But God Made You Alive

Christian, how were you saved?  God Made You Alive

Ephesians 2:1-5

Before our conversion there was nothing in us to commend us to God, we were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.  Not only that but we were worldly.  Our life was governed by the plan or the mold of this world.  This is humanity without God.  We were also disobedient, we were willfully disobedient to the word of God.  We were lost creatures.  This manifested itself in physical and intellectual desires.  By nature, by physical birth we were also damned, we were under God's wrath.  But that was in time past.  It was before we were saved that we were like that.  But Christians are no longer dead (in sin), or worldly, or disobedient, or under wrath.  You were that before conversion but it is all finished now. 

But (you might say) "what about so and so, they profess Christ but they disobey Christ all the time.  They don't have any spiritual hunger."  There is one answer, that person was not truly converted.  Ephesians 2:2 "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."  Note the important words "in time past"  A past completed action is now over and finished permanently, it doesn't happen anymore.   If these things are not past then you are not converted.  You can't be. 

Christians before their conversion were in a terrible state and could do nothing to change it.  Was there any hope?  Is there any hope?  If there is any hope it is not in you or me.  There is not one shred of hope in humanity, not one.  But there is hope and there was hope and we are going to find out about it.
But God: V4 "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,"  the little word But means nevertheless, you were dead, you had no hope and you were much more, But God, nevertheless God, in spite of what you were, God.  This the But of difference and the But of hope.  But God.  

Please note the verse does not say that you were dead, you were damned, "but human free will" does it?  It doesn't say you were bound in sin "but a wee bit of religion" It doesn't say "but good works"  It doesn't say "but human free will" because your will was a slave and a servant of sin before you were saved. Ephesians 2:2 "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."     Your will was not free.   It doesn't say "but religion" because religion doesn't make any difference.  It doesn't say "but good works" because before you were saved you didn't have any saving good works..  there is no good saving works before God.  It doesn't say any of those things because it was nothing in us.  It says that we were all those wretched things in V3 "Among whom also we all.....in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."  But God.  In spite of what you were, God did something.  But God.  Those two words are the difference between biblical Christianity and every other religion in the world. 

The Days of Noah Part 1: Noah was a real, historic person

Are you one that doubts the reality of the man called Noah, and the flood that God brought upon the earth?  This is the first in a 7 part series of in-depth articles on Genesis 6 to 9 based on the King James bible.

The Days of Noah Part 1

The Proofs that Noah was a living, historic person and the flood was an actual, historic fact.

Genesis 6:1-14 "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.  And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.  But Noah found grace  in the eyes of the LORD.  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.  Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."
 
About 5,000 years ago, around 3,000 BC there lived a man called Noah.  Noah was a man who was very different from the generation in which he lived.  We read about Noah mostly in the book of Genesis.  The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings and it is a history book.  Genesis contains real, actual, literal history.  Genesis is the foundation of the whole bible and all the major doctrines of scripture can be traced in their foundation to the book of Genesis.  The author is God, the writer is Moses.  The first 5 books of the bible are called the books of Moses, the Lord Jesus says so in John 5:46 "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me."  2 Chron 35:12 "......as it is written in the book of Moses" 2 Corin 3:15 "But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart." Romans 10:5 "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law..." 1 Corin 9:9  "For it is written in the law of Moses..."   To disagree on this is to disagree with the bible.  Noah and the events recorded about his day are real history.  These things happened and these things are recorded for us that we may learn from them.  1 Corin 10:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come."  There is a stark lesson for the new testament church to be found in Noah and his day as recorded in the book of Genesis 6.

Wild Rose with Matthew 5:8

This photo was taken in summer at the walk way of Somenos Marsh in the Cowichan Valley.  I loved the textures of this wild rose against the sturdiness of the fence and it reminds me the beauty of the pure in heart who will see God.

The Book of Esther - Part 1, Esther Becomes Queen

Esther Part 1 – Esther becomes Queen

Esther Chapters 1-2

Esther is one of only two books in the Holy Bible that are named for women.  One is Ruth, the other is Esther.

Although God is not named in the book of Esther, it is nevertheless full of the Lord's intervention on His people's behalf, in guidance and protection. This study will not be mentioning the applications to our lives as Christians, although there are many, but will focus on the life of Esther, and the presence of the Lord, though unspoken by name.

Esther's story begins with a feast during the third year of reign of the king Ahasuerus when Chapter 1:V3-4 “he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.”  And then 2 more feasts  V5,7-9 “and when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace….and they gave them drink in vessels of gold…and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.  Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus”

Daily Living: The Wonderful Gift of Rain

Job 5:8-10 "I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields."

Psalm 147:7-8 "Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains."

Isaiah 55:10 "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater
1 Kings 18: 41,44-45 "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.  And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.  And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.  And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain....."

I used to take rain for granted.  Living on Canada's West Coast there was always abundance of rain.  We didn't pay much attention to it, seldom used an umbrella.  It was just part of life and was never extreme.  We used to joke that people who carried umbrellas must surely be tourists, for no local would ever carry an umbrella. There were no hurricanes, tornadoes or large hail..  I loved walking in the rain, and listening to it on roofs of cars.  When I was a child my bedroom was below ground and my mother would turn on the sprinkler at bedtime so the sound of it would mimic rain and I would fall asleep.