by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Evidence of Salvation
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Isaiah 43:25 says, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
The Lord treats repentant sin placed under the blood of Christ as if He has completely forgotten the act. (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown) Christians have the assurance that God blots out the sin. This is a metaphor taken from the custom of keeping accounts, where, when a dept is paid, it is blotted out. It is like a drop of ink or in this case, a drop of blood from Christ gets on the recorded account and cannot be read. Notice, I said it is like.
It is important to note that it is not because of what anyone has done. It is because God longs to show His forgiveness as Christ showed His love for us in His obedience unto death. Christians do not rest upon a work of any kind, they may rest upon the ever-loving, never-ending grace of God found in faith in Christ and Christ alone. Lay every sin at the foot of the Cross and trust alone in God’s Word, which reveals Christ, the person of our sure hope.
God forgave King David of the many sins he committed, even though he suffered the consequences of those sins the rest of his life, the Lord used him greatly. The Lord took murderous Saul of the New Testament, and changed him into a great apostle to the gentiles (Romans 11:13; Galatians 2:8; 1 Timothy 2:7) and used him to write most of the New Testament. The Lord took Peter, the one who publicly denied Christ (John 18:12-27) and made him into a great spiritual leader (1 and 2 Peter), it was his type of faith in Christ of which the Lord said, “I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18).
The Lord is taking men and women from all over the world, Jews and Gentiles and calling them to Christ and enabling them to do a great work with Him. He forgave their sins and is using them to preach and teach the Word of God. Churches are being started and sustained. People are being taught the teachings of Christ and the whole counsel of God’s Word. God treated people in the Bible as though he has forgotten their sins and many today can testify of the Lord’s treating them as though He has forgotten their sins.
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Evidence of Salvation
The Lord’s prophet wrote about Jesus’ suffering in Isaiah 52:14, “Just as there were many who were appalled at Him – His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness…” Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon Him [that is Christ] the iniquity of us all.”
“Iniquity” (awon) here is a masculine noun meaning evil, guilt, punishment. This word indicates sin that is done deliberately and presents the idea of twisting truth and perverting what is pure and right. The consequences of sin is punishment. This word for sin can also indicate the guilt that results from the act of sin. Jesus took upon Himself the consequences of all sin which is destroying mankind.
The atonement blood of Christ is an amazing ongoing work still touching spiritual hearts today. One Bible teacher wrote, “His continued taking of our trespasses upon Himself is merely the constant presence and presentation of His atonement, which has been offered once for all. …because of His one self-sacrifice, as an eternal Priest, who now lives to distribute the blessings which He has acquired.” Isaiah 53:12 says, “…Fore He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” This passage of Scripture enables the child of God to see Jesus as bearing our sins and interceding at the Throne of Grace for us daily. (Hebrews 4:16; 1 John 2:1-2)
Considering the Cross of Calvary and our Savior, Jesus Christ who gave Himself upon it, enables us to rest upon the fact that Christ has taken upon Himself every harsh word we have spoken, every wrong deed we have done and offers healing to all we may have injured in our sins. Focusing on what Christ took upon Himself, the sins of the world, enables us to enjoy complete healing for every harsh word spoken to us, find rest in His intercession for every wrong deed done unto us and brings true healing to our spiritual hearts every time it becomes injured.
Gratitude is surrendering our sins over to Christ! Let Him bear your sins!
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Lessons From The Horse Business
There are so many earthly experiences in life which show us the powerful effect love has on everything we come in touch with. One is the horse business. There are horse lovers and there are horsemen. Horse lovers do love horses and so do horsemen. However, there is a great difference between the love (eros) expressed from horse lovers and the love (agape) shown from horsemen. One is self serving while the other is sacrificial service to horses and their owners.
Horse lovers will have horses, usually more horses than they have money and time to care for appropriately. Horse lovers like having horses because they like how horse ownership makes them feel. Horse lovers are often irresponsible in overseeing these noble animals’ overall care. Horse lovers take little notice of what is fed to the horses. They make little to no effort in getting the horses ready for the task they want the horses to perform. And horse lovers have wrong expectations of the animal they are riding. Their horses are often asked to perform while being undernourished or over fed (too heavy). Their horses are often asked to do a certain task without the proper schooling, training and conditioning. Their horses often perform while physically hurting as the ignorant ride them, taking no notice of the discomfort being expressed by the horses. Do not take me wrong – this is not done on purpose, but out of blindness because of lack of study, improper discipleship (horsemanship), and poor stewardship of God’s creation.
Horsemen show a sacrificial love for horses. They recognize that there is going to be some kind of accounting to God and the owners of the horses they are given stewardship over. They study long and hard and put themselves under the discipleship of horsemen who have proved faithful. They search to find the proper feeding and conditioning program, enabling the horses to achieve the goals set before them. They spend the months needed to train and school the horses before asking them to perform any certain task. A horseman’s expectation of the horses they train is that the animals respond with willing hearts. Horsemen are a blessing to horses and owners. They are the ones that make the true horse business a success.
God-fearing, Christ-centered, Holy Spirit led Christians are like horsemen. They offer sacrificial service to mankind. (1 Corinthians 12-14) They study to show themselves approved. (1 Thessalonians 2:4; 2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 4:2) They know that there is going to be an accounting. (James 3:1; Hebrews 13:7) They make sure that the children of God are properly fed (Matthew 4:4) and prepared for works of service to God and man (Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Corinthians 12:6) This is done through sacrificial love for the Lord and mankind, thus, making the Lord’s work a success.
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Father's Day
Jim Berg wrote about the state of the family: “The family, which should be the greatest refuge for the child, has become a domestic battlefield where a child is often caught in the crossfire of his parents’ warfare. The time and energy that should be spent giving him the direction and training he needs to prepare him for life are drained by each spouse’s preoccupation with protecting his ‘territory’ from the other spouse.”
Psalms 103: 17 and 18 says, “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children – with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.” Proverbs 10: 7 tells us, “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.”
A study was once done on two men who lived in the late 1700’s, both from the same state of New York: The first, Max Jukes, did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church even when they asked to go. Many fathers today are like Max, they do not follow Christ and they see no value in Christian training. Some even invent ways or make excuses for keeping their family from the true things of God. Max’s decision was very destructive to his family and costly to the state of New York. Max had 903 known descendants. One hundred were sent to prison for an average term of thirteen years, ninety were public prostitutes, one hundred forty-five were admitted alcoholics, two hundred eighty-five had social diseases, and three hundred were delinquents. The report estimated that the crimes and care of the Max Jukes’ family line cost the state of New York over one million dollars. The second man studied was the great Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards. He was an uncompromising theologian and pastor who lived to please God and was a man of prayer.
The researcher found 1,394 descendants of Jonathan Edwards. His descendants included thirteen college presidents, sixty-five prominent lawyers, thirty-two noted authors, ninety physicians, eighty-six state senators, thirty judges, three congressmen, one vice-president of the United States and two hundred ministers of the gospel. It has been said that the family of this man of God never cost the state of New York a single penny for rehabilitation or for incarceration.
To keep proper balance and a true perspective one must realize that there may well have been people who held respectable jobs and did wonderful things for their communities from Max Jukes’ family tree. And quite possibly there were some black sheep in Jonathan Edwards’ family line that were not exposed during the investigation. But as a whole, the family line of Max Jukes suffered the consequences of neglecting God. (Romans 1: 18 – 32) The family line of Jonathan Edwards experienced the promised blessings of God. (Exodus 20: 4)
Fathers, God gives you this day an opportunity to choose your family’s legacy. Will you choose Christ as your own Savior and Lord? Will you then seriously take up the instruction of the Lord to “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Christian Living Truth's
Acts 10-11 record the results of one of the most mature ministries found in the New Testament. In this Holy Spirit inspired account we see two men who have hearts ready to receive divine revelation, obey the Lord’s instructions and enjoy the benefits of surrendered prayer. Cornelius was a man who “prayed to God regularly.” (Acts 10:2) Peter was a mere man who is known among born again Bible scholars as being very spiritually mature, a spiritual leader, but one who still needed to be a man of prayer. Acts 10 records the revelation of taking the Gospel to Cornelius’ household through the Apostle Peter. It was through Cornelius’ and Peter’s surrendered hearts in prayer that God revealed His will in taking the Gospel to the Gentiles. Peter and Cornelius had the heart of Daniel who knew the joy of prayer. (Daniel 6:10,13) Christians who enjoy revelation from the Lord have the heart of the psalmist who wrote, “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.” (Psalm 55:17) Holy Spirit illuminated Christians live a life that says, “I will listen to what the Lord will say.” (Psalm 85:8a)
The great prayer warrior George Muller said, “The most important part of prayer was the first fifteen minutes after I said ‘Amen.’” Walter B. Knight wrote, “Prayer is not a monologue, it is dialogue – our talking to God and God talking to us.”
Pastor O. C. Lunholm told of a lesson he learned from a scientist. They were on a loud, busy, crowded street corner when suddenly the scientist said, “Do you hear that?” “No” said the pastor. The scientist said, “I hear a cricket.” They walked over next to the building, and the scientist overturned a small rock. Sure enough, there was a cricket. The pastor said, “How did you hear it, above all this noise?” The scientist said, “Let me show you something.” They both walked to the middle of the side walk and the scientist took a quarter and tossed up into the air. When the quarter hit the sidewalk, it made almost inaudible noise compared to the sound of the traffic. Nevertheless, people stopped and started looking for the quarter that landed on the sidewalk. The scientist said, “People will train their ears to hear what they want to hear and they will use their eyes to see what they want to see.” (Knight’s Book of 2,000 Illustrations) Let prayer bring you revelation!
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