Urgency

Read this on foxnews.com this morning:
"While faith isn’t necessarily front and center in every aspect of Japanese life, there are 

ancient religious influences entwined in the culture. For example, the traditions of Buddhist 

and Shintoism still run strong, despite some 70 percent of Japanese saying they have no personal god."

Certainly, in moments of crisis at the time of death, at moments of illness and so on, people do

tend to their faith tradition," said Williams. Some Japanese will pray to either Buddha or 

Shinto deities, and ask for the safety of those who are missing. Mantras or prayers will be 

recited, especially in the coastal regions of Japan in fishing villages near the epicenter of the 

quake."

 Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/18/finding-faith-japans-crisis/#ixzz1H3f7XkCc (article by Lauren Green)

Christians, fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ..
This should compel us to be praying constantly for the salvation of the Japanese people. If the christians are not praying for the Lord to work in Japan, then who will be praying for them? 

We should pray that the Lord will reveal himself through this disaster. We should pray that the 

Lord will send laborers to present the Gospel to the lost. Let's pray for the Holy Spirit to move 

across Japan and that the people there will trust in Christ and accept Him as their Savior! He is sufficient to meet the needs of not only the needs of America, but the needs of the whole world! Lord, let the Japanese people see that you hold all things together and that you are in control. Reveal yourself to them in this time of trouble!

Lord, Be exalted among the nations! Father, I pray that they may know you and that you will lead them to salvation that can only be found in you!

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling."

Ps. 46:1-3

"Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth...."Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Ps. 46:8-11

"Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Matthew 9:37-38


"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is NO OTHER name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."


Acts 4:12

Japanese people are engaging in spiritual conversation: http://ow.ly/4fJix (via @NationsBeGlad)

Worthy of the Gospel - Pt. 1

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ...." -Philippians 1:27

 Today as I pondered this verse, I started to think about 3 things: 1) What does a life look like that is characterized by the gospel? 2) What does the Bible say about living a life worthy of the gospel? 3) If we are called to live a life that is worthy of this gospel, then do I really, truly, authentically believe in the gospel and know the truth of it? Would I be able to explain to someone the gospel...and if not, then how am I to live a life that is worthy of it, if I do not truly know it?
The Lord has layed this on my heart for the past couple of weeks so I feel as if He is calling me to dissect this topic. As I go through this, I would also like for you to share in it with me. So, in the next couple of blogs, I will flesh out these questions and focus on what the Bible teaches about the Gospel, and how we are to live a life that reflects that. My ultimate goal is to answer the question: What does it look like to live a life worthy of the Gospel in light of what the Bible claims the Gospel to be?

PART 1

I will start with the third question...first!::: If we are called to live a life that is worthy of this gospel, then do I really, truly, authentically believe in the gospel and know the truth of it?
I want to answer this question first because I believe that it is most important to understand the gospel and what it is in order to actually live a life that is worthy of it.
The Gospel=the GOOD news....if there is good news, then that means there has to be bad news too. The BAD news=we are fallen, sinful, humans who are separated from God without hope of eternal life or forgiveness of sin. We are wicked in our ways, and our ways naturally do not desire to associate with God or carry out the things of God without a Savior. We deserve wrath, rather than grace. Without Christ, we are: under the Law (Rom. 2:12-13; 3:19-20), under sin (Rom. 3:9), unrighteous (Rom. 3:10), and can not understand the truths of God....etc....
The GOOD news=Jesus Christ. Yes, we are fallen, sinful, humans who do not deserve to be in the presence of God or enjoy fellowship with him, but God loved us so much and so deeply, that he gave his own Son up for us. The Bible claims that Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. According to Wayne Grudem, the word "propitiation" means - a sacrifice that bears God's wrath to the end and in so doing changes God's wrath toward us into favor (Heb. 2:17; 1 Jn. 2:2, 4:10; Rom. 3:25-26) Praise be to God for HIS great love for us!! I will never be able to thank God enough or fully grasp the concept of his great love---that He would give up his son for us, that Jesus would die for us out of obedience to the Father--that Christ would die for us so that we would not receive the punishment and wrath that we deserve--that Christ would give us a hope for forgiveness and eternal life, living in fellowship forever with God! I don't know about you, but when I actually ponder this, my heart must bow and worship Him, my heart must revere Him as being WORTHY of my affections, thoughts, and actions.
 Through the gospel or "good news" of Christ, believers now have: atonement for sin, resurrection with him, we are co-heirs to the kingdom in Christ (Rom. 8:17), citizens of heaven (Eph. 2:19; Phil. 3:20), blameless (Col. 1:21-22), justified (Rom. 5), forgiven, children of God (Jn. 1:12; Eph. 5:1), adopted (Gal. 4:5), righteous (Rom. 5:19), free (Gal. 5:1) ... and the list goes on and on!! There are many verses in the Bible that speak of this. Just some that I enjoy are Titus 3:3-7; 1 John 4:9-10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 5:6-11...etc..... the whole Bible points to the Gospel of Christ.
Some of my favorite verses are
 Ephesians 2:4-9:

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Isaiah 53:3

"But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."

To me, these verses pretty much sum it up! By GRACE we are saved! God willingly gave up his son to die on a rugged cross so that we would not have to bear God's wrath. Through Christ we now have forgiveness of sins and hope of eternal life! The Bible clearly says that He cleanses us from all of our transgressions and makes us one with Himself. There should not be a day that goes by that we are not in awe of the cross and the work that was accomplished through Christ because of it. There should not be a day that goes by where we are not thanking and praising God for taking away the account of sin in our lives and thanking Christ for standing in our place. There should not be a day that goes by where we are not thanking God for seeing us as the blameless, holy, righteous, children that He calls us, that we did not deserve. There should not be a day that goes by where we do not praise Christ for being the atonement for our sins and the hope of our salvation. 

Praise the Lord for grace and mercy. We truly do serve a gracious God...Let's grasp that!!

If we view the Gospel like this, then our affections, thoughts, and actions should strive to live a life that is worthy of it. Someone died for us---someone died for our sins----someone took our penalty that was against us and made it no more----Jesus Christ is that someone. 

If we see Jesus Christ in this light, then our only response to this message and truth is to a live a life that reflects it...a life of gratitude, obedience, and hope! He is so so worthy of our attention and affections! 

So my question to you is: How do you see the Gospel? And if you do know the truth of the Gospel and are living it, is the way you are portraying your life worthy of it? How is your life measuring up or weighing out in comparison to the Word? Let's make it a goal to search the Scripture for truth and strive to live a life that is pleasing to God! (2 Peter 1:5-9---this has been my prayer for a while now...let it encourage you!)
I pray that we will begin to examine ourselves in light of the Gospel and let the Holy Spirit mold us into His image through it. (2 Cor. 13:5-6)

Part II - What does the Bible say about living a life worthy of the Gospel...COMING SOON.