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Our
God
God has perfect love (love being only ONE
of the attributes of God's
character) for all people of his creation; the Jews were originally His favored people. His
primary attribute is perfect righteousness. However, on belief in His son Jesus, any
individual person is transformed into an actual child of God (John 1:1-14). Among other
attributes, He is all powerful [can be all protective], all knowing, all seeing; is the
ultimate in fullness of "Grace" [willingness to give good to us which is totally undeserved];
is worthy of our most complete trust [if we can "trust" a parent, brother, or best friend,
how much more complete and confident our trust can be in God]; possesses and dispenses
perfect love for us [If we're afraid of what God might will for our lives, we don't
understand how true and perfect God's love is; would your most loved and trusted friend,
brother, or parent, who are far from perfect, have ever willed a path of misery or hardship
for your life? NO! How much more perfect is God's knowledge of you and love for you! We must
trust his perfect love to point us in the right direction.]; he is perfectly faithful to his
Word, for us; possesses and dispenses perfect forgiveness [the God of the second, third,
fourth, etc. chance]; is the source of restoration of even the seemingly most hopeless case
[no situation ever conceived or which could ever occur, is too hopeless for God]; in his
attribute of holiness, He is "light" unto us in its purest form, "...in Him is no darkness,
none at all [free of the slightest taint of impurity and, therefore, unable to overlook even
the small sins in us]". Even so, when He begins a "good work in our lives", He keeps working
on us faithfully and persistently for ever after (I John 1:5). He is the God demanding of
justice; and though capable of wrath and vengeance, He is able to be both forgiving and
delivering from what we may deserve. And, therefore, in all of these characteristics, our
God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is totally sufficient to meet every last one of our needs. Even Satan
believes in God (James 2:19). God is there for you as the "three-in-one", the Trinity: Father, Son (Jesus),
and the Holy Spirit (see John 14). Yahweh is His proper name (among the many names used for
God).
THE VIRGIN
BIRTH
In view of the great past, present, and future sin of mankind, ALL of
these varying attributes/characteristics of God had to be satisfied in order to reconcile mankind
to God. As with the sex chromosome determining the sex of every human, Biblical information notes
that man's inheritance of the sinful nature is passed down through the male. The perfect
sin-reconciling and propitiating sacrifice, therefore, had to be God (himself) as Jesus, born of a
virgin (so that conception was "clean"...no human "male" component) and would be of an eldest son
totally devoid of any inheritance of sin and qualifying as the perfect human, free of any blemish
or taint at all (most Holy human of all)..."This is my son in whom I am well pleased." Justice
(satisfying vengeance and dispensing wrath) demanded crucifixion (the most humiliating death of
all...the sentence for the worst and the lowest totally unusable criminals of all) followed by
separation from God (during the period between the death and resurrection of Jesus). God had the
vision, knowledge, and power to effect this in order to be able to forgive, restore, and bestow
love to mankind.
He is sovereign: God is in total
control; God is totally in charge; we can't in any way hinder God's game plan for anything
great or small; he is the ultimate authority in charge. No one gets in his way. For some
reason, however, it is supremely important to God that we choose to exercise our "free will"
to do the right thing, "do good". God derives "glory" from our "right" and "good" decisions.
Mankind has been "cursed" with this free will status since Adam and Eve rejected a state of
perfect earthly existence by disobeying God [the Fall from Grace]. For each individual
person, God initiates the process and draws the person toward Himself; the person never has
the will or power to initiate and build this supernatural relationship. The person, by
his/her free will, can respond to this "drawing process" by turning to God. God already knows
that person; God wants him/her to know Him. He created and owns ALL; whatever we have is on
loan to us as stewards, by his grace. Not only is He creator, but, He is the constant
sustainer (Colossians 1:17) of the universe and all that is in it.
But, in Jesus our potential Savior (if we will
only choose to believe), God has sent The Way to transform the above general reconciliation
of mankind into a salvation-guaranteed individual life approved by God ...you can't lose!
Through the Christian life, we have been given direction [choices, opportunities]: to love;
to give of our lives, times, talent, and resources/money (tithe); to abide in The Word (the
Bible); to build up the body (support, promote, and participate and attend the church); to
regularly pray (fellowship with; ask of) to God; to witness or spread the faith to others;
and to obey God and the commandments. God doesn't NEED any of this from us. He made human
beings in such a way that the doing of these things by each of us glorifies Him and places us
into a new life of joy, satisfaction, calmness, peace and fulfillment. Even most
non-believers possess a conscience. On becoming a Christian, the Holy Spirit is placed in us;
humans can become deaf to their conscience, but Christian believers can't become entirely
deaf to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as Satan tries ever harder to pull the Christian back
toward sin, the rescue rope of the Holy Spirit is always at work tugging Christians back
toward what we learn and know is righteous. The Holy Spirit is in us as a guide, counselor,
and one to depend on. The Holy Spirit is a "right and wrong" lie detector, like a "metal
detector" (I Corinthians 2:6-16, the Holy Spirit as wisdom).
What we all say we want in life (love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control) are actually the "fruits" of
one's being "filled" (fully in touch and aware of and relating to) with the Holy Spirit
(Galatians 5:22-23).
THE PURPOSE OF
MAN IS TO GLORIFY GOD!
God wants our praise as a major component of fulfilling his general
purpose for all of creation and for our lives in order that all would GLORIFY Him. Praise is
expressed and recognized by:
1. Reciting and
appreciating and loving God's characteristics and attributes in prayer (see above).
2. In prayer: bless, glorify, praise, honor, remember and adore
God using your own words; recount stories you know of God's glorious acts throughout time and even
in your life.
3. Singing and/or playing hymns and songs of religious praise
and significance.
4. Attending services having to do with God and Christianity
(praise by presence and participation). Remember services are not primarily for us (the
congregation), they are for the praising and glorifying of God and for a time of our experiencing
His presence (He is actually there). Go to your church services a little earlier than usual. Greet
your fellow Christians...members of the Church, the body of Christ...and then settle comfortably
and quietly in your seat. Close your eyes, relax and pray to God that the Holy Spirit prepare your
heart for the message. Then, off and on as the church service evolves, picture God somewhere above
listening, watching, and being pleased with our praise and worshipping of Him.
Even though, as Christians, we know that our sins are forgiven, we
must obey the call to stop our sinning. We must set our minds and be willing to try as hard as we
can...work on it. Pray for help on decreasing your sin and increasing your love. Through reading
The Word in a meditation-like way and praying that the Holy Spirit makes us aware of past/present
sins, such awareness of past sins can be revealed to us. We then pray for forgiveness and help in
removing those sins from our lives. In our learning more and more about God and becoming more and
more abiding in a living personal relationship with God, the fear of God will help to keep us from
sinning (Exodus 20:20). "Fear" is a combined feeling of tremendous awe and respect, plus a state of
taking Him and His Word seriously (it's for real; it's no joke), plus a healthy dose of truly being
afraid of what God could do to us in retaliation were it not for Jesus standing at His right hand,
interceding in behalf of each Christian.
THE DUTY OF MAN
IS TO OBEY THE COMMANDS AND FEAR GOD
The wisest (I Kings 3:12) man ever (past, present, or future) on the
earth gave his final advice (Eccl. 12:13):..."Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the
whole duty of man." Best of all: The Bible illustrates the principle that God continually pursues
(whether we reject or not is our choice) a personal relationship with each person on earth. God is
a loving God; but, if it's good enough for even good humans to try their best and "God will
understand their shortcomings", then why did God see the need to send Jesus to die for us and our
sins...to provide The Way?
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TRUTH
posted July 1998 [5th modification 11 January
1999; 6th, 23 July 2000]
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