Heaven-bound with Jesus!
“I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” Phi 3:14 ASVArchive for August, 2007
Who Am I?
I want to make it clear to anyone reading this blog that I am not a perfect and “righteous” person. This is mainly because I feel whenever a non-Christian listens to a Christian talk about his or her faith, they come under certain incorrect impressions:
- The non-Christian often feels being judged
- The non-Christian thinks the Christian is saying he or she is superior
However, the truth is that “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, and when you hear the words of Jesus, they are not being said by someone any different than you. They are not being said to condemn you, or boastfully, but out of love for you. If I or any other person talks to you about Jesus, they are trying to put across to you that you need to be saved from your sins and the coming destruction of the universe. Don’t you think that if someone loves you, they’d want you safe from destruction?
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” [Galatians 5:19-21 NIV]
I confess that I have done all of these things. Do you know what the Bible says will happen to me?…
“I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” [Galatians 5:21 NIV]
So why do I keep this blog, and how am I “heaven-bound”? Because “it is by grace [I] have been saved”. It is through Jesus that my sins are washed clean, blotted out, and I am a sinner no longer because I have been forgiven. I am heaven-bound because I am redeemed by Jesus.
“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.” [John 3:16 NIV]
That is all there is to forgiveness from your wrongs, from the wrongs others did to you; it is to believe in Jesus. And to believe in Him, you have to believe His story, all in the Bible. You have to believe His promise, He shall come back, and raise all to life and a new creation.
Don’t you believe in gravity? Its the thing that pulls you down when you jump. Believe in Jesus to the same extent; he can pull you back from the gates of hell. Don’t you believe in Einstein? He was a scientist who was born at the end of the 1800s, and died around the 1950s. Believe in Jesus to that extent; he lived on the earth some 2000 years ago, died, arose from the dead, and is alive today! And most importantly, know this that He died for your sins, so that you will never have to take punishment for your sins if you just believe in Him.
The Parable of The Sower
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.” Matthew 13:3-9
“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:18-23
- A farmer went out to sow his seed.
- As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up… When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
- Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root… The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
- Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants… The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
- Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown… The one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
