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What God Has Saved Us For

One lovely moonlit night a grandfather and his small granddaughter went for a walk. The stars were magnificent. As the grandfather named individual stars and constellations, the granddaughter exclaimed, “Grandpa, if the bottom side of Heaven is this beautiful, just think how wonderful the top side must be.”

Heaven is definitely beyond our comprehension and every person who has yielded to God by faith is going there to be with Him. In the last blog, I wrote about the doctrine of hell and what God has saved us from if we yield to Him by faith. I want to write about what God has saved us for. The first thing He has saved us for is:

1. Purpose – If you are reading this article, then you have purpose. Purpose means the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. Thomas Carlyle said, “A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder–a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.” God has called you as sure as He has called Jeremiah mentioned in Jeremiah 1:8, “”Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” You are not an accident or a mistake. You have been appointed to be a representative of God. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” His purpose is what lasts. God has created you with a purpose in mind. Don’t compare your life with others. God has a special purpose for you.
2. Potential – Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons, is the only athlete to have hit a Major League home run and scored an NFL touchdown in the same week. Sanders grew up on the mean streets of Fort Myers, Fla., where exposure to some would-be athletes spurred him to make a success of himself. He explains: “I call them Idas. ‘If I’da done this, I’d be making three million today…If I’da practiced a little harder, I’d be a superstar.’ They were as fast as me when they were kids, but instead of working for their dreams they chose drugs and a life of street corners. When I was young, I had practice; my friends who didn’t went straight to the streets and never left. That moment after school is the moment we need to grab. We don’t need any more Idas.” The Omni-Potent God who lives in you can help you fulfill your potential. There’s nothing too hard for God. If you understand God is in control of your purpose then you can allow Him to work in you and through you.
3. Power – When J. Wilbur Chapman was in London, he had an opportunity to meet General Booth, who at that time was past eighty years of age. Dr. Chapman listened reverently as the old general spoke of the trials and the conflicts and the victories. Then the American evangelist asked the general if he would disclose his secret for success. “He hesitated a second,” Dr. Chapman said, “and I saw the tears come into his eyes and steal down his cheeks, and then he said, ‘I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, men with greater opportunities; but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart, and a vision of what Jesus Christ could do with the poor of London, I made up my mind that God would have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army today, it is because God has all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.’” Dr. Chapman said he went away from that meeting with General Booth knowing that, “the greatness of a man’s power is the measure of surrender.”

If you will surrender to the fact that God is your Creator, Redeemer and Planner of your life then you will live with purpose and potential that you could never muster on your own.

The topic of hell can be uncomfortable to talk about. People have many questions about the reality of hell but I wanted to write about this topic because it’s mentioned in the Bible. First, I want to tell you why I am writing this piece:

1. To warn you of the eternal consequences of rejecting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
2. My desire is not to scare you to Jesus. The Bible says we are to believe God by faith. We are never supposed to live out of fear. God doesn’t want us to live in torment. We serve God out of a relationship with Him.
3. It’s a doctrine of the bible. We need to teach it regardless of how uncomfortable it may be.

The Old and New Testaments use 18 different words and figures to describe the doctrine of hell. While I won’t mention all 18 descriptions I will share with you a few Scriptures shedding light on the subject.

The final state of the wicked is described under the figures of eternal fire (Mt. 25:41)
The pit of the abyss (Rev. 9:2,11)
Outer darkness (Mt. 8:12)
Torment (Rev. 14:10-11)
Eternal punishment (Mt. 25:46)
Wrath of God (Rom. 2:5)
Second death (Rev. 21:8)
Eternal destruction from the face of the Lord (2 Thess. 1:9)
Eternal sin (Mark 3:29)

We have no Biblical reason to say hell is just a metaphor or a symbol. This is a literal place.

There are four questions I want to answer on a Biblical basis:

1. Why is there a hell? In Matthew 25:41, Jesus said hell was a place prepared for the devil and his angels. We don’t belong there. If we go, we choose to go there.
2. Who is going there? In John 12:47-48, Jesus said that we would be condemned if we reject him. C.S. Lewis said, “Hell is God’s way of saying, ‘Have it your way.'”
3. How can I be sure of not going there? Jesus promises, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).
4. How should we respond to this doctrine?

*We should be thankful because God has provided a way of escape for us all. The reality of hell should drive us to the infinite mercy of God through His Son Jesus Christ. You can never behave your way out of hell. It’s only by the grace of God you are saved and have a desire to live a righteous life.

