Jesus is inviting you to come into His Kingdom. Forever! Imagine how exotic and opulent – His Place? Is that exciting – or what!? I’m looking for that! THAT’s where I want to go. I’m ready.
Are you en route, already declared “set free”!? Are you looking for that day when He takes you home?
Or not? What else, for you, is so important? Why would you neglect so great a salvation in Christ and refuse the offer of such a great and gracious, awesome God? What siren on earth has captured your heart and enslaved you?
NOTE: God will never ever “capture” your heart.
He woos you. He showers you with good. He works in you (as in “convicts” you of your sinfulness and convinces you of your need of a Savior), but He will never overrule your rebellious heart and “capture” it like some big game hunter.
It’s not in His nature to force you into a captive state. (Let’s stop singing all these “He captured my heart…” songs!)
You have the choice. It’s not His to make. It’s yours to choose to follow Him or not… forever.
Listen to this 10 year old autistic and blind boy sing about his faith
See more of Duffley currently: Duffley.com
Careful there: you only get one chance to choose, because after death – your chance expires… forever.
God came to earth to die on our behalf. Jesus was a real human man. That is a known part of history. But He was also God, the only God-man.
Three things: Creation itself, plus your Conscience – and the Bible
In Romans 1:18-32 we are told:
(1) Creation itself, plus
(2) your conscience, [and also, though not stated here]
(3) what the Bible lays-out for us in words — are all we need to look into – in order for anyone to come to the belief that God is who He says He is. Jesus was and is God, come down to earth as a man.
Most all of us experience the wonder-full Creation, because we live in it! And God Himself planted in each of us an inescapable Conscience inside our insides. Paul put it this way:
that which is known about God is evident within them [in their inner consciousness], for God made it evident to them. 20 For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen,
being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense.
21 For even though they knew God [as the Creator], they did not honor Him as God or give thanks [for His wondrous creation].
On the contrary, they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened. – Verses 19-21 of Romans 1:18-32
The problem is not the question “is there a God?” Us puny mudmen (and mudwomen) do not have a “God problem”. That God exists is actually self-evident through Creation/Conscience/the Bible. The problem is the human heart of rebellion.
We don’t want a God. We want independence. We don’t like the idea of being subject to a higher authority.
Like Satan, we essentially want to be God. The truth is: that will never happen. God is eternal. And we will always be a part of His Creation.
“To us puny humans, everything God is in Himself, and everything God does in action — is extreme. His power is extreme. His divine nature is extreme. His knowledge is extreme. His mercy is extreme. His compassion is extreme. All that He is – is extreme. – Source: Why pray
Romans 1:20
“For since the creation of the world
His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly seen,
being understood
through what has been made,
so that they are without excuse.”
What happens is that common folks and not-so-common folks, “in their wickedness, suppress and stifle the truth” (v18). In the midst of their rebelliousness – men and women of clay shake their puny little mud hands at the Potter. In their limited thinking, they “suppress and stifle the truth”. Paul explains further:
…they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God for an image [worthless idols] in the shape of mortal man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles. – Verses 21b-23 of Romans 1:18-32
Does this paint your picture? Recognize your inner thinkings here?
- worthless in their thinking
- [godless,
- with pointless reasonings,
- and silly speculations],
- and their foolish heart was darkened.
- 22 Claiming to be wise,
- they became fools,
- 23 and exchanged the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God for an image [worthless idols]
I am amazed that even those who seemingly have it all together, the smart and sassy 1, those with no brain limitations, no fevered sickness draining their thinking… are so diluted. They actually become fools with their thinking cap on (“they became fools“).
God is asking us: Believe in Me. Our courts today accept less evidence to condemn criminals! God Himself provided enough proof for us to put our faith in Him. The real catch is: we need to put on our thinking cap when on our knees. Kneel your heart before God.
It comes down to “faith”, certainly. We do not believe in a vacuum. But the evidences are unmitigatingly overwhelming. Absolutely. Ignoring evidences is what fools do (Psalm 53:1).
Are you still looking for loopholes? Or are you still in that rut, doing religion and philosophizing?
3 how will we escape [the penalty] if we ignore such a great salvation [the gospel, the new covenant]? For it was spoken at first by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us and proved authentic by those who personally heard [Him speak] – Hebrews 2: verse 3
It is a fearful thing to consider being rejected by a damning God. How far would you go to NOT be God-damned? One writer put it this way, basically (my paraphrase of Matthew 18:19): I would gouge-out my own eye — if doing so would release me from enslavement and help me believe, so as to not be thrown into a God damned eternity without any of the goodness of God.
If your eye causes you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; it is better for you to enter life with only one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fiery hell. – Matthew 18:9
What is it in you?
What do you need to “pluck out”? What do you need to throw away — in order to follow Him. You have a choice (as in: God will not force you into His Kingdom):
The God who created Hell for those who choose to rebel and reject Him to follow their sin, also created Heaven for those who choose to repent and reject their sin and follow Him with sincerity and truth. Are you holding steady… for hell? Or are you choosing “the forgiving God“?
Are you holding out? Or… will you bow the knee to God with all you are? …with all your mind, all your strength, with all your soul?
Or, for many so-called Christians in churches today: have you somehow missed the embarrasing evidence that you are NOT EVEN given-over to Him? See: God Damned Believers
Are you so totally disillusioned with the real world that you’ve fallen for the lies and self-centered vanities of white supremacy, BLM or Antifa – or any of the countless other lies of the Devil and his many fraudulent religions? Or, same result – have you visited Jesus, like the rich young ruler, and blindly held-on to your ways in the midst of all your religiosities?
Is your way “Jesus plus whatever“? That’s duplicitous. That’s a two-timing, fornicating heart, a dichotomous heart. God will never accept that of any of us. Would you?
27 And he replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” – Luke 10:27
…many today want a belly laughing “ho ho ho”, roly-poly Santa Claus god. This modern day god has no predilections, no predispositions, and never gets upset with anything we do or ask for. This god goes with the flow. This god of ours accepts it all, whatever we want. He has no bias, no prejudice against anything. He has no fixed, predetermined intolerances. What you are, whatever – he’s down with that! This “Claus God” has been created for our convenience.
We fool ourselves so easily. Anything we kind of like, or really like, or really really are into… is fine with our “Claus God”. It’s easy to follow this “god”. Claus has no limits on us!
The Bible teaches about a holy God, not a Santa Claus god.
– Source: A God Damn
“One thing you lack….”
Is there one thing about you – which will be your regret for all eternity, because you denied Christ His rightful place on the throne of your heart? One thing in your heart can be like what Jesus said to the rich young ruler. We must fear God, in the sense of “respect God” so much – that we will reject our stubborn ways in order to please Him.
19 Oh, how great is your goodness to those who publicly declare that you will rescue them. For you have stored up great blessings for those who trust and reverence you. – Psalm 31:19 Living Bible (TLB)
The rich young ruler (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18; Matthew 19:16) turned away from God totally disappointed because he loved his lifestyle more than he loved Jesus. He thought he had it all together, that he was absolutely ready to meet his Maker. That you? What will it be like to miss the way to heaven — because you lacked just one thing?!
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved [for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation].” – Acts 4:12
Instead of a world of alternatives… God provides one choice: Your Own Way or Jesus’ Only Way. It is quite simple actually.
You have a choice.
-
- Hell for those who choose to rebel and reject Him to follow their sin…
- Heaven for those who choose to repent and reject their sin and follow Him with sincerity and truth.
25 Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus.
“Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”
26 He [Jesus] answered, “What’s written in God’s Law?
How do you interpret it?”
27 He [scholar] said, “That you love the Lord your God
with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—
and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
28 “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”
29 Looking for a loophole, he [scholar] asked,
“And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”
– Luke 10:25-29
FOR MORE:
Testamonies of the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor: Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:1-13; Luke 9:28-36.
Jesus declares He is God in 7 “I am” Statements
Born Again – reborn from above
Practicing Sin – Not Following Christ
Footnotes
- Google: lively, bold, and full of spirit; cheeky.
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