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¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.² (This was the first census that took place whileQuirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:1-20

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Wow…I have missed something that’s devestatingly awesome! My apologies!

I hate to interrupt the path of where we’re going, but there is something we need
to go back and look at for a moment…something that I’ve never seen before!

We talked a little about Jesus being mentioned in the first verse of Genesis…
but there’s something pretty incredible wrapped up there that…well…let’s just
go look at it!

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Remember?

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the
End.” (Rev. 22:13)

Now, that’s still pretty neat stuff, in my book…but watch this!!

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the
deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said,
“Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and
he separated the light from the darkness.” (Gen. 1:2-4)

Now…take a look at this…

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
(John 1:1-5)

“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him
not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God.” (John 1:9-13)

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
(John 1:17)

You can’t tell me Jesus isn’t all over the Old Testament as well as the New.

I suppose we could start a whole new study on nothing but “the Light”…but
I guess it’s best to finish one thing at a time…

Besides, right at the moment, it’s hard to think of anything to say that Genesis
and John haven’t already said…

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Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

If God knew we couldn’t follow the law…and if following the law perfectly
is necessary in order for us to gain access to heaven…then why did he give
it to us? As some sort of twisted joke, maybe? Not at all….

“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of
the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” (Rom. 3:20)

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24) KJV

“To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not
charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.” (Rom. 5:13)

The law was given to teach us what sin is. It was given so that we might be
made aware of our sin…and as a schoolmaster to lead us to Jesus. It was
given so that we could understand our need for a Savior…Jesus!

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known,
to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…” (Rom. 3:21,22)

“For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”
(Rom. 8:3)

Folks, there is absolutely nothing that you and I can do to be
righteous in God’s eyes. The great thing is, we don’t HAVE to do anything…it’s
already been done. By Jesus. For you and me…all WE have to do is accept it!

“What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him
as righteousness.” (Rom 4:3)

“It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise
that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by
faith.” (Rom. 4:13)

“The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for
us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised
Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and
was raised to life for our justification.” (Rom. 4:23-35)

Wow! God gave us his own righteousness through Jesus…his very own perfect
righteousness. A righteousness we never could have gotten on our own. A
righteousness that’s acceptable in his sight. If we can only believe…

Many blessings…

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Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

In the last post we talked a little about the first path to heaven…your
own righteousness. We also talked about how your own righteousness
will never be good enough to get you in.

Today, we’re gonna look at the second path…God’s righteousness,
freely given to us through Jesus. This, of course, is the only path that
will take you Home!

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made
known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is
given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Rom. 3:21,22)

The problem is, there are a lot of Christians that get hung up on the law…
or the ten commandments. They believe that following those commandments
are the way to earn God’s love and forgiveness. But there are problems
with that way of thinking.

First of all, as we saw in the last post, we can’t keep the commandments
the way God intended for us to keep them. Secondly, that would mean that
our salvation depends on our own works, rather than on God’s mercy and
grace. Thirdly, God knew when he gave us the law that we wouldn’t be able
to keep it…that’s why he chose Jesus before the creation of the world to be
our redeemer…our salvation.

Fourthly, if you read back through the Old Testament, you’ll find that the
law consists of a lot more than just ten commandments. There are actually
about six hundred of them! The ten get the most attention because those
are the ones carved in stone that Moses brought back from the mountain…
but there are many others. For example:

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When anyone has a swelling or a
rash or a shiny spot on their skin that may be a defiling skin disease, they
must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest.
The priest is to examine the sore on the skin, and if the hair in the sore has
turned white and the sore appears to be more than skin deep, it is a defiling
skin disease. When the priest examines that person, he shall pronounce them
ceremonially unclean.” (Lev. 13:1-3)

Read the rest of the chapter and you’ll learn how we’re supposed to deal
with mold, for instance. At least, according to the law. Skip over to chapter
15, and read what the law says about a woman’s monthly “visitor”. All that
is a part of the law. Among other things, on the eighth day, she’s supposed
to take two doves or pigeons to the priest as a sacrifice for her uncleanness…
even though it’s a natural cycle that she has no control over! When is the
last time you sacrificed ANYTHING for ANY reason? It’s a part of the law!

What most folks fail to realize, is that the law was given for an entirely different
reason. And we’ll look at that in the next post…

Just to pick up on where we left off…

We would have to perfectly follow God’s Law, every single day of our
lives, without stumbling at even one point, in order to enter heaven by
our own righteousness. Let’s look at some of those…

“You shall not murder.” (Ex. 20:13)

Now, you may be thinking the same thing I would be thinking if I didn’t
know better…I haven’t killed ANYONE! For that matter, I’ve never even
MAIMED anyone! Score one for me! 

So far so good…until you get to the book of Matthew!

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not
murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell
you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to
judgment.” (Matt. 5:21)

Oh boy…well, there goes that one! Who hasn’t been angry with a brother
or sister? Doesn’t have to be your biological brother or sister…any brother
or sister will do. In fact, if you read the whole chapter, it can be rather
disturbing (and humbling) if you’re depending on your own righteousness to
get you into heaven. I could go on and drag this thing out a bit, but go read
it for yourself.

It talks about turning the other cheek…which many of us have done on
many occasions. But we’ve all NOT turned the other cheek on many
OTHER occasions. It talks about giving away all our stuff…if somebody
wants your shirt, give him your coat too…give to the one that asks you,
and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you…EVER!

Nope. We can’t keep the Law the way God meant for it to be kept. As
time goes on, you’ll learn that the Law wasn’t given to us for us to follow.
God knew, like he knew with Adam…that we wouldn’t be able to keep
it, before he ever gave it to us. Instead, it was given for a far greater reason,
which we’ll get to shortly.

For now, though, just understand that your own righteousness will never
get you Home…

If you’d like to be sure not to miss any of the study on the Book of
Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

Just to pick up on where we left off…

We would have to perfectly follow God’s Law, every single day of our
lives, without stumbling at even one point, in order to enter heaven by
our own righteousness. Let’s look at some of those…

“You shall not murder.” (Ex. 20:13)

Now, you may be thinking the same thing I would be thinking if I didn’t
know better…I haven’t killed ANYONE! For that matter, I’ve never even
MAIMED anyone! Score one for me! 

So far so good…until you get to the book of Matthew!

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not
murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell
you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to
judgment.” (Matt. 5:21)

Oh boy…well, there goes that one! Who hasn’t been angry with a brother
or sister? Doesn’t have to be your biological brother or sister…any brother
or sister will do. In fact, if you read the whole chapter, it can be rather
disturbing (and humbling) if you’re depending on your own righteousness to
get you into heaven. I could go on and drag this thing out a bit, but go read
it for yourself.

It talks about turning the other cheek…which many of us have done on
many occasions. But we’ve all NOT turned the other cheek on many
OTHER occasions. It talks about giving away all our stuff…if somebody
wants your shirt, give him your coat too…give to the one that asks you,
and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you…EVER!

Nope. We can’t keep the Law the way God meant for it to be kept. As
time goes on, you’ll learn that the Law wasn’t given to us for us to follow.
God knew, like he knew with Adam…that we wouldn’t be able to keep
it, before he ever gave it to us. Instead, it was given for a far greater reason,
which we’ll get to shortly.

For now, though, just understand that your own righteousness will never
get you Home…

Many blessings…

I wanted to take a moment to encourage you to read your Bible. Even if it’s just
a page or two a day! I can send you my letters every single day of the week…
you can go to church seven days a week, or listen to sermons on the radio, read
all the latest books…but the truth is, we’re all still human beings. We are all still
flawed creatures.

Do you really want to base your entire eternal future on an email you recieve
every few days? Or on a radio broadcast from someone you’ve never even met?
Or on a preacher that, despite his intentions, still has as many weaknesses as
you do? Or would you rather base it on the truth from the Source, itself?

I would never intentionally mislead you. Nor, I’m sure, would your pastor. But
we are still imperfect creatures. Please…read your Bible, will ya? Listen to what
we have to say, but then compare it to what God says…after all, it IS his Word!

With that said, let’s move along…. 

The sad fact is, if you are reading this, someday, in some way, you will leave
this earth. When you do, you will arrive in one of two destinations. There are
countless ways to get to hell, but only two ways to get to heaven. Let’s look at
the first way…your own righteousness.

The bad news is, that if you’re counting on your own righteousness, well…no
offense, but it ain’t gonna happen!

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are
like filthy rags…” (Isaiah 64:6)

All of your righteous acts put together…piled up on top of each other and
squished together…amount to one thing. Filthy rags. Trash. Nothing. No
matter what you do or how hard you try. Filthy rags…

You will never be righteous enough to enter heaven. Don’t get mad at me
for saying it, cuz I didn’t make the rules. I’m just sharing them with you!
You will never, no matter how long you may live, be able to live up to the
standards God requires in order for you to walk through those pearly gates.
You would have to PERFECTLY keep the ENTIRE Law of Moses every
single day of your life…without even ONE mistake.

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty
of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10)

Have you ever stopped to think about what this verse is saying? Let me
help you out a little. If you’ve ever stumbled at just one point…ANY one
point…then you are a liar, whether you’ve ever lied or not. You’re a murderer,
whether you’ve ever murdered or not…an adulterer…a homosexual…a gossip,
a cheat, a slanderer, a drunkard…you name it, you’re guilty. That’s why:

“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one…” (Rom. 3:10)

You see, guilty person, we’re ALL guilty…and in the next letter, we’ll look
at why!

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Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

Thought I might share some thoughts with you on the whole Adam and Eve thing.
There are those who believe that God was taken by surprise when Adam ate the
fruit in the garden…that he had to come up with a plan of redemption to restore
his fallen creation. What those folks fail to realize is this:

“He (Jesus) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these
last times for your sake.” (1 Peter 1:20)

You see, just as YOU were chosen before the creation of the world, so was Jesus
and the plan of redemption. God wasn’t surprised in the least! He was prepared for
it before the world was created!

The question then arises, if God knew Adam was going to eat the fruit, why did
he allow it to happen? Why not just scrap the whole plan of humanity altogether?

Glad you asked! 

God created Adam for companionship. I believe God and Adam used to hang
out quite a bit before “the fall”. After Adam ate the fruit, he and Eve heard God
as he was walking through the garden in the cool of the day…and they hid from
him because they were ashamed (Gen. 3:8).

Seems to me that it was probably a pretty customary thing for God to be there
spending time with his creation. It didn’t seem to shock or surprise Adam (or
Eve) that God was walking around looking for them. That brings up another point.
Why was God in walking around in the garden? He was LOOKING FOR ADAM.
Why? So they could hang out together for awhile!

Now, the first thing we should understand is this…God knew where Adam was.
He wasn’t calling Adam’s name because he couldn’t find Adam’s hiding place. God
was calling Adam because he knew what had happened and wanted Adam to
reveal himself…to take responsibility for his actions.

Anyway, back to the question…why did God allow Adam to eat the fruit?

Because God loved his creation so much, he wasn’t content to be WITH Adam.
He wanted to live IN Adam. The thing is, God is a gentleman. Unless he is invited,
he will not take up residence or force his way in….

In the garden…in the perfect world God had created for him…Adam didn’t need
anything. There was nothing he wanted…it was all already his. He had no wants
that hadn’t been met…no needs that hadn’t been met. On top of that, in his limited
human capacity, the idea of an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, creator-of-the-
universe kind of God that he was aquainted with could NEVER fit inside the confines
of human flesh! The very idea of it was so ludicrous, it likely never would have
occurred to him! God living inside a man? Be real!

Ah…but after the fall…after the fall, it was different! After the fall, Adam had
needs…the main one being a Savior. And he had wants…to hang out with God the
way they used to…before the fall. Now, Adam didn’t know how God could pull
it off…but NOW he knew he had needs and wants. NOW he was ready to invite
God in…and God provided the way, through Jesus!

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Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

So, let’s take a look at how all this got started! I’m assuming that you’ve probably
heard the story of Adam and Eve. Just in case you’ve missed it somewhere along
the way, I’ll give you a brief recap. God created Adam and put him in the garden.
Then God created Eve as Adam’s companion. He told Adam not to eat the fruit
from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and Adam took a bite anyway.

With that, here we are! That was a simplified version, but we’ll go back and take
a more in depth look at it a little later. When Adam ate the fruit, sin entered the
perfect world that God had created. It was passed on from Adam to his kids…
and from them to their kids…and to their kids…all the way down to you and me.

(Again, I realize this may be pretty basic stuff to you, …but
I ask you to hang in there for those who have never heard it before. I promise
we’re gonna cover some fascinating stuff!)

God is perfect. Perfect in every way. While his love for you is perfect, at the same
time, to allow sin into his presence would tarnish his perfection. While he is perfect
in love, he is also perfect in justice, which means that your transgressions must be
punished accordingly. He can’t allow my sins to go unpunished and punish you for
yours, because, along with his perfect justice, he is perfectly fair. All must be
punished equally.

To preserve his perfection and his sense of justice and fairness, he created a place
apart from himself to send those who could not live up to his standards of perfection.
Not only does it seperate us and our sins from his holiness, but it punishes us for our
disobedience. It has to be this way to preserve his perfect justice, as well as his
holiness, right? We call this place “hell”. Eternal torment. Weeping and gnashing of
teeth. Exactly what we deserve.

The thing is, because he loves us he figured out a way to punish us…preserving his
perfect justice…and forgive us, at the same time…because of his perfect love. That
way is Jesus…God in the flesh!

Jesus came to earth…God wrapped in the flesh of a man, with himself as his
“biological” Father (Matt. 1:18). Since God was the Father of the child, the “sin”
gene of Adam wasn’t present in the baby Mary gave birth to. Jesus was fully God,
yet fully human at the same time. As Jesus grew, he lived a perfect life in obedience
to his Father. A life without sin…

And he became our punishment for us…

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Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and
blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship
through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…”
(Eph. 1:4,5)

Wow, did you know that you were chosen before the creation of the world?
To be called his child? That in love, he predestined you to be his adopted child?
Did you notice WHY, he did that? Because it was HIS will and HIS pleasure
to do so! Because he loves you!

There’s a lot more to this, really. We’ll try to touch on some of it, but let
that sink in for a few minutes first. God chose YOU before the creation of the
world! WOW! He knew you before your ancestors were ever born…before
Adam and Eve were created…before the WORLD was created!
And he loved you. Enough to chose YOU to be his child!

There’s one condition, though. Now there are folks that will try to have you
believe there are many conditions, but there is only one.

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart
that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and
are saved.” (Rom. 10:9,10)

That’s it. Nothing more.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:13)

As time goes by, we’ll learn why this is so important. Why it’s the one and only
“condition” of salvation. But for now, if you’ve never done so before, please…
please, call on the name of the Lord. Confess with your mouth and believe in
your heart, because that’s the only way to salvation! You may not be here to
do it tomorrow.

He chose you before the creation of the world. Take a moment to choose him
back, will ya? It doesn’t cost you anything. The price has already been paid, as
we shall see! If you like, you may pray the sinner’s prayer. All you have to do is
“google” it. Your prayer can be as simple as, “Save me, Lord”. It’s your prayer…
use your words, if you like. Just ask him to be your redeemer…

And don’t forget, my friend…you are chosen…

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