*We should be deeply saddened by the people around us who don’t know who are on their way to hell. Does our heart break for those people? Do we really care?

*We should have an intense desire to rescue those who are perishing. You run into people everyday who don’t have an understanding of the reality of hell.

Another question to ask is, “Do we live in view of eternity?”

“Charles G. Finney, a young lawyer, was sitting in a village law office in the state of New York. Finney had just come into the old [attorney’s] office. It was very early in the day, and he was all alone when the Lord began to deal with him.

“ ‘Finney, what are you going to do when you finish your course?’

“ ‘Put out a shingle and practice law.’

“ ‘Then what?’

“ ‘Get rich.’

“ ‘Then what?’

“ ‘Retire.’

“ ‘Then what?’

“ ‘Die.’

“ ‘Then what?’

“And the words came tremblingly, ‘The judgment.’

“He ran for the woods a half mile away. All day he prayed, and vowed that he would never leave until he had made his peace with God.

“Finney came out of the woods that evening, after a long struggle, with the high purpose of living [for] the glory of God” (Knight, Master Book, 351).

My question to you is “Then what?” What will you do with this doctrine of hell?

“Unless we come to grips with the terrible doctrine of hell, we will never even begin to understand the depths of what Jesus did for us on the cross. His body was being destroyed in the worst possible way, … When He cried out that God had forsaken him, He was experiencing hell itself.…

“When Jesus was cut off from God, He went into the deepest pit and most powerful furnace, beyond all imagining. And He did it voluntarily, for us” (Larson, Contemporary Stories, 56).

Lastly, I want to show you what the Bible does not teach:

1. Annihilationism: This view eliminates the truth of eternal punishment. If heaven is forever then hell is forever.
2. Probationism: This view teaches you have a second chance after you die. Now is the day of salvation.
3. Universalism: This view teaches everyone will eventually be saved, but the problem is that not everyone wants to be saved. We have free will.

Even if you didn’t believe in eternal punishment, it’s still absence from the presence of God. That thought ought to place a reverential fear in our hearts toward God.

According to 2 Peter 3:9, God doesn’t want you to perish. All you need to do is believe in Him. God knows you aren’t perfect. God knows you better than you know yourself. Be honest with Him. He won’t turn you away.

In this blog, I want to share with you our vision, mission, values and specific goals for the next few years. It’s my desire that we will unite together under this vision and accomplish what God has called us to do. Before I share our goals with you I want to give you a report of what God has done this year.

1. Four people have been healed by Jesus this year!
2. One person gave their life to Jesus!

We are looking to baptize many more and we are excited about seeing more people join the body of Christ! Now I would like to share with you our overall vision.

Why we exist: “To reach the lost and teach the saved.”
Our desire: “To see our community and beyond transformed by Jesus Christ.”
How we will do it: “Since change starts with us, we have adopted seven core values to accomplish the mission and vision God has given us.”

1. I will worship
2. I will mature
3. I will serve
4. I will give
5. I will seek unity
6. I will pray
7. I will sacrifice

By living true to these values, we will see the gospel of grace spread like wildfire.

Another goal we have is to eliminate our mortgage as soon as we can in order to

*Give More
*Do More
*Reach More

1. We want to allocate what we pay in debt directly to ministry and mission.
2. We don’t want to be about mortgage and maintenance, but about ministry and missions.
3. We don’t want years of lost ministry opportunities sacrificed on the altar of debt.

By removing the debt, we will invest in:

1. Children’s ministry. The children are the church of today. What we do for them today will matter tomorrow. We want to be better equipped to meet the spiritual and felt needs of the children’s ministry such as curriculum, food, possibly another facility and funding special trips.

2. Youth ministry. The bible says that in the last days God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh. I believe in this generation and I believe that when we give to this generation we will see a move of God like we have never seen before. We would like to be better equipped to meet their needs. If a child can’t afford to go to youth camp we will provide funds in order for them to do so. When it pertains to their walk with God we are interested in helping them.

3. Benevolence Fund: We have a desire to meet the needs of families who may be struggling. As a compassion ministry, we want to show the love of Jesus to the poor and needy.

4. Add on to the community building: Every time we have a function we overflow the building. We want to build on so we can comfortably fit every one in the building.

5. Missions and Evangelism: Missions is the heart of God. As we support local missions from the church, we also desire to support other missionaries and Christian organizations. Since God’s heart is to the Jew first, we want to support Jewish missions.

