Die with Me

Die with Me

Have you died yet?  What am I talking about “died yet”?  If you’re reading this how can you possibly be dead?  Well…..I don’t mean physical death nor “near death” experiences.  I’m talking about spiritual death with Jesus Christ.  If you’ve been saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, then you have died.  Sounds kind of funny when I say that right?  Consider the following:

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3 KJV)

“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:” (II Timothy 2:11 KJV)

Our death in Christ is a death to the old self or the sinful life.  When Jesus died on the cross on Calvary, he represented us.  In fact, Jesus so completely represented us on the cross that when he died, it is said that we died.

The true essence of being a Christian is taking up our crosses daily and following Jesus.  When we are baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost, we are born again.  This is also known as salvation.  If we are to keep our personal salvation, we are to continue dying to self as part of the lifelong sanctification process.

Jesus made it clear that if we are to follow him, then we must deny ourselves, which means giving up our sinful lives.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 KJV)

“And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27 KJV)

The act of baptism represents dying to the old self and being reborn into a new life in Christ.  Being fully immersed in water symbolizes death and burial in Jesus.  Coming out of water symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus.

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 KJV)

Degree of Acquaintance

Degree of Acquaintance

Disclaimer: This was not my original idea.  I saw it in one of the church programs and wanted to make my own version of it.  But here’s the original:

B.A. – Born Again

B.S. – Baptized Sanctified

M.A. – Master Approved

D.D. – Divine Deliverance

L.LB. – Living Life Bountifully

L.L.D. – Loyal, Loving Dedicated

P.H.D. – Pursing Heavenly Direction

Here’s my version:

Associate’s Degree

A.S. (Associating Sinners)

- This degree means that we are sinners and are not baptized nor filled with the Holy Ghost.  It basically means than we are sinners who are not part of the body of Christ yet.  We are sitting in church waiting for God to put the desire in our hearts to be saved.

Bachelor’s Degree

B.S. (Becomes Saved)

- This basically means that we are baptized and have the Holy Ghost.

Master’s Degree

M.S. (Master Saint)

- At this point, we have gained enough knowledge to teach someone how to be saved and live right.  But we will always keep learning.

Doctorate Degree

P.H.D (Pursuing Heavenly Desires)

- We are now at the point where we get our title such as a bishop, deacon, Sunday school teacher, usher, choir director, etc.  And remember……WE WILL NEVER, EVER STOP LEARNING NOR LIVING HOLY!

Badge of Honor

Badge of Honor

Have you ever wondered why you go through hard times in your life?  Have you ever wondered why you go through bad situations?  Have you ever just wondered “why me?”  “Why do I have to go through this?”  “I haven’t done anything wrong!”  Or “I deserve this?”  It’s absolutely normal to think that way and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

But have you ever asked yourself the opposite question such as “why not me?”  I know!  You would never ask yourself that question right?  Of course not!  Who would just volunteer to endure hardships? 

But hold that thought!  Have you ever said, “I’ve experienced that before” or “been there, done that”?  Sound familiar?  Think about this.  You may not have done anything wrong or deserve it but there’s a reason why you go through certain things.  God has a plan for your life and already has your life planned out.

Everything we go through (good and bad), God has us go through it for a reason.  It is not to make us feel bad but to actually make us stronger and more mature people so that we can help someone else who is about to face the same situation.  A person will say, “I’ve been through a lot but God took me through it.”  And there’s even a scripture that relates to this as well.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”  (Romans 8:28 KJV)

There are at least 2 key things we need to understand about Romans 8:28 in order to use it properly.  One, this verse is referring to believers.  It is not something to be thrown at nonbelievers because they are likely to get a twisted view of God or a very, negative image of Christian faith.

The second key element is not to focus on one, particular event but the sum of all events.  There is a huge difference between saying “each thing by itself is good” and “all things work together for good”.  The verse doesn’t say “it is good” if you break your leg, get in a car wreck, lose a friend through death, house burns down or you get robbed.

But it does say that God uses those events and connects them together with every aspect of our lives in order to produce the very, best of us.

All things are not good.  It would be foolish to say that they are.  But the Bible says;

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)

Think about when we cook or bake a cake.  In order to bake a cake, we need a handful of ingredients and an oven at a certain temperature.  We need;

Eggs

Milk

Cake mix

Oven at 350© for (let’s say 30 minutes)

This is a perfect example!  In order to make the perfect cake, we need ALL of those ingredients.  If one item is missing, then that messes up the whole process.  Now imagine the oven being at the wrong temperature.  What will happen?  If it is too high, the cake will burn.  If it is too low, it will come out mushy, gooey and runny.  Or in other words……UNDERCOOKED!

And then lastly, the time limit.  The cake has to be in the oven for a certain amount of time otherwise it will not turn out right.

So to wrap things up, going through good and bad times all work together for the good of making us better people.  Let me tie that in with the cake.  Let’s say the cake mix and milk represent the good times and eggs and the oven are the bad times.

We can be enjoying life with our milk and cake mix and then all of sudden, eggs come into our lives.  The eggs could be a minor problem.  Not too bad.  But then something major happens that causes a world of trouble.  So now we are going to have to go through the heat and stay in it for a certain amount of time until God brings us out.

You see? We can help someone else go through what we have experienced.  We can be their advisor or mentor.  That will be our badge of honor because we have gained wisdom from our own, personal experiences.  If we want that badge of honor, we are going to have to earn it!

Aliens

Aliens

Do you ever feel like no matter how many “friends” you have, you always feel weird or out of place?  Do you ever get the feeling that you do not belong around a certain group of people even though they are your “friends”?  Do you ever feel lonely even though you are surrounded by “friends”?

If you are saved, do you ever notice that you have lost friends or all of a sudden people seem to act differently around you?  Do you ever feel like an ALIEN?  Strange right?  An alien?  You are not an alien!  You are not from another planet or another galaxy!  You are not a Martian from Planet Mars!

You may not be an alien from another planet or galaxy that flies around in a UFO, but you are an alien.  What do I mean by that? According to the following  scripture, God’s people should feel out of place like strangers or aliens like they don’t belong.

“I am a stranger of Earth” (Psalms 119:19a KJV)

Peter describes Christians as “aliens” and “strangers” in the world.  Peter reminds us that God’s elect are strangers in the world, who have been chosen (I Peter 1:1, 2 KJV).  Now being God’s chosen does not make us immune to life’s difficulties, but it is our security in life’s storms.

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” (I Peter 2:9 KJV)

“because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (I Peter 1:16 KJV)

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2 KJV)

Since we belong to God, we should live for him.

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which was against the soul;” (I Peter 2: 11 KJV)

We should learn to stay away from the sinful desires that war against our souls. God tells us to “abstain from sinful desires.”  He does not want us to lose the battle for our souls.

Beloved by God, we are aliens and strangers on this Earth, which is for now under the dominion of the evil one.  So, we are not just strangers but we are on enemy turf.  Our identity is not based on this world’s standard but from our relationship with God and His people.

The reason why children of God are out of sync with this world is because they are special objects of God’s redeeming love in Christ.  This has reference to someone who is a temporary resident or a traveler in a foreign country passing through on his way to his home country.

And speaking of travelers; a traveler does not live according to the customs and standards of the foreign country.  For the purpose of not offending the locals; he will temporarily adopt some of their customs.  As citizens of Heaven, we can adopt some of the ways of Earth in order not to offend the natives.  But we live according to different standards.

As followers of Jesus, we do not really belong here nor do we fit in.  If we have the Holy Ghost living within us, He’s there to change us.  When Jesus saves us, He is not done with us.

 ^“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6 KJV)

When Jesus saves us, that is not the end.  We are a work a in progress.  The moment we repent of our sins and receive God’s salvation, the Holy Ghost comes to live in our hearts.  The Holy Ghost comes to take up residence in our hearts.  He lives inside us and will let us know when we get out of line.  He convicts us of sin and works on us from the inside out to make us more like Jesus.  God’s purpose for our lives:

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29 KJV)

If we are obedient to the Holy Ghost, we are more like Jesus today than we were yesterday.  The way we become more like Jesus is that we can see personality traits of Jesus in you such as; love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.