THE ANSWER WHEN WE SEE NO ANSWER!

When there is NO answer. We pray. We beg. We importune. God hears obviously. But He does not answer the way we wish. Illnesses goes unhealed. Death is snatched from the living of those we love and who are much too young to die. Where is God in all of this misery and suffering??

Answer, He is in the middle of it all. No name escapes His eternal plan in Jesus, Orchestrated from before the foundation of the world. ( Eph.1:3-14).

All humans have lived out their lives in the fallenness of father Adam. Sin has wreaked untold misery and suffering on humanity. But thanks be to God, that through Jesus Christ , Jesus has 'trumpted' everything in Adam and healed it and made it whole and healthy and healed. We could stop right there, but we won't.

We see a child suffering from an incurable illeness. We see a child in the depths of drug addiction. We see a child in the throws of child prostitution with all the attendant suffering and misery and we ask, "God, where are you, don't you hear and dont you care.?"

Well, YES he does. He hears and He cares. He cares so much so that THE ONLY SON HE EVER HAD was allowed to live out His life and so perfectly that He paid the price for ALL human sin and suffering. So that we all could live eternally with the Father in His Glory and FUN forever.

Now we see through a glass darkly, fuzzy. But one day we shall see it all clearly and then we shall understand. God is Good . and He is always Good and will be forever.

What we see and suffering and misery one day will be forgotten and only the glory of the Triune God will display His eternal redemption and reconciliation and blessing in Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit, I will have more, please.

Paul

JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER

.
What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving Season? I am thankful that Jesus came to, among other things, reveal the Father to all of us. The Hebrew world had many false gods as well as the God of Israel. But the God of Israel was viewed as somewhat austere and stern demanding obedience from His followers. Curses would ensue if strict adherence were not followed. ( Lev.26 and Deut. 28). Jesus came to reveal the Father He had always known. Jesus said, if you have seen me, you have seen the father. OK, then what did or do we see in Jesus?

Jesus reveals the sweetness and tenderness of a loving, kind, gentle, and patient Father who loves all of us. The Father wants and desires very much to have a family. One made possible in Jesus. The Father wants everyone. Jesus describes the "least of these MY Brethren" when he gets down into the dirt with the blind man and makes clay from spit and heals his eyes. He describes the least of these when he goes into the Leper camp and gets down in the dirt and heals the lepers. He lifts children up into his arms whether they can WALK OR NOT. TALK OR NOT. Jesus goes into the rescue missions and tells the inhabitants that, " I love all of you and have since before the foundation of the world. I knew you and your NAME".

Jesus goes under countless bridges and tells those that the Father loves them and that they matter and have since before the foundation of the world and at the Cross.
Jesus tells all that what He does, the Father does. If you have seen me you have seen the Father, Jesus said.

Jesus reveals a Father who is Love. Love for all. Not a retributive god, but a Father. A loving Father , not a vengeful God. Jesus reveals a Father who cuddles his children, comforts them, walks with them, encourages them, lifts them up to His very throne in Heaven and wants to live with us all forever. Jesus reveals a Father who made it all happen in Jesus. No stone was left unturned. All nails were nailed into the coffin. It is Done. It is finished as Jesus said in, John 19:30.

Jesus goes to the crack addicts, the heroine addicts, the alcoholics, the unwed mothers, ( and fathers) , the homeless, the down and out, the ill, the diseased, the weak of the world, victims of our fallen nature. Everyone. And, Jesus says, "you, the least of my brethren, I love you. I died for you. I knew you before the foundation of the world and I want to live with you forever. Can you believe this?"

Yes , the least of these my brethren are all around. And Jesus AND the Father get down on their knees and love us all.

Thank you Jesus,

Paul

www.newlifewcg.org
www.pastorpaulsinteractiveblog.blogspot.com

.

WHO IS THE LEAST OF THESE MY BRETHREN?

"As you have done it to these the least of these MY brethren, you have done unto me."
Do you realize the importance and implication of this statement of Jesus? All of us, all of humanity, are the brethren of Jesus. There are no throw backs. Now let's take stock.

Look at the down and out. The drug addicts. The alcoholics, the mentally ill, the chronic abusers of any and everything. The street people , the homeless, the rejected by society and all too often that means the ones who fought valiantly in Viet Nam, and other wars and conflicts.

What about fatherless mothers, innocent children of conceptions which should never have taken place? Where is Jesus in all of these peoples lives?

Well the GOOD NEWS IS, that ALL of these individuals were chosen and adopted into the very life of God before the foundation of the world. ( Eph. 1:3-14.) They are not cast offs as our world would look at them ..they are the children of God. And He loves all of them just as He loves you.

Now frankly some of them stink. Some of them are not fun to be around. Some of them I would not want to chill with. But.................They are God's children and HE loves them.

John 3:16-17, is ALL inclusive as are so many other verses. I John 2:2. And others.

So what do we all self righteous persons make of all of this. Well , for one, we need to drop our self-righteousness, accept all humans as brothers in the Lord, the children of God, never make comparisons, never denigrate or disparage those in all of these less fortunate situations as we and love everyone. Not discriminating.

We are ALL brothers and sisters in The Lord. No room for comparisons. No room for disrespect. Only room for acceptance and love. Can you deal with it? Then do.

EXPERIENCING HUMANITY FOREVER...LIKE JESUS

The HUMANITY OF JESUS CHRIST. What a beautiful truth this is that Jesus is still a human with a body and humanness. But.................I think we need to be careful to clarify just what this means as to His being still fully human and yet fully God with all of the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Jesus presently.

While it is clear that Jesus is a man...still, and a man who still possesses His humanity we need to be careful to say what this is NOT saying. Jesus lived in the fallenness of Adam through Mary. He had human nature from her and the fall. He had and experienced all the darkened mind and fallenness in Adam that we all do but without sin.

Now with Him being resurrected and ascended to the Father's right hand His humanness is a bit different than what he experienced here on this earth. He is a man to be sure. Paul calls him , " ...the man Jesus Christ". Jesus is fully human even now. However, He does not experience the same human passions He experienced here on this earth under the sway of the devil and the nature derived from the first Adam. He is Human. He is not anything which would have been operative here on this earth under the nature of the fall. Therefore, he does not , nor would he lust, desire to sin, nor does he have any inherent desire to sin in any way we humans do here on this earth in this earthly "tent". Jesus is not going to get drunk, curse, sware, lust, overeat, or anything else we humans are known to do in "OUR" HUMANITY and fallenness.

Jesus UNDERSTANDS our frailty and weaknesses as humans. He has been here. As God in the humanness of Jesus in the heavenlies Jesus has already experienced and tasted all of the evil things human nature had to throw at Him, tempted in all areas, yet without sin. He still is without sin, but He is still Human. And always will be. forever pure and Holy and God. And Saviour.

Jesus example is that as He is we shall be. We shall be human forever. Able to experience the things in God's love that humans experience. We will keep our individual identity forever. We will be able to do things that humans do. Eat, drink, play, walk, have fun and experience pleasure. ( Ps. 16:11). But we will not be some "Casper the friencly Ghost" in some invisible spirit body, but we will be us. Real. Human. And Glorified. What God has in mind for us to do as we continue living in our humanity, will be revealed in due time by our loving Father.

waiting to have real fun,

blessings,

Pastor Paul.

www.newlifewcg.org

TELL THEM YOU 'LOVE' THEM !!!

Dreams, as you know, can be seem quite real as one sleeps. A dream I recently had caused me to write this blog as I hope it inspires all of us to do what we should. In the dream one of my very dear acquaintances unexpectedly died at the age of 50. Having shown NO signs of illness prior his wife came to me to tell me he had had a seisure the day before. I asked her how he was. To my disbelief and shock, she said he was DEAD. I could not believe it at first. He seemed so vibrant and full of life. He loved fishing, making lures, baseball, college football, writing, and loving his family. I loved him as a dear friend and mentor.

Now I am not writing here to describe how he was now immediately in heaven with the Lord (which he would have been !), I am writing to all of us to simply say that we never know from one day to the next if we will see another person alive. That includes friends, husbands, wives, children, relatives, or anyone else in our bank of acquaintances we love. NOW, my point here is this. "When did you last, or if ever, tell these persons in your life that you LOVED them. Really LOVED them?" Maybe you never have or at least it has been a long time since you did.

Some men think it too 'mushy' or unmanly to tell another man , friend, or relative that he LOVES the person. Jesus shows us that it is HIGHLY appropriate for a man to express his love for his friends who are men. Jesus even asks Peter, " Do you LOVE me?". Are we any less or more that what Jesus exemplifies?

I tell you today, tell those you love that, " You love them!" Learn how to say, "I love you!" And mean it!!! Verbalize it. Say it. Tell them. TODAY !!!

Tomorrow may be too late.

blessings,

I love you ,

Paul

WHY MANY CHRISTIANS 'HATE' GRACE

Why some Christians 'Hate' Grace. If that doesn't sound like a contradiction of mammoth proportions then I don't know what it is! Why would I or anyone say that? Grace is what we are saved by. Grace is an extension of God's Love. Grace is God's Gift to humanity which allows salvation in Jesus and life with God forever. How could anyone 'hate' Grace?

A brief review is in order here. Jn.3:16-17, "God loved the world of humanity so much that He gave His only begotten son for the salvation of the human race." ( My personal loose translation.) All of humanity was adopted into the life of God through Jesus before the foundation or creation of the world. (Eph.1:3-14). In Adam all humanity Died, but in Jesus the same all humanity are made alive with Jesus. I Corinthians 15:22. AND, are made alive in Jesus through His resurrection and seated at the right hand of the Father WITH Jesus. Eph.2:6.

Now. With that little review there do you begin to see why some, if not many Christians, 'hate' Grace? Well, let me tell you. This Grace which saves all of us is a gift from God not based on anything we humans can do to warrant or earn it. It is a gift. Eph.2:8. And, it is a gift for ALL. The price was RIGHT. The payment has been made for the whole world. I Jn.2:2. Sin is FORGIVEN. So, Grace applies to all people of all time of all places in all circumstances...simply, ALL. IF Grace applies to all, then it applies to ALL sinners, ALL sin, ALL evil done by humans, ALL disobedience, ALL broken laws of God, ALL anything that opposes God due to our hostile hearts against the God of Love. ALL !!!!!!!!!

The Christians of whom I wrote above in their smug self-righteousness of spiritual satisfaction within themselves due to their EFFORTS to be 'good' Christians simply can not believe that all those other lawbreakers, evil people, non church going heathen could possibly be covered by God's Grace and if one were to tell them that all these perverts were just as covered as they are then their immediate response would be," If that is Grace and it covers THEM, then I 'hate' Grace. Their response would likely be, " Then how in the "hell" would evil men ever be put into our favorite place of damnation and torture, HELL FIRE ? Something has to be done with all those 'bad' people!" Oh, I can hear them now.

Above, I did not finish the quote of John 3:17. "For God did not send His Son into the world to CONDEMN the world, but to save it."
Those who want Grace for themselves and not for the Most Sinful of the world miss completely the whole purpose of Grace in the first place. For in reality, We ALL are the MOST SINFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. If you haven't lately, go into your house and take a long look at the person in the mirror and realize that the love of God and His Grace covers all the people in the world who look like your kind...the human kind. Humanity. God's children. The ones Jesus died for and has made all the provisions for them to live with the Father forever. I ask you the same question Jesus asked Martha in John 11, " Do you believe?" She did !!! Do you?

Paul Kurts
www.newlifewcg.org
www.pastorpaulsinteractiveblog.blogspot.com
Madison, Alabama
256-468-8081

God Bless,

Pastor Paul

WALKING IN THE FLESH AND IN THE SPIRIT

I am doing something a little different this time for my blog. Rather than write a more lengthy blog on this subject, I am offering to send to any of you who request by E:mail these two articles on WALKING IN THE FLESH AND WALKING IN THE SPIRIT. An explanation of Romans 7 and 8 in part.

This is a very freeing and encouraging two papers as you will see. All I ask is that you request them from my E:mail address at:

Paul.Kurts@wcg.org

I look forward to hearing from all of you and I shall reply with the papers attached as soon as I receive your request.

blessings,

Paul
www.newlifewcg.org
Madison, ALabama