I ask you from the bottom of my heart to partner with others to implement these core values in our lives. By doing so, we will reap a harvest of souls into the kingdom of God.

You’ve got to have a breakup before you can have a breakthrough. These are the words the Lord gave me today. Our breakthrough is dependent upon our decision to breakup with what holds us back spiritually.

A breakthrough is the work of God manifesting a miracle or deliverance in a person’s life. However, we must make the decision to completely breakup with whatever is holding us back.

God wants us to breakup with old habits, old sins and old alliances. God only moves through a surrendered and committed heart. God says, “I want a relationship with you but if you refuse to breakup with unbelief there won’t be a breakthrough.”

I have found that people give up right before their breakthrough. They get tired of praying and serving God because they think their breakthrough is out of reach. It reminds me of the parable of the sower. In Mark chapter 4, Jesus refers to the seed as the word of God and the sower is the one who plants the word of God. The soil is about the receptivity of the word of God. In verse 16-17 Jesus says, “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately they receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure for only a time. Afterwards, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”

There are people who give up when the least amount of trouble comes their way. You’ve got to keep going strong until you’ve gotten a breakthrough. Paul said in Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

The harvest is your breakthrough. If you keep planting and nurturing the seed you will see the seed breakthrough the ground and get a harvest!

That’s why you’ve got to keep on giving, praying and worshipping! You’ve got to keep on keeping on!

Breakup with what’s holding you back and press toward your breakthrough. It was Jacob who wrestled with a Man in Genesis 32:24-26. Jacob told Him, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!”

Jacob was blessed. Some of you are letting go to soon! You need to press through the crowd like the woman who had the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). She was determined to get to Jesus.

God says, “Because you won’t breakup with old thinking you can’t discern the doors of opportunity I put in your lap.” You can’t think the same way and get different results.

It’s time to breakup! You’ve been in bondage with negativity and drama too long! Some of you may have a boyfriend or girlfriend that’s keeping you back spiritually. If they don’t want God or His family then breakup. Your breakthrough is right around the corner!

The moment you breakup with what displeases God will be the start of your breakthrough! Glory to God! You must make a decisive commitment. God will move for those who let Him.

You’ve got to breakup before you breakthrough.

In Genesis 18 and 19, God was sending two angels to the town of Sodom because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was “so great and their sins were so grave.” He was going to have the city destroyed.  Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city if there were 50 righteous in the city. God said yes. He then asked if he would spare the city if there were 45, then 40, then 30, 20, and finally 10. God agreed that if 10 righteous people were found, then he would spare the city for the sake of the 10. As the angels arrived in the city, they did not find 10 that were righteous. Not only that, but when they arrived and were greeted by Lot and were invited into Lot’s house to spend the night and eat, the men of the city came to the house and wanted Lot to send them out to “know them carnally” as it is stated in the NKJV. Lot tried to stop the men by offering up his daughters just so the men wouldn’t prove that the destruction that was coming was justified. They then turned and were about to hurt Lot when the angels pulled Lot in the door to save him. They instructed Lot to warn all of his family to leave because they were about to destroy the city. Lot’s sons-in-law laughed as Lot warned them because they didn’t believe him. As morning came, the bible says the angels warned Lot again telling him to get his wife and two daughters out of the town, lest they be consumed in the punishment of the city. Still, they lingered, so the angels took hold of Lot, his wife and his two daughters’ hands and brought them out and sat them down outside of the city. They told them again to Escape for your life and “Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” When Lot and his family had safely entered the city of Zoar, the Lord rained brimstone and fire on the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all of the inhabitants of the land were destroyed. But Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

As I read these accounts, I catch myself getting frustrated with Lot and his family. God is trying to save their lives and tells them numerous times to get out. Even before they got the verbal warnings, they knew who God was, and what was expected of His people, yet they allowed themselves to be surrounded by the evil that was in the town and didn’t leave. So he sends his angels. The angels arrive and Lot recognizes that they are different. He knows that they aren’t ordinary men. He knows they are sent from God. This is the time we see that all of the things going on around Lot aren’t just things he was ignorant of. He immediately goes into protection mode and has them come to his house to be safe. I can almost feel the shame he must have felt to know that the angels were there and could see what he is letting go on in his life and the compromises he has made in this city. An altercation occurs, they save him and tell him to get his people and go. But he still doesn’t leave. What in the world is wrong with this guy? Morning comes, they tell him again. Still stalling. Finally, they have to grab them by their hands and physically move them out of the city and tell them go to the mountains and don’t look back. All of this reluctance, for what? Worldly possessions? And if that’s not enough, Lot’s wife has to still hang on to the memories of these said possessions and take one more peek. And then, for her, it’s all over. No more opportunities to be had. No more chances to go.

