Merry Christmas

To all who read this blog.
My prayer for you is, whoever you are, May the love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be with you this Christmas and throughout the coming year.

What is a Christian

What is a Christian

Over the years I’ve met and heard in the Media and other places people who call themselves Christians. Yet to hear them talk you’d think they were the most judgmental even bigoted and people you’d ever met.
A lot has been said and done in the name of Christianity. Many people zealous for the faith have forgotten the fundamentals of the faith, leaving a lot of wreckage in their wake.
These people potentially have by their words and deeds sentenced many people to hell.
A great burden is placed upon the Christian, one that involves the eternal well being of all they come in contact with.
For me the following is what I believe a true Christian must believe and follow.
I could write a book on each scripture reference and at a later date I just might. Still here as brief as I could make it is what I believe makes a Christian a Christian.

First they we must believe.

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 

bind them around your neck, 

write them on the tablet of your heart. 

Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 

in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” 

                                                                                            Proverbs 3:3-6  

Second,

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

 No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

                                                                                              John 14:6

Third

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish 

but have eternal life

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

 but to save the world through him”.

                                                                                John 3:16,17
Fourth

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 

not by works, so that no one can boast.  

For we are God’s workmanship, 

created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 

which God prepared in advance for us to do”. 

                                                                           Ephesians 2:8-10

Fifth,

Then Jesus came to them and said, 

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

 baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

 And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

                                                                                                    Matthew 28:18-20
Sixth,

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. 

Therefore be as shrewd as snakes 

and as innocent as doves.”

                                                                      Matthew 10:16
Seventh

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, 

and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you”. 

                                                                                              Matthew 7:1
Eighth,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. 

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain 

on the righteous and the unrighteous. 

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 

Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  

And if you greet only your brothers, 

what are you doing more than others? 

Do not even pagans do that? 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

                                                                                         Matthew 5:43-48
Ninth

Love is patient, love is kind.

 It does not envy, it does not boast, 

it is not proud. It is not rude,

 it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil 

but rejoices with the truth. 

It always protects, always trusts, 

always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails.”  

                                                                       1Corinthians 13:4-8a
If Christians follow these scripture I feel strongly that they can and will reach those around them.
Living in North America I as a Christian have unprecedented freedoms to talk to people about my faith.
There are entire Christian television networks. Millions of people watch daily various evangelist and pastors preaching the word of God.
Sadly there are many that while preaching have put their own biases on that word. In doing so they have turned people off.
Standing in a pulpit be that in a church building or in the media and spitting hell fire and brimstone I’ve found doesn’t win people to Christ, especially in the twenty-first century.
People know there’s sin in the world. They may call it by other names but they know the world and the people in it are far from perfect. They know there is a need to change for the better.
But screaming judgmental dogma from the pulpit will only push people away potentially sentencing them to hell.
The Apostle Paul once had a unique pulpit. He stood before a bunch of what the bible would define as sinners and those of other faiths. In fact he was asked by those men, Epicurean and Stoic philosophers  to speak to them in the Areopagus in Athens,
What he said should be a model to us on how to speak to those of other faiths and beliefs.
This is what he said,
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 

                                                                             Acts 17:22-31

Paul presented the Gospel plain and simple. Not your condemned to hell, no you vile sinners. He simple presented the word of God. As should every Christian believer.
If you are a Christian I would ask you to examine yourself and see if the way you present yourself and the gospel to others is positive or negative.
Look at it from the none believers eyes. If you were a none-believer would you receive the message you are presenting?
If you do not believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God incarnate. The saviour of the world, consider what was said above.
I truly believe Jesus came to save the world and I believe he wants to come into your life today. And he doesn’t care who you are. His first thought is for you as a person. It is not contingent on anything you do.
The basic premise of Christianity is God reaching down to man because man is not tall enough or good enough to reach up to God.
Think about it.
If you have any questions contact me at. Nealbelieves@gmail.com

