His Grace is Sufficient for Me

But He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me." (2 Cor 12:9, NET). The world tells us that we have to be the strongest, fastest, smartest, best looking, healthiest, and riches to be successful, to have meaning in this life. But God's world give us the opposite picture. In this passage Paul tells us that the mighty grace of Jesus Christ our Lord is so powerful, that we don't have to be any of those things to matter. God loves us, and His grace makes it ok that we are weak and fleshly. Now that does not mean that sin is acceptable; Paul makes this clear in Romans 6:1 & 2, "What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (NKJV). It does mean that God loves us even when we fall and fall and fall. This is not a new idea for most Christians, but when that is exactly where we are in our walk with God, we are edified when the Holy Spirit reminds us of the unfathomable love of Jesus. "And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is." (Ephesians 3:18, NLT). And a true understanding of Christ's love will create in us a response to obey Him. But every bit of it is Jesus, we get no credit: Jesus gives us the love and grace we need in our weakness, and then it is His power that makes us able to respond in thankful obedience. Never do we have the power ourselves. But as Paul says, that is a glorious truth that we should be proud of: we are weak, but Christ is strong!

The Elementary Principles of the Christian Faith

"Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God, teaching about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment," (Hebrews 6:1-2 NET). These verses clearly lays out the six basic principles that we as Christians must understand if we are to grow in maturity of faith. The first, repentance, tells us that it is faith in Jesus and not works that save us. The second is quite controversial: "teachings on baptisms." (emphasis added). Notice that it does not say baptism, singular, but baptisms, plural. Evangelicals, especially Calvinists, love to quote Ephesians 4:4-6 which says,"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (NKJV). But that one baptism is the one "Baptism of the Holy Spirit", not one baptism in all of our faith. Laying on of hands is a command for the pastors and elders of churches, for sending people out to God's calling (Acts 13:1-3) and for the healing of the sick (James 5:14). Resurrection of the dead is one we are familiar with, and that relates to the events surrounding Jesus' resurrection (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20) and the resurrection of the dead at the Rapture (1Thess 4:13-18). Eternal judgment is a hot button issue as well because many, many Christians don't want to believe in Hell. It is a real place, and if you die before believing in Christ, you will go there (2 Peter 2:4-9). The Devil is real, and he will do everything in his power to see as many people as possible go to Hell too (1 Peter 5:8).
Now most of what I have explained here is my opinion about these subjects. The one exception is eternal judgment. You cannot be a true follower of Christ if you do not understand that it is real. As for the other however, there are many opinions on them. You don't need to take my opinion on it; instead I exhort you to research the topics by reading commentaries about them and most importantly by searching the scriptures and seeing what they say about these subjects. Then you should discern what you believe about them, for then you will be able to grow in Christ.

The Promises of God

1 Corinthians 2:18-22 (NKJV, et all), "But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

Is it not wonderful that we serve a God of whom His promises are always kept? God is an awesome God and makes equally awesome promises to us in His scripture. Struggling with sin? "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," (1John 1:9), and , "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16). James gives us a promise about sin and encourages us that our prayers do indeed matter. The number my pastor gave was 8,000 promises in the Bible. 8,000! and every single one is absolutely true. This is the God we serve. Let us not live as defeat soldiers, but let us live our life everyday in the knowledge of the awesome faithfulness of God!