God’s Pleasure: He Wants You

  We aspire to answer the question: am I wanted? Too often our heart strings are racing to be  entangled with whatever hope of someone possibly loving us. We relish at any attention we’re given, either negative or postive, because we are captivated by the thought that someone desires us. 

The long fall back to earth happens at the reality we attained less of our sense of self worth. Wounds cut deep to realize someone we assume cared about us only acted in such a way for their own selfish gain. 

Trust is hard earned today. Honestly, why should we blame anyone for keeping such a guard? We can’t see sincerity in face value as much anymore.

But as cliché as it sounds: God wants us…for us

“Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5, 6 NKJV)

God determined beforehand by Jesus Christ to adopt you. He decided that when at your coming to Him to be saved from all wrong that would destroy you, He was going to bring you into His family. And he did for the praise of the glory: He did it because He was pleased to do it. 

Being belonged to God is something that makes Him happy! 

How unfathomable is that? It’s inconceivable enough that God would want to save us in the first place.

It was justice for the terrorist Osama Bin Laden to die, because of he was responsible for the death of countless thousands that are still piling today. What scares me is that God sees it justice by sending everyone to Hell. 

God commanded: The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:20 NKJV)

That means that the person who sins will die. Sin is whenever you displease God. You displease God when you lie and you displease God for not thanking Him for life. Both are sin. It feels harsh but God made man to make Him happy. Not vice versa. 

He will be individually responsible for his wickedness against God and be punished. Romans 3:10 declares that there is none good. We have all missed the mark. 

The justice of a righteous God demands punishment for every crime against His precepts. The sentence God placed for our disobedience to His precepts is death.

At the shooting of Osama Bin Laden, could we imagine someone taking the bullet for him. No! We all wanted to see him die. He deserved to lose his life for taking so many others’ lives away. 

God is not a man. He looks at wrong differently from us. He doesn’t measure wrong. He sees a toddler throwing the pacifier across the room as bad as a terrorist planning to drive two planes into two skyscrapers to kill people. I lost an uncle at 9/11. He sees every wrong inexcusable and worthy of punishment.  

All that is within me cried for the head of Bin Laden, but at the same place when I first disobeyed God, all heaven cried for my death.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Ephesians 2:4, 5 NKJV)

God loved us so much that while we were dead because of our wrong, He gave us life through Christ. God wanted us. And how much: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

Its overwhelming to imagine all that it took for God to bring us to state of being clear of wrong. Christ became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Every nasty thing, every secret fault, every evil deed, every selfish motive- Christ became that so you could literally have a clean slate.

I have cried at this fact of Christ dying to save me from death because of my sin and to give me a right standing with God. What also causes my eyes to become teary is to see that God didn’t just saved me from sin but He also adopted me. He made me a part of His family.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (John 1:12 NKJV)

All who believe Christ, God decided to give them the right to be His children! We are born into this family not by human passions or plans that can later be regretted by a parent who has lost concern for his offspring. 

We are born into God’s family by God’s choice. This is what God wanted to do. According Ephesians 1:6 (see top), it gave Him great pleasure to do it.

Just allow your mind to entangle itself around the idea that God loved you at your worst and saved you with His best (the cost of Your Son) and then poured out His love on you by making you a part of His family. I leave you with a story that has impressed me gravely to understand God’s extravagant love.

Indeed if anyone has reason for justice it was Adele. At a genocide in Rwanda, Adele lost her husband. She saw as attackers came and flay his body with a machete. She saw as they slit his throat. As her husband fell to the ground that was a pool of his own blood, the pastor cried out to God to forgive his attackers. These men turned on Adele. They sliced her face deeply. Everyday a mirror shows her great scar. Adele was left among dead bleeding from her face, back and her wrist at the cuts of machetes. Three years it took her to recover. For many it would take a lifetime to even to consider forgiveness. Not Adele.

“I could be a bitter, angry, resentful old woman, but I’m not going to do that.”

Adele started going to the prisoners and mothered the very men who had attack her village. One day Adele met Luis. She met him prostrated before her, kissing her feet and crying bitterly. Adele examined the trembling man and saw that Luis was the man that had killed her beloved husband and the man that marked her face. A man’s love draws its limits at such a woeful event, but Adele was filled richly with a love we saw earlier in God.

Luis asked, “Adele, would you forgive me?”

Adele bent over as the Father did from the clouds of heaven and pulled Luis up as God did from our place of unwantedness. She looked into Luis’ eyes and said, “Luis, I forgive you.”

The story could end there, but it doesn’t. Luis was released for good behavior, but he entered society unwanted. Then entered Adele. Adele found Luis and she saw these words, “Luis, you come and I will adopt you as my son.”

How much does God love you? Enough so that He made death so that it would be difficult for you to remain in wrong. Enough that He made a way for you to escape punishment by the cost of His dear Son. Enough so that He decided to make you His child when you ask for His forgiveness. And it was His great pleasure.

You are wanted.

Living for Jesus Now

 To live for eternity is to accept the brevity (shortness) of life now. 

“But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'” (‭Matthew‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬ NKJV)

I don’t want to say Jesus hate funerals. Well maybe: He did ruin a couple like the ruler’s daughter (Matthew 8:18-26) and the son of the widow from Nain (Luke 7:11-17). Maybe…yes. 

But in this case, Jesus was not stopping the man from burying dead family. Jesus was refusing the man’s desire to care for his father before he followed Jesus. 

According to Jewish tradition, the man didn’t want to be excused to bury his father. In actuality, the man’s father was very much alive, and he wished to return home and care his father until he aged and died. 

Jesus didn’t want an eventual commitment. He wanted the man to follow Him now and “let the dead, that is the spiritually dead, bury their own dead” (v.22). 

Jesus understood He must urgently attend to the matters God assigned Him while the sun still shined. In John 9:4-5, Jesus taught the followers of Him that they must quickly work for the God the Father Who sent Him. 

“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (‭John‬ ‭9‬:‭4-5‬ NKJV)

Knowing that it would be soon time for Him die to save the world, Jesus couldn’t waste any time. He wanted to seize every moment to further His cause. 

To follow the Son, we have to realize life here is short. We need to see life here as a temporary assignment, making the most of our time. 

Paul instructed us to “walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭15-16‬ NKJV)”. 

That is, be careful how you live your life. Don’t waste it with what will be considered useless compared to eternity. Don’t live as fools who live only for here and now, thoughtlessly saying, “Y.O.L.O. – You Only Live Once” at every witless decision. 

What you do today does matter forever! 

Living purposefully sees that the days are evil: people are still hopeless and lost, having yet to walk on streets called mercy – the hope found in Christ. 

You need to make the most of every opportunity, buying your time, because the night is coming when we can no longer work to rescue others, snatching them from the flames of eternal judgment (see Jude 1:23). 

Make most of your life like if your time is borrowed. 

Sharing Jesus, We are not Billboards!

Billboards are everywhere. No matter where you travel, there is some signboard displaying some ad. Because they hoard our highways, it’s become second nature to ignore them.

As we trudge through Dallas’ traffic, I gave their billboards a chance to sell themselves. Most of these ads, I observed, are herded together, so its understanding that most of them are overlooked. It’s like the souvenir vendor appealing to passerby’s in a fish market. It’s seemingly impossible to get over the noise.

I thought about us who carry the Gospel. How we are trying to herald God’s redemptive plan for mankind over the noise of the world. It could be easy for people to confuse our message with another commercial.

“I don’t want your Jesus!”
“I’ll receive Christ when I’m ready”
“That’s good for you. But what you’re saying is just not for me.”

Heard this before? Don’t these responses sound like we were advertising some product to convenience their lives?

But we’re not!

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, (Titus 2:11 NKJV)

We are imparting the hope of the world!

We are declaring Christ who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. (Titus 2:14 NKJV)

Please world listen to what we have to say is important!

Hear us out! We are not billboards!

Eph 2:8> Joy of Grace!

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, “(Ephesians 2:8 NKJV)

Don’t forget your roots!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…”(Romans 8:1 NKJV)

You are justified by God’s grace. God had not “dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.” (Psalms 103:10 NKJV)

Rather, He gave freely His Son Jesus to pay the wages of sin. The gift of God is eternal life (Rom 3:23)!

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7 NKJV)

You are redeemed. “…He made us accepted in the Beloved”. (Ephesians 1:6 NKJV)

Take pride in it. Brag about it. Facebook!

Let Jesus know your joy too:

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. (Psalms 5:11 NKJV)

Jesus, Best Superhero

I am not ashamed of Batman. He is my favorite superhero. Honestly, I have idolize him a lot. He is just this ultimate symbol of willpower that rather then accept tragedy, he swallows and nurses his fears so that he may prey it on the fearful. Although human, to me he is the best superhero, because the rest of them are identified by their powers and therefore their powers are actually their crutch. Take it away and they’re worthless. But Batman is a cripple, maimed by his parents’ death, but that tragedy is his strength because it forces and pushes him to protect and avenge the weak among him.

But Batman is flawed. He can’t abolish evil. As much as he sweats for the peace of Gotham, evil still permeates. His weakness is his rule which is not to kill; so he won’t ever be able to permanently rid of the enemies of the law. Joker knows that and he takes advantage of it.

Superheroes as great as they are artificial. They can’t overcome the ills of our reality. As moral as they swear to be, they lie, cheat and bend the rules to “save the day”. I can’t say that’s pure justice if the end justifies the means.

But Jesus is the real deal.

but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (II Timothy 1:10 NKJV)

Jesus destroyed death, which is pretty much the fear of man. They suppress the idea that one day they will die and what follows after will not to be liking.

But Jesus has shown the way of life and immortality to everyone by swallowing God’s wrath against man.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (Romans 5:12 NKJV)

Man rejected God who made man to worship and serve Him. Missing God’s demands is what sin is. And we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Sin separates us from God and puts us under the punishment of death.

Then Jesus steps in:

For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (II Corinthians 5:21 NKJV)

Jesus is God. Quickest way to defend this is John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1 NKJV)

We use words to reveal what’s on our mind. Jesus is called the Word because He is the revelation of God to man. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15 NKJV).

Jesus who to us is the Word who “became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 NKJV)

Sinless God became as sinful men to paid the penalty of sin.

God’s law cursed us with no way to merit righteousness that God see even our attempts as filthy rags (Isa 64:6 NKJV).

But Jesus as the Superhero that He is rescued us from death!

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” ), (Galatians 3:13 NKJV)

Hung on a cross, this instrumental of death, Christ became the propitiation (substitute) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (I John 2:2 NKJV)

Heroes defend the weak. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6 NKJV)

Batman “died” for Gotham (Dark Knight Rises 2012) and “rose” as Bruce Wayne to live for himself. But Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, (I Corinthians 15:3, 4 NKJV)

Christ lives today, never losing His identity, but reigning as the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8 NKJV). Now in His glory, He doesn’t “hang up the cowl” (Batman!), but lives continually praying for us and helping us.

Jesus is the Hero without limits. Best Hero. Case closed.

Not Made for Safety

  Hopefully, you know the quote: 

“A ship is safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are made for”.

Ships are preserved from the risk of threatening storms and others dangers if they just remain berthed at their dock. The ship I lived on, we did just that. We were berthed in Germany for 8 months.

Safe? Yes. But almost everyone and their sister were restless. As much we felt at home in Germany, we wanted to leave and sail with the news of Jesus to the world.

We were ambassadors of Christ. And if you claim yourself as part of God’s own, you are an ambassador. The point I’m getting to is that we are not made to be “safe in a harbor” (a church most likely); we are made to go and risk ourselves for the cause of Christ.

Omission is a common disease in the church. It traces from even the very beginning of our history.

Christ told His followers,“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15 NKJV). While the Apostles did preach the Gospel, they resided in Jerusalem. God had to providentially scatter them into the world in order to spread hope to everyone (Acts 8-28).

Sadly in some areas, history is repeating itself. They are some churches that depend on missionaries and pastors to share the Good News. But sharing the Gospel is not only for qualified people. We are all commanded to preach the Gospel.

Sailing out into sea, risks are likely, but ships were made to confront risks in their efforts to complete their mission.

Here is something most people don’t talk about: 

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, (Philippians 1:29 NKJV)

You were not made for safety.

Suffering is part of the profile of what it means to be a Christian. We are not just privileged to receive salvation, we are also given the privilege to suffer for the name of Christ.

Leaving Germany was bittersweet, but the relief was overwhelming. We were all excited because we were finally out doing what we came together for.

Pastor and a favorite book author, Francis Chan had this to say concerning “harbored” Christians:

Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horrible

If you’re just berthed at church, sure you’re safe, but you’re also useless to the intent of God’s want for us to make Him known. It’s time to sail out.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani Freed Again!

I was startled when my dad told me around the dinner table the other night that Pastor Youcef was released from prison. I had to look it up for myself.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been freed from prison, following his most recent arrest in Iran. After spending three years in prison for apostacy, Pastor Youcef was freed in early last year September. He was re-arrested on Christmas Day on the charge by Iranian authorities that Youcef needed to complete his remaining 45 days of prison time. (See more on Christmas Tragedies)

Actually, according the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the Iran pastor was released 11 days ago.

Since 2009, Pastor Youcef has been under arrest under charges of apostacy. During his imprisonment, he was then sentenced to death for converting Muslims to Christianity. Over his imprisonment, he has been taken on and off death row due to the overwhelming international outcry for the pastor’s release.

I hope you all can rejoice with me over Pastor Youcef’s release. We do need to pray for the pastor’s lawyer whom has been recently placed under arrest for advocating for Pastor Youcef.

 

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God loved us so much that He gave us Himself.

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him”. 1 John 4:9 NKJV

100

Yesterday some of our college graduates hosted a special Easter open air event at a inner city community apartment complex. They hosted 500 people in attendance. Out of those 500 people, 100 people started a relationship with Christ.

Praise Jesus!

US House Condemns Iran Pastor’s Death Sentence

By an unanimous vote of 418-0, US House passed a resolution today condemning Pastor Youscef Nardarkhani’s death sentence and demanding his immediate release.

Praise God for this great positive response. May this help the effort for our brother’s release.