The birth that had to be

‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)   And everyone went to his own town to register. 
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. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,   and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” 
                                                                                                                                          Luke 2:1-7
Imagine this. You are a multi billionaire with everything you’ve ever wanted at your finger tips. You have servants aplenty. All you ever had to do to get anything was to snap your fingers and someone would get it for you.
Additionally you’ve been very healthy. You’ve never known what it was to be sick in your life.
Now in all honesty how can you relate to someone who is just the opposite? Someone who is so poor they are living from day to day. Every penny they have has to be carefully spent. They live from pay check to pay check and quite often they have to choose weather to spend the money on food for themselves and their children or pay the electric bill.
When they are sick they worry that they can get the right health care and drugs to help get them better. They also worry that they will miss too much time at work and thus have even less money for food and shelter.
Can a multi billionaire even stand in judgement of someone this poor?
In all honesty I think a multi billionaire can intellectually say he understands but having not experienced that kind of poverty and the physical and mental strains it puts on a person he can’t truly relate.
At the same time while he knows what it is to be human judging a man of humble means can also be difficult.
I think that’s what God realized after he created man. It goes without saying that God the creator of mankind has the right to stand in judgement of his creation, especially if it isn’t going in the direction He expects.
Still when a man stands before God he could in his defence justly say ‘you don’t know what it is to be human. What it is to face the day to day temptations and trials a man or woman has.’
But God can. He can do it because He chose to send His one and only Son, Jesus Christ into this world.
Jesus in his lifetime experienced what it was to be human. He felt the sun against his face,and the rain. He had friends, attended weddings and funerals.
He taught the truths of God to thousands and was regarded as a great teacher. At the same time he was despised by many of those in authority amongst his people.
From his earliest days he knew what it was like to be a political refuge, his parents had to flee to Egypt, to escape Herod’s wrath.
Jesus showed us and taught us what God wanted us to do.
While he spoke out against the Jewish leaders, the leaders of his people to correct them. He never spoke out against the ruling secular authorities of Rome.
Still he was falsely accused of breaking the law. Even the Roman governor of his day said Jesus had done nothing deserving of death.
At the same time for political expediency he let Jesus be flogged and put to death on a Roman cross.
Because of all of this Jesus can justly judge the individual. He understands everything about being human.
Now all of that being said we know that the sole purpose for Jesus coming to earth was to save the world. John 3:17 stating, “ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world would be saved through Him.”
God fully understands that we cannot live a perfect life that’s why He sent His Son to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
John 3:16-17 put it this way,
Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
The bible makes it clear that it is God that is reaching down to man to offer eternal life.
Ephesians 2:8,9 states,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.”
God simply wants us to admit we are sinners to confess our sins to Him directly and to ask him to come into our hearts and lives.
If we do this with a sincere heart he will come in and direct us along the paths of righteousness.
The choice is yours. You can do it right now. Simply say this prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I admit that I am a sinner and fall short of what you want for my life.
Please come into my life today and take away my sins.
Guide me and direct me in the way you would have me go.
                         In Jesus name I pray
                                              Amen.
If you’ve prayed this prayer I would suggest that you start reading the bible. You can’t learn about God unless you do.
The other thing you should do is find a church that teaches directly from the bible and attend it.
We all need encouragement from other Christians it helps us grow in our faith.
Pray and ask God to help you find such a church in your area and He will reply.

Because

Because

Because... “...He (God first loved us.”
      1 John 4:19

I will... love God

Because... “...God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

I will... love God

Because... Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this shall all know that you are My disciples.  If you have love for one another.  John 13:34,35

I will... love my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Because... Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”   Luke 6:27,28

I will... love my enemies.

Because... The Bible says, “Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; loves does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things; believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  I Corinthians 13:4-7

I will... I will love.

Because... The Bible says, “Now abides faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13:13

I will... Have faith in God..
     For according to Ephesians 2:8,9:
“...by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works; lest anyone should boast.”
Have hope in Christ...
For according to Romans 5:1,2: “...having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace which we stand, and rejoice in hope of glory of God.”

Have love... For Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40:
“...you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Because of this and much more
I will love.