the hearts of His children and that light teaches us of the glory of God.  Paul says that it is in the "face" of Jesus and this simply means the person of Jesus Himself.  This means to be in the very presence of Jesus.  This is possible because we have been given this treasure even while we are still in this earthen vessel.  That treasure is the excellence of the power of God in us; therefore, we are not to say it is anything of us for it is not.  All the power that you have to be an authentic Christian is given to you by God, through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.  As bondservants, and as friend of Jesus who is the ultimate Friend, even as we would do for the one(s) we love and called friends,we employ self surrender, a self sacrifice even though it may be a difficult thing to do.  We are not to simply say "I must devote myself to God," if this is your attitude has no sense of servitude that has joy.  As Authentic Christians we must abandon ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to give us the ability the joy of Jesus Christ.  We look to Jesus Christ as our final end and live a life of self sacrifice for our friend.  This is not the same friend that we may have on this earth: this friend gives eternal life and all that is required is that we follow and live His commandments.  The life we live following the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the life of self sacrifice and this is not burdensome for we delight to do His will.  Do not let your natural affinities hinder you, you to walk in love and allow the excellence of the glory of God to be the power in your lives.  Love for God is not sentimental!  For an authentic Christian true love as God loves is the most practical thing.  The friendship we have is based on the new life that has been created in us and has no affinity with our old life.  The affinity that we have is with and only in the life of God.  We are to be absolutely devoted to God and to His Son the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and allow the Holy Spirit to empower us with the excellent power of God.  By this we are able to proclaim the Gospel to anyone and everyone who may come in contact with us and to show this in our every day activities.  We are to be obedient and leave all the consequences to God.  Everything our life, our doctrines, are to be centered in Jesus Christ.  We are to be ready to do His good will.  God could have chosen to send His angels to preach the gospel, this He did not do for He has sent you, a humble person, a weaker vessel, and He chose you to do will and by this; shall His power be shown, and that He may be glorified.  We are the objects of enjoyment to God and God uses us in this for our own advantage.  Praise God!

Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!

            Praise your God, O Zion!

For He has strengthened the bars

            of your gates; He has

Blessed be your children within you.

            He makes peace in your borders,

and fills you with the finest wheat.

                        Psalm 147: 12 -- 14

God has sent to you His word

Richard L. Crumb

Removing Satan's Veil Against The Gospel

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, lest the light of the Gospel

of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God,

should shine on them.

2 Corinthians 4: 3 -- 4

            How can it be that the Gospel veiled to some and not others?  Do not those who are veiled hear the Gospel?  Yes!  Is the problem with the Gospel?  Is the problem with those who were preaching the gospel?  No!  The Gospel, for some, hidden and has proven ineffectual to some who hear it.  The Gospel has no fault in this matter because the Gospel simply is the truth of God and the revelation of God of Who He is and how we are to live for Him.  The problem lies, first, and foremost, with those who have heard the Gospel and have rejected the Gospel.  Why did they reject the Gospel?  The god of this world has blinded their minds and they are under the influence and power of Satan.  Satan is not a being that covers this world for he is simply a created being, an individual spirit.  We must not forget that when Satan fell from the glory he had with him many other angels who fell with him and by them, they are able to have great influence all over the world.  How is it possible for a spirit creature to have such influence upon a human being that is fleshly and not spirit?  This is an important question; one that must be answered so that we who hear the word of God and that word is not veiled to us understand how to flee from the devil: "Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James: 7).  As Christians we are to submit and the Greek word used is imperative and in the passive form, in other words you are directed by command to place yourself or to arrange yourself under the influence of God.  You are to be subordinated and brought under a state of influence of God and this means to render obedience; that is to be submissive.  Furthermore as a Christian hearing the word of God and no longer under the veil of Satan's influence you are to resist the devil.  And this word is also an imperative a directive and that direction is to become in opposition, to oppose, and to stand out against, and in this case the devil and his demons who are veiling the minds of men.  How do we do this: "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double -minded" (James 4:8)?  Due to the fall of man and this by the sin of Adam all men are sinners from their conception to their death.  Due to this original sin that has infected mankind, and that infection has darkened their understanding of God, they do not, and often will not, due to the error that grows within them, and the prejudice that they hold to, they cannot behold the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.  Spirit speaks to spirit!  All Satan has to do is to influence with by his false words to our spirit that is already sinful.  The Gospel of Christ is designed so that we can discover God and by this we renew our mind, our exercise of the faith that God will give to His children.  How do we discover the Gospel of Christ: "So then they come by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).  Satan has but one design and that design is to keep people from hearing the word of God and even for some who have heard the word of God so that they are blinded by the tempter and reject the word of God.  Satan is in opposition to the Gospel to us from a personal and the redeeming acceptance of the  sacrifice on the cross by Jesus keeping men from the Gospel and even sets them against it.  What we have done in this blog is to trace the rejection of the Gospel to its proper cause: Satan, and our unwillingness to hear the Gospel and apply it in our lives.  Only the Holy Spirit can speak to your spirit and give you the faith freely that which you cannot earn or obtain without Him.  Jesus Christ is the very image of God, God's representation and the manifestation of God in the flesh.  The image of God demonstrates His relationship with God the Father and due to this fact Jesus Christ who is the very image of God even though came to earth incarnate, that is in the flesh, He is still suitable to bear the responsibility.  This He came to accomplish and that is to restore to fallen man, who had lost their desire to be associated with God, can now return and be restored by the divine grace of God, that part of the image of God that they had from their creation, restored and now represent Him.  They are restored to that relationship to God.  If this is true of you than you are also restored to a right relationship with God.  This then is where those imperatives for us are both commands and a directive, that we are to subject ourselves, and to resist ourselves against Satan and his demons.  When no longer do the things that this world does, and dress like the world, nor speak like the world, we become law abiding citizen, holding the justice of God first and foremost.  This means driving according to the speed laws, and obeying other laws.  Within the democracy of the United States, if we disagree with the law we have the right to oppose it and to aid in its change, to be restored, or reform or completely rejected the law, by a new law.  Until then we are obliged as Christians who hold to the justice of God for which the government is also to hold too, and be just according to God's law.  We are not to be blinded by the god of this world, we are to be the manifestation of the image of Jesus Christ who is the image of God and we become His image also.  As we grow in sanctification the image of the invisible God through Jesus Christ this is expressed in our lives to the world.  An awesome responsibility, one that may raise fear in your hearts, but do not be afraid for we have the power of God within us, the Holy Spirit.  Live today as an Authentic Christian: God will bless your efforts.  You now have the greatest blessing they God can give to you and that is eternal life secured.  Praise God!

Oh, give thanks to the LORD,

            for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

            Let the redeemed of the LORD

say so, whom He has redeemed

            from the hand of the enemy.

                                    Psalm 107: 1 -- 2

Today spend time in God's Word

Richard L. Crumb