Why do I love the Bible so much?

John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

John 1:14 "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

1 John 1:1 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life."

1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

Revelation 19:13 "And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God."

Jesus IS the Word! Reading the Bible is reading Jesus. We have the privilege of being able to read Jesus whenever we want. How foolish it would be to ignore such a grand opportunity. Thank you, Lord, for giving us the Word, which is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

How Confident Are You?

You may think that you have a guaranteed spot in heaven. Perhaps it is because of the good deeds you have done or the fact that you have never missed a Sunday at Church or the fact that you tell everyone you meet that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. The truth is that many people on their day of judgement will arrogantly approach the great white throne of Christ only to be thrust away into the worst place imaginable where they will spend all eternity.

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and cast our demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" (Matthew 7:21-23) According to Jesus, you cannot prophecy your way into heaven. Nor can you earn a spot in his kingdom by casting out demons or by any great work for that matter. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Jesus is the reason we get to go to heaven. He lived the perfect, sinless life that we could not, and he drank the cup of his father's wrath that was meant for us. He is our way into heaven. We were purchased by his blood and those who believe in him have been made new creations in his image.

So how do you know for sure if you indeed are "saved" and will one day inherit the kingdom of God? Paul says that we are to "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." (2 Corinthians 13:5) Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit, meaning that Christians should live their lives the way Jesus lived. He was humble enough to wash the feet of his disciples. He was obedient to his father, even to the point of death on a rugged cross. He was sinless. We, however, will never be sinless, but we can certainly sin less! Repentance is the act of forsaking sin for a relationship with God through Jesus and it is mandatory.

Paul paints an amazing picture of what a fruit-bearing Christian life should look like in this amazing passage, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Galatians 6:16-24)

Do not forget that salvation is a free gift from God. We did not deserve it. He purchased us with the precious blood of his son, Jesus. Do not be the one who on the day of judgement arrogantly approaches his throne only to be thrust away, but rather be the one who humbly stands before the King of Kings, the one who gave it all. "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

Can Christians Become Possessed?

After doing a study on Mark 5:1-20 where Jesus heals a man who was possessed by possibly thousands of demons, I pondered the question, "Can Christians become possessed?" I believe that the scriptures make it clear that the answer is no, Christians cannot become possessed. Ephesians 1:13-14 says this, "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." When I think of the fact that we are "sealed" with the Holy Spirit, I think of a glass jar. Before you put the lid on the jar, contents can be added to the jar and removed from the jar. However, once you put on the lid the jar becomes sealed meaning that nothing can go into the jar and nothing can come out of the jar. This is the same thing that happens when a person chooses to leave their life of sin for a new life with Jesus. They are no longer an open jar susceptible to having unclean spirits enter them, but rather a jar that has been sealed by the Holy Spirit. This also means that once you have received the Holy Spirit, it will not leave you. You are a jar whose contents is the Holy Spirit and whose lid is the Holy Spirit.

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." Jesus said this in John 10:27-28. Once we are a part of Jesus' flock, we will be with him forever. He will not lose any of his sheep. Part of being in Jesus' flock means having the Holy Spirit in you. So as long as you are in his flock, you will have the Holy Spirit and since Jesus said that none of his sheep will be taken from him, we can be confident that the Holy Spirit will never be taken from us.

We read in Hebrews 6:4-6 "For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." I used to think that this was referring to people who lost their salvation and therefore the Holy Spirit, but since Jesus said that none of his sheep will be taken from him, I have had to reconsider. Now I believe that these verses are talking about people who have heard the gospel and who have seen the power of the Holy Spirit in others, but still choose sin that leads to death rather than repentance that leads to salvation.

As Christians we need to be very aware of the demonic realm, but we need not be concerned about becoming possessed. The Bible makes this very clear. In a sense you could say that we have been "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" -- Signed into the Book of Life, Sealed by the Holy Spirit, and Delivered from sin!