So after my frustration, I think about my life. We are given the gift of salvation. When I got saved and every time I repent, I have that same feeling of shame about the things I have let go on. I feel guilty for the compromises I have made to make things easier. I start to understand how Lot and his wife may have felt. But when God releases us from the hold of sin, we are to let them go and not look back. We are to move forward knowing that He has forgiven us and even better, in Hebrews 8:12 it says our sins and lawless deeds He will remember no more.

I pray that we can all learn to let go of our past and stop letting our past sins decide our future. Let go of the old man and put on the new. I just heard a preacher describe doing this by comparing it to a prisoner being released from prison. He doesn’t wear his prison suit anymore. He has been set free and puts on new clothes to start a new life. That’s what we need to do. Don’t let your past sins or compromises destroy you. Leave ALL of your old sins in a pile and don’t look back.

Be blessed.

-DJ

Fixing The Fight

I remember when I was younger, my youth group leader told a story about a farmer and his 2 dogs, one white dog and one black dog.  Every Saturday, the farmer would take his dogs to the dog fight in town. People would place bets on which dog would win.  Sometimes the black one would win, sometimes the white one would win, but the farmer always won.  People kept asking him how he did it until he finally revealed his secret.  All week long, he would feed one dog and starve the other.  Whichever dog he fed was always the winner.

As I was contemplating what to write, I was telling Pastor Sam that writing doesn’t come as easy for me as it once did.  When I was in school, sometimes we’d have to write creatively for assignments.  Since I had to do it anyway, I made my stories funny just to entertain myself and I found out my teachers were usually entertained by them, as well.  Somewhere along the way, I stopped writing so much and my creative side become overshadowed by my analytical/logical side because that was the side of my brain that I was using the most.  That’s the side I was feeding.

There’s always a battle going on within us as Christians.  Our flesh is always fighting with our spirit.  We want to do good but our flesh wins and we end up sinning anyways.  The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7: 14-20:

14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
 New American Standard Bible

Just like the farmer that fed one dog while starving the other, we need to starve the flesh and feed the spirit so the spirit can win the fight.  We can feed the spirit by reading our Bibles, spending time alone with the Lord in prayer, fasting, and fellowshipping with other believers. We can starve the flesh by being careful what we’re watching, reading, and listening to, choosing the things that glorify the Lord over the things of the world, and avoiding the temptations and desires that we know are not pleasing to Him.  We can fix the fight just like the farmer did.  It’s up to us to decide which dog is going to win.

Prophetic Declaration

Have you ever heard of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel chapter 37? This factual story amazes me because of the intensity Ezekiel must’ve felt. He’s in a valley surrounded by bones of individuals and God asks him if those bones can live. The prophet said, “O Lord God, You know.”

Then God asks Ezekiel to prophesy to those bones. So He speaks directly to the dry bones word for word on what God told him to say. As Ezekiel was making a prophetic declaration, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came  together and the skin covered them. Finally, at God’s command, Ezekiel prophetically declared that there would be breath in those bodies. Then what happened?

They stood on their feet and lived.

What was the point of this supernatural act? God was giving Ezekiel a concrete example of how He will restore Israel to their land after they have been saying, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off.”

However, there was a link between Ezekiel’s prophetic declaration and the will of God. Prophecy is simply proclaiming God’s kingdom will in the earth. Prophetic declaration is so powerful that Jesus mentioned it in Mark 11:23-25. Solomon said that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Your words have creative power and when you match your words to God’s words there is a shift in the spiritual atmosphere.

Your breakthrough deliverance is found between God’s word and your prophetic declaration. As sons of God, we not only have asking power but affirming power. We must affirm what God has already did through prophesying.

Your miracle isn’t just around the corner. It’s actually in your mouth.

Everyday people are prophesying but it’s not always for God. Just take a listen to your co-workers, family and friends. Many people prophesy what Satan wants by complaining, etc. Listen to what they are saying. Pray for them. Equally important, pray for yourself!

As one minister put it, “Nothing ever happens in the kingdom without declaration.” It doesn’t matter who you are you can use your words to bring heaven’s reality into the earth!!! Go ahead and prophesy. Believe and confess the promises of God.