Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “When you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:13-14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your actions today affect your future forever.”

In the Gospels Jesus repeatedly taught that our actions in this lifetime affect our future in eternity. In those lessons He wasn’t just talking about placing your faith in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. That is of course the most important action you must take for the sake of eternity. However, His lessons were also about acts of service believers engage in that produce great benefits in eternity. As Bruce Wilkinson said in his great little book “The Life God Rewards”, “Everything you do matters forever”. Your life now is having a direct impact on what your eternity will be like later.

In Luke 14:13-14 we find Jesus having dinner in the home a religious leader. There were many dinner guests, most of them important religious figures, or businessmen, or local officials. They were all being treated to a nice meal by the host, and Jesus was the guest of honor. Jesus used the occasion to teach several important spiritual truths to the guests, but he also had a special one for the host. That’s what we read in the passage above.

Jesus’ point in this lesson was not that the host did wrong by inviting his friends and family members to dinner. Nor, conversely, was the meaning that the only ones who should be treated to such a meal are the down-and-out and the outcasts of society. The larger teaching point was that when we engage in acts of kindness and compassion God will repay us for those actions – but not necessarily in this lifetime. Often the rewards God intends to give to us for such acts are received in eternity. That’s what He meant when He said, “… for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Bruce Wilkinson writes, “God will repay you for a good deed “after you are dead”. And, “Although your eternal destiny (heaven or hell) is based on your belief, the nature of what eternity in heaven will be like for you is based on your behavior in this lifetime”.

God will bless you for the good deeds you do (especially when you do them for those who cannot repay you), but those blessings often come in heaven not on earth. This is the “storing up treasure for yourselves in heaven …” Jesus talked about in yesterdays devotional.

The subject of rewards earned now in this lifetime, but which will be received later in heaven, is extremely important because it has to do with what all of eternity will be like for us. Therefore we will think more about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We receive rewards in heaven based on our actions on earth.”

Yesterday we considered the truth that our spiritual stature in heaven is determined by how much we grow spiritually in this lifetime. The truth is that we won’t all have the same experience in eternity. It will vary from individual to individual based upon how we live now. We will all thoroughly enjoy eternity in heaven – to our maximum capacity for spiritual appreciation and enjoyment, but our capacities will be different.

Another way the Bible teaches this lesson is by describing rewards each person receives in heaven based upon how they lived in this life. There are more than 100 scripture references, in both the Old and New Testaments, regarding the subject of rewards in heaven. Jesus taught about it frequently.

In Matthew 6:19-21, during the Sermon on the Mount, the illustration He used was that of storing up treasures in heaven. Most of us try to store up treasures in this lifetime. We put money in savings accounts, build up retirement funds, invest in houses and property, we collect valuable coins, and so on. Many of us put great thought and disciplined effort into storing up for ourselves treasures on earth. Jesus tells us to shift our thinking a little and to do the things necessary to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

What an intriguing thought. You put money on deposit in The First National Bank of Hometown USA so you will have it for the future. Is it possible to put treasure on deposit in The First National Bank of Heaven so it will be there for you in eternity? According to Jesus the answer is “yes”.

This is vitally important. We need to be investing now for our future in heaven. This subject is so important that Jesus returned to it frequently in His teachings. The body of Biblical literature on the subject is so extensive that it will require us to spend at least several days exploring it. In fact, the Bible teaches us so much about the next life – what the current heaven is like, what the new heaven and the new earth will be like, what the resurrection body will be like, and how to prepare for it all – that we simply do not have enough days left in the month to cover it all. But this is too important to leave unexplored. So, we will just have to keep going into the new month. Tomorrow we will continue thinking about rewards in heaven.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your spiritual stature is determined in this lifetime.”

The consummation of the salvation process occurs in two stages, both of which take place after the death of the physical body. Stage one occurs at the time of death when the spirit is released to join God in heaven. You will be a spirit-being (2 Corinthians 5:1-6) and at that point you will have the spiritual stature that will be yours for all eternity. The second stage occurs later, after the second coming of Christ, at which time all believers receive their resurrection bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:52). We will talk more about the resurrection body in a future devotional.

Life in heaven is actually a continuation of your life on earth. Your eternal life began the moment you placed your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. The physical death of your mortal body simply results in a change of address. Your abode shifts from earth to heaven. There will be many differences between your life on earth and the one you will have in heaven – it will be a great improvement, but there is a direct connection between the two.

In his helpful little book, “The Doctrine of Salvation”, Dr. Darrell Robinson explained it this way: “Believers will enter heaven as the same persons but as transformed persons … the persons we are at death or at the second coming of Christ we will continue to be in heaven. This life is the time for developing Christlikeness in character. All of God’s children will be true children of God and will share the same eternal life, but we will not be of the same spiritual stature. Capacity for God and for spiritual experience is an important factor for life in heaven. Maturing in Christlikeness is central in our developing a capacity for enjoyment in heaven. A Bible professor illustrated this point by comparing the Christian life to containers. One person, having developed in Christian maturity, has become like a gallon container. Another has developed a life like a pint container. In heaven each will be filled to overflowing. Each fully enjoys heaven according to his capacity for spiritual appreciation.”

The transition out of this life and into the next is where the second and third stages of the salvation process meet and converge. Sanctification leads to consummation, and the nature of the consummation is derived from the process of sanctification. How you live in this life has a direct impact on what eternity will be like for you. Jesus taught this truth as well. Tomorrow we will consider some of what He had to say about it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s all heading to a glorious fulfillment”

In his book, “The Doctrine of Salvation”, Dr. Darrell Robinson likens our salvation experience to the flow of the mighty Mississippi River. The Mississippi begins as a small trickling stream way up north near the Great Lakes. As it flows south it slowly picks up volume from other sources as it continues to grow larger and larger. By the time it finally arrives at its destination in the Gulf of Mexico, it comes crashing in with all the volume of a huge mighty river.

Interestingly, the river’s path is not a straight line from north to south. Instead it winds and curves around mountains and obstacles, it meanders through valleys, and it goes up and down through various elevations by means of locks and canals. It constantly flows towards its ultimate destination, but the journey is a crooked path at best.

That’s a pretty good illustration of our salvation experience. We begin in the moment of decision with a trickle of faith and a small spiritual stature. But then we begin the lifelong process of sanctification and as we progress on our journey, praying and studying, participating in worship and fellowship, serving and being served, always growing, always maturing – we pick up great spiritual volume and we continue to increase in spiritual size and stature. Finally we arrive at our ultimate destination (heaven) fully developed and ready to be the person God has always intended for us to be for all of eternity.

The consummation of our salvation actually involves two separate events for the believer. The day we arrive in heaven the process of sanctification will have been completed and we will have the spiritual stature that will be ours for the rest of eternity. We will discuss this more tomorrow. But also, after death and arrival in heaven, there will be one more very important event that will occur that will bring the consummation of our salvation to a final fulfillment. That will be the day when you receive your resurrection body. We will talk about that in an upcoming devotional too.

Be encouraged my friends. This Christian life you are living is headed to a glorious fulfillment and I assure you, it is going to be good.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The church plays an important role in our sanctification.”

As we conclude our thinking about the second stage of the salvation process known as sanctification, we need to consider the role the church plays. It has always been God’s plan that His people would congregate in groups, as a community of faith. There are no examples in the Bible of Christians being alone, out of fellowship with other Christians, and it having been a good thing. Jesus was in the desert alone, but that was only for forty days. John-the-Baptist lived in the wilderness, but great crowds of people went out to be with him – they had church in the desert!

As Hebrews 10:24-25 teaches, God wants us to gather together on a regular basis in order to look out for, love, support, and encourage one another. Our time together is also to be a time of teaching, equipping, group worship, and planning for works of service.

Sanctification is all about growing in spiritual maturity as we become more and more like Jesus. The church plays an important role in our growth as a Christian. Church is where we most often engage with our preachers, teachers, counselors, and friends.

The role the church plays in our lives is often subtle, and the benefits of it are realized a little at a time over a long period of time. You may have heard the story of the elderly deacon who encountered a younger man who had been absent from church for a long time. The deacon asked him why. The man replied that on most Sundays he just didn’t feel as if church attendance was doing much for him. He said: “In fact, I can’t even remember most of the sermons I’ve ever heard.”  The deacon wisely replied, “You know, I’ve been married for 55 years. My wife has prepared a meal for me every day of those 55 years, but I can’t remember most of them. However each one of those meals nourished my body and helped to keep me healthy. If I hadn’t eaten those meals I would have been malnourished and physically sick. The same is true for every sermon we hear. It nourishes our soul and helps to keep us spiritually healthy.”

We need to be in church. It’s an important part of the transforming work God is doing in each of our lives.

We will now move on to the third, and final, and best stage of the salvation process – the consummation! We will spend the rest of our time this month exploring it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ.” Colossians 2:11 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “You need to be circumcised.”

Let’s talk about circumcision. You know, the surgical procedure that involves taking a sharp knife to the male penis and cutting away the excess foreskin surrounding the head. It is bloody and it is painful. However, in addition to the physical and hygienic function it serves, there is also spiritual symbology associated with it.

In yesterday’s devotional we read in Ephesians 5:15 where the Apostle Paul instructed us to “Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time …” Then he went on to teach us what it means to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. In that passage he was telling us that there should be something different and special about how we as the followers of Jesus live our lives. That brings us to the spiritual significance of the symbol of circumcision.

In Genesis chapter 17 God directed Abraham to circumcise all the males in his household as a physical sign of the spiritual covenant He was making with them. It was a symbolic gesture which marked them as belonging to God. Later, in the time of the Exodus, God reconfirmed circumcision as a marker to identify His people. However in Romans 2:25-29, and again in Colossians 2:11, the Apostle Paul explained that true circumcision is circumcision of the heart, not of the flesh. It involves cutting out of our lives anything that does not honor or please God. Physical circumcision is actually unnecessary for New Testament Christians. It is circumcision of the heart that marks us as the people of God.

What does this have to do with our theme for this month of salvation? Just that circumcision of the heart is an important part of the second stage of the salvation process which is known as sanctification. Now that we have been saved (the first stage), we are in the process of being transformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus (the second stage). This will involve spiritual circumcision – cutting out of our lives anything that does not honor and please God.

If you happen to have one of those male appendages, it does not need to be circumcised. But your heart does. So please don’t run out and get physically circumcised – unless you really want to. As a matter of faith it isn’t necessary. But please do circumcise your heart. Cut out of your life anything that does not honor and please God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “… but be filled by the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18b (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Continue being filled with the Spirit.”

Yesterday I made the point that it is crucial for us to maintain a close relationship with Jesus. We considered Jesus’ illustration of the grape vine and the branches from John 15:5 and we thought about some of the attributes of Jesus that should become increasingly evident in the life of the Christian as you grow and mature spiritually. In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul referred to that as “The Fruit of the Spirit”.

In today’s Bible verse (Ephesians 5:18b) Paul continues that theme by referring to something known as “being filled with the Spirit”. The fuller passage in which this partial verse appears teaches about consistency in the Christian life. Paul starts the passage out with the command, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time …” It is within that context that the phrase “but be filled with the Spirit” appears.

In New Testament Greek the term “be filled” is in the present tense. It indicates an ongoing action. It clues us into the fact that although the Holy Spirit came to live in your heart in the moment of conversion, there is something more that is supposed to be going on in your life with respect to the presence and work of the Spirit. In the Amplified Bible the translators help us to understand that a fuller and more accurate translation reads, “… but be filled with the Holy Spirit and constantly guided by Him.”

At the moment you placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins you were “filled” with the Spirit – in that He came to live in your heart 24/7 and forever. But the idea that you are to “continue” being filled with the Spirit on an ongoing basis means that you are to practice the necessary spiritual disciplines every day so that you remain in-tune with His work in your life, and you are fully submitted to His will. “Continuing” to be filled means that you cultivate your relationship with the Holy Spirit so you are sensitive to His presence, you seek His guidance, and then you follow it.

The ongoing daily function of being filled with the Spirit is a moment-by-moment walk of obedience with the Father through the ministry of the Spirit, and it is an important part of this process that is progressively making you more and more like Jesus.

I encourage you to seek to be filled with the Spirit again today. Renew and nurture your relationship with Him.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” John 15:5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It is crucial to maintain a healthy relationship with Jesus.”

Are you familiar with the term “life verse”? A “life verse” is a Bible verse that speaks to you personally in a deep way, and which plays an important role in helping you to live the Christian life. There are 31,102 verses in the Bible (23,145 in the Old Testament and 7,957 in the New Testament). And as Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, they are all given to us by God and they are all important and helpful.

A “life verse” is one that is particularly special and helpful to you personally. I have six life verses (John 15:5, Galatians 5:22-23, Jeremiah 29:11-13, Joshua 14:11, Hebrews 6:10, and Isaiah 46:4). Over the next few days, as we continue to consider the process of sanctification, I will refer to a few of them and tell you why they are so special to me.

In John 15:5 Jesus used a grape vine and the branches that grow off of it to help us understand the spiritual reality of Him living His life in us and through us. The grape vine lives its life and produces its fruit through the branches that grow off of it. The life of the vine flows through the branches, and the branches then produce the fruit of the vine. As long as the branch stays attached to the vine it will produce the fruit of the vine. But if the connection between the vine and the branch is broken, the fruit will no longer be produced through the branch.

Likewise, by means of the Holy Spirit living in our hearts the life of Jesus flows in and through us. The fruit of Jesus is then produced in our lives. Some of that fruit is described for us by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. He called it “the fruit of the Spirit”: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Those are attributes of Jesus and He wants them to be present in your life. He wants you to experience and enjoy those things in increasing measure, and He wants the world to experience those fruits as a result being in contact with you. His fruit produced through your life.

As you maintain a close relationship with Jesus day-by-day, the fruit of the Spirit becomes more and more a reality in your life. That is a natural result of the ongoing process of sanctification, and it is progressively making you more and more like Jesus. This is part of your salvation and it is why it is crucial to maintain a healthy relationship with Jesus. We will explore this idea a little further tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Christ lives in you and through you.”

The language Paul uses in Galatians 2:20 is more than just symbolic, it is literally true. It is also profoundly important. When he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ”, it is literally true. On the cross Jesus was crucified for your sins and mine. It was your sin being nailed to that cross. In that sense, it was you being crucified. Likewise when he writes, “and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me …” that is also literally true. By His Spirit in your heart, Christ lives in you (1 Corinthians 6:19).

The name “Christian” means “like Christ”. When you take the name of Christian for yourself you are claiming to be like Christ. However, becoming more and more like Christ is a transformation that occurs over time. At the time of our conversion we received the “life” of Jesus in us, but the “likeness” wasn’t there yet.

Instead, at that time, sin was still very much present in our lives. The sins were forgiven, but the residual effects were still there, as were the habits caused by sin. At that time sin still had power over you – strong power. In most cases breaking free from the bonds of those sinful habits occurs progressively over time as we train ourselves to behave differently.

The second stage of the salvation process (sanctification) is the time during which we move further and further away from who we were, and closer and closer to who God wants us to be (like Christ). This requires daily surrender to Jesus. It is an intentional decision on your part to submit to Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in you. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” It’s all about faith in Jesus and continuous surrender to Him as you subordinate your will for His, and allow Him to live His life through you.

Tomorrow we will consider what this surrender looks like in actual practice, and what the benefits are in this lifetime.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The Holy Spirit is the down payment of what is to come.”

In his great little book, “The Doctrine of Salvation”, Dr. Darrell Robinson explains, “Salvation encompasses the total life of the believer – past, present, and future. It may be viewed as three stages: as an instantaneous act, a continuing process, and a glorious consummation. The believer can say, “I have been saved” (see Romans 10:9-10), “I am being saved”, (see 1 Corinthians 1:18), and “I will be saved” (see Romans 13:11).

In Ephesians 1:14 the Apostle Paul writes that the Holy Spirit was given to us as a down payment of our inheritance. A down payment is a first payment that is made to initiate a transaction, and it comes with the promise that more payments will be made, and will continue to be made, until the full transaction has been completed.

We’ve already learned that in the first stage of the salvation process (Forgiveness), you were given the Holy Spirit as a gift from God. When Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the down payment of what we will inherit from our heavenly Father as a result of being His adopted children, he means that the gift of the Spirit was just the first step as you now begin to receive your full inheritance as a child of God. From that point forward there will continue to be installments paid out to you as you continue to receive more and more of your inheritance. Those installments come to you mostly during the second phase of the salvation process, the phase we call sanctification. The final installment will be given to you once you arrive in heaven. Then you will have received your full inheritance.

The sad part is that some people are not allowing God to give them their full inheritance. They did receive the down payment of the Spirit, but since then they have not been open to receiving more from God. They have essentially closed the account and are not allowing Him to make additional deposits into their life.

An important part of the sanctification process is to continue to place yourself in a position before God everyday whereby He can deposit into your life all He wants you to have. This is accomplished by practicing the basic disciplines of the Christian life which include prayer, Bible study, worship, fellowship with other Christians, acts of service in the name of Jesus, etc.

The gift of the Spirit was only the down payment. There is much more you are entitled to as a child of God, and which your heavenly Father wants to give you. Are you receiving your full inheritance?

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: