Hello to all of you in Russia! I miss you all so much! So our topic for today is, “Being a Christian is dangerous. Do I have to tell others I am one?”
First of all, I want acknowledge the fact that, yes, being a Christian is dangerous. Even Jesus said so. In Matthew 10, Jesus was sending out His disciples to preach the Gospel, and in verse 16 He told them this:
“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.”
He also said, “All nations will hate you because you are My followers.” (Verse 22)
Secondly, If you are a Christian, you will always have this choice: Live for God or live for this world. If you live for God, the world will hate you. If you live for the world, your life will be full of regrets, guilt, and conflict from inside your heart and also from outside.
But Jesus said something very important. He said, “If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”
There is a reward for those who are willing to tell people they are a Christian. There is a reward for those who tell others about Jesus. Do you know what that reward is? Jesus said He will honor you in front of God!
Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)
In the dictionary, deny means “to refuse to acknowledge.” It means that if you don’t talk about Jesus while you are alive here on this earth, then Jesus won’t talk about you when you get to heaven. You will enter heavens gates and there will be silence. No cheers, no excitement. Why? Because you were too ashamed to talk about Him here on this earth.
My dear friends, Jesus loves you so much! