Destiny

 

    Destiny are events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future.  It is basically set in stone.  God gives you free will, but there are certain things that are destined no matter what.  One thing that is destiny is eternity.  You will have an eternal body, but you chose where you end up: Heaven or Hell.

    Predestination is God's sovereignty in your life.  He created you for a purpose.  He made a direct and personalized path to Him.  You have choices.  You can follow the path or forge your own, but He has already cleared a path for you that gives you fulfillment.  

    Election is the destiny of those who choose to follow Jesus.  Only Christians get to embrace this destiny because they are set apart by God and serving His purpose.  There is some controversy on this.  The fact is God knows everything, so He knows who is going to follow Him.  He has opened the door for everyone, but He knows who will reject Him.  It doesn't mean that He doesn't still love them or care.  He still pursues them like everyone else.  He just knows that they are going to reject Him.

    Conditional election is based on faith.  You choose God or you reject God.  God knows the circumstances.  He knows the opportunities He has given you.  He knows what you will do with those opportunities.  On judgment day you will face Him and answer for good or evil what you did with the time and opportunities that He gave you.  You live by faith and salvation or you reject God's gift of eternal peace.

    Unconditional election is believed to be that God elects unconditionally without a person's choice.  People who believe this believe God chose you before you were created and you have no choice in the matter.  You are either saved or not saved.  It is your destiny to choose salvation.  It does highlight God's sovereignty, but it takes away free will.  

    Corporate election is God chooses select groups like a class system.  Everyone in a certain church or religion will have salvation.  It basically says there are the born Christians in Christ, but it takes away the individual or personalized aspect to salvation.  This group will be blessed through Jesus and ties more into the old testament.  Some believe this from stories of whole families being saved.  The stories do not got into detail, so it is unclear.  All we need to get from them is that families united in the decision to follow Jesus.

    Your destiny is tied up with God's sovereignty, but you do have free will to make your own choices in your life.  Theology gives you options on how to follow Jesus, but it does not force you to follow him.  Salvation gives you assurance.  If you have salvation, then your destiny is with God for all eternity.  God will not force your to repent.  He will never remove the gift of free will.  However, if you choose to follow Jesus in faith and repentance, then your salvation is guaranteed.  Once saved, always saved because your identity is stamped by the Holy Spirit as an adopted child of God.

Matthew 11:28-30, 13:1-23, John 3:18-21, 5:39-40, 10:25-30, Romans 8:26-39, 9:10-13, 11:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-8, 4:30, Hebrews 6:4-8, Jude 24-25, & Revelations 13:5-8

Christian Maturing

 

    A Christian is maturing if they are becoming more like Jesus every day.  Everyone has a different starting and end point, so every journey looks different.  Don't compare your journey to anyone else.  Your journey is personalized for you.  The point is you are growing in your relationship with God.

    Maturing is growth and development.  Christian maturity is not about how much you are at church looking the part.  It is about what you do when no one else is around.  Are you living out your sanctification?  Do you claim your identity in Christ with integrity?  Do you live set apart to be holy or are you like everyone else in the world?

    Christian maturity is accepting where you are at in life and thanking God.  It is being willing to give up dreams, aspirations, and ideologies about your life to follow Jesus.  You are mating if you are growing in that relationship becoming more like him in small ways everyday.  

    When you become a Christian you are positionally sanctified to be a part of God's family.  As you mature in your Christianity you are progressively sanctified.  This process last until the day you die and joint Jesus.  That is when you get the perfected sanctification by receiving your eternal body and living in perfection.  That is what all of this is about: eternity with God.

    God started His good work in you and He will see it through.  Are you willing to go along for the journey or will you reject your divine appointing?  The journey means working out your doubt, what you believe, why you believe it, and willing to continue to learn and grow.  A Christian maturing thinks, acts, and speaks differently from the person that they were before they encountered Jesus for the first time because their world has transformed from within.

    Maturing in Christianity is a slow process.  You work on it a little everyday.  You treat it like a marathon so you do not burn out quickly.  You take each temptation on winning some battles and losing some battles.  The point is to learn from the battles lost and try to do better next time.  The point is to never give up or quit.  

    Life has seasons that can make you reel, but always turn to the Bible to find the truth.  You will get tired, but God will also give you rest.  If you allow the Holy Spirit to always be working on your heart you will learn to ask for what you really need.  You will learn to love like Jesus.  You will learn how to forgive yourself and other people.  You will learn to take certain things in stride and not allow people to affect you too much. Make sure you place people in your life to be true friends to help you grow.     

Proverbs 27:17, Matthew 25:23, Roman 6:1-4, 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, Ephesians 4:17-24, Philippians 1:3-6, 2:12-13, Colossians 3:1-11, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, & Hebrews 5:11-14, 12:1-4

Adopted by God

 

        When you become a Christian, you are adopted into God's family.  Jesus makes you righteous.  You become a new person with responsibilities of the title you now hold.  However, God is the one that takes on the responsibility of you as His child.  It is a binding commitment.  He will never change His mind.  Once you are His, you are always His.  You will never be rejected by God.

    When God takes responsibility of you He does so as a good father.  That means that He will never stop loving you, but He will also discipline you when you do wrong.  He will not ignore you or pretend that you are just acting out.  He will show you His love in a way that will protect you in the long run.  He prepares you for the future and helps you grow into the Christian you need to be to go out into the world.

    Being adopted by God changes you.  It changes every aspect of your life.  It gives you an eternal identity and a certain status to go with that identity.  He gives you an eternal inheritance.  You get to be a part of a functional family.  It won't be complete on this side of Heaven, but you do get a feel for it.  

    Some of the blessings you get now is complete access to God.  He listens and wants to give you good things in life.  When you pray it is just a conversation with your father.  You can be honest, vulnerable, and truthful about everything without hesitation of judgement.  However, that does not mean when He replies it is always what you want to hear.  Tell Him your joys, sorrows, hurts, and everything else in between.  He wants to hear it all.

    Being adopted by God means you have freedom unlike the children of the world.  You get to learn what real love is.  You are no longer chained to your sins.  You have the Holy Spirit to guide, teach, and redirect you misguided ideology.  He helps you defeat temptation.  He understands you in a way no one else in the world ever will.

    The adoption is all up to you.  You can choose to believe and follow Jesus becoming a brother or sister to him or you can reject the only real truth and go your own direction.  You don't know everything when you first become a Christian.  There will be growing pains.  It is a lifelong journey to develop that relationship.  It comes with a lot of ups and downs and mistakes along the way.  Just remember that God loves you no matter what.  Hold onto your joy and hope while you find strength in your relationship with God.

    No matter what your biological family dynamic is, if you are adopted by God then you have the perfect family for eternity.  You get to experience it a little in the church, but remember the church is filled with people figuring out life too.  It will not be perfect now, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't love you or have a purpose for your life.  He is trying to give you an abundant life because life is meant to be lived.  Live your life, but make sure that God is the center of it.

John 16:31-33, Romans 8:12-17, 12:14-16, 1 Corinthians 12:22-26, Galatians 4:1-7, & Hebrew 4:14-16

Justified Through Jesus

 

    God is just.  He gives people so many chances and people squander them more times than not.  Each person deserves a lot worse from God than received.  God loves you so much that He gives you life, time, and free will to do what you want with it.  The choice is your to follow Jesus or do your own thing.  It is important to know that Jesus is the only way to salvation.  He is the only justification you have on that day that you face God.

    God is just, but He does not allow sin to be ignored.  When you choose to reject Him and His ways, then you put yourself in opposition to God.  Any sin is worthy of God's wrath.  It is rebellion and what leader tolerates rebellion, let alone your creator.  Instead of you having to take God's full wrath, He poured it onto Jesus to take on your behalf.  This opened the door to salvation.  

    If you choose to walk in faith with Jesus, then you are hidden from God's full wrath.  That does not mean that you will never face consequences for doing wrong.  You may even face consequences for the sins of other people, but it could be so much worse.  Following Jesus means you are willing to take the small amount you get now for perfect peace with God in the future.  You understand the purpose of righteous living.  

    What God and Jesus did that day on the cross and the next three days was foretold in the beginning when sin was introduced into the world.  It had never been done before and will never be done again.  It was a one time event in history to change everything for the rest of time.  Jesus fulfilled every prophecy given about him throughout history.  Any prophecy that came after his ascension you can be assured will happen.

    Jesus is the one and only sacrifice worth enough to take on God's wrath and not be destroyed.  He is the only one that was able to open the door to salvation for everyone.  All you have to do is accept and walk through.  When you do you become justified through Jesus.  Your sins are atoned and you can start living a new life of faith.  You can stand before God without your sins destroying you.  

    You get to be righteous before God because Jesus exchanged your guilty sentence onto himself.  Jesus makes you all equal in justification and righteousness.  No one is more important than anyone else.  There are those that simply follow Jesus and those that chose to rebel. You are either free or a slave to sin.  You will either have eternity of perfection or torment. It all depends on what you do with what you know.

Romans 1:18-20, 2:12-16, 3:9-31, & 5:1-2

Salvation Requirements

 

    Salvation is a free gift from God through Jesus.  However, if you accept this gift it makes you a part of His holy family.  Being a part of His family has some responsibilities.  You accept salvation through faith, but then you repent in your heart all your sins known and unknown.  Next you live it out and proclaim it without embarrassment or hesitation.  

    While you are alive it is like you are running a marathon.  You have to practice.  You have to work the faith muscle.  You learn endurance by using your spiritual gifts and leaning into God in the hard times.  It is a relationship that should never go stagnant.  You also have to learn humility to repent when you sin.  Repentance is displayed in obedience.  If you truly love God, then you will obey him.

    To repent is to change your mind.  You change how you look and think about sin.  You repent what you know, but as you go on in life you realize that you still sin.  You have to repent as sin becomes aware to you.  It is like taking a spiritual shower.  You are staying spiritually hygienic.  You also want to repent from all your unknown sin, so you ask God to reveal them to you.

    You have to have a repentant heart to follow Jesus.  It ensures you have a heart seeking to be like him.  Your heart and attitude leads to your actions, so it helps you stay righteous.  If your heart is true then sin brings you real sorrow.  The truth becomes clear.  You accept God's forgiveness and change, but you also accept consequences in your life.  People do not forgive as quickly as God because they can't read your heart.  They only see the actions.  

2 Chronicles 7:12-15, Psalm 51, Jonah 3, Mark 1:14-15, Romans 4:13-15, Hebrews 11:1-19, & James 2:19-20

Gift of Salvation Part 2

 

    Salvation is a free gift from God given to you and everyone else who accepts through Jesus.  It makes you a Christian, a part of God's family.  You are adopted in to be loved and cared for eternity.  No one can take it away from you once you accept.  

    Salvation has nothing to do with how good you were before.  It is offered to everyone.  After salvation you become better out of love not duty.  Nothing you ever do in life is not influenced by the world in some way.  That makes your best deeds not good enough.  Don't wait to accept salvation until you are good enough or you will wait too long.  Accept it and then work with God on becoming who you were made to be.

    Salvation is a gift of love.  Jesus came to the world to show what love should look like.  He was gracious, kind, and firm to the truth.  He made the ultimate sacrifice to be the last sacrifice.  God sent him and he obeyed.  When he left, he left his people with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit empowers Christian's new nature to be like Jesus.

    Everyone is an enemy of God until the moment of salvation.  It is proof of His love.  Why would He even bother pursuing you or anyone else?  Jesus took the the death that you deserved onto himself, so you have the opportunity not to spend eternity separated from God in regret.  

    You can have salvation only one way: faith.  You believe that Jesus was who he said he was, that he died, and that he resurrected himself to live among people for 40 more days before ascending to Heaven still living to be with God until the time of his return.  It is that simple.  You just have to believe, pronounce it, and turn from your sins as the Holy Spirit convicts you of them.

    Baptism is the first act of faith that God request of you.  Next you need to find a church that teaches the complete Bible not just the feel good parts or change it to suite society.  It doesn't have to be a particular formula or traditional church.  The point is to be with fellow believers that will help you grow and encourages you to disciple.  Christians were never meant to find salvation and then sit on the sideline allowing the world to figure it out for themselves.  You are called to live out Jesus' love like he did.

Romans 5:6-11, Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 1:21-23, & Titus 1:1-7, 3:1-11

Biblical Sexual Ethics

 

    From the beginning God had a design for marriage and sex.  His design is one man and one woman in marriage become united as one through sex.  It is a marriage covenant not to be broken.  The problem is that we live in a broken world.  

    Divorce is just as high in the church as it is in the world.  Divorce was never part of the design, but God allows it because people have hard hearts that lead to breaking the marriage covenant.  God allows divorce when you have been abandoned or unfaithful.  

    There are many debates on if abuse should be a part of that.  God never wanted His people to be hurt especially by their spouse.  Some people believe it is part of sticking with their spouse through sickness and in health.  It is a call only an abused person can make for themselves with help of the Holy Spirit, but it can fall under abandonment since the spouse does abandon you emotionally.  Only someone with a hard heart would abuse.  They make a home unsafe. 

    Sex outside of marriage was never part of God's design.  Marriage is to represent the completion of love God has for His people.  .  Premarital sex can lead to multiple partners making it where you are cheating on your future spouse before you ever meet them.  It distorts God's design making it a sin that has many different consequences: children out of wedlock, STD, and spiritual and or emotional disconnect from God.  God forgives all sins, so He can remove the condemnation, shame, and guilt.  However, you will only turn to Him when you realize the sin for yourself.

    God is clear in the Bible that homosexuality and transgenderism goes against His design.  Same sex relations are strictly prohibited and in the days of the Bible carried severe consequences.  Today it has been declared a mental illness by some.  People that struggle with this should be met with Godly love and prayer.  They do not need your condemnation because God will deal with it His way.  Christians should encourage them not to give it identity.  Naming it gives it power.  Instead focus on the real struggle with sin and be supportive as they work through it with God.  You may not understand the struggle.  That is okay.  You can still love them the way Jesus loves them and direct them to Him.

    Pornography is adultery.  It is so common today that people don't even view it as a sin, but Jesus made it clear that it is.  He said it is better to remove your eyes than to look on someone with lust.  Almost half the families in the United States have a problem with porn in their home.  It is a struggle that many church leaders and pastors struggle with at some point or another.  It is just as common in women as it is in men now.  

    Sexual sin causes destruction for the family.  America has more broken and multi-dimensional homes than traditional or nuclear homes.  The family has almost lost all value in the nation because talking about sex is uncomfortable.  Facing sexual sin is hard because it affects every single person on some level or another.  Until you can be honest with yourself and your own sin, you can't help anyone else with theirs.  It is part of the sinful nature that comes naturally.  It is possibly the hardest part to put to death.  Teach yourself to see temptation for what it is and and how to avoid or walk away from it.

Genesis 2:4-25, Psalm 101:1-5, Matthew 1:18-25, 19:1-12, Romans 1:24-32, 6:1-14, 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, 10:12-13, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, 1 Timothy 1:8-11, & Jude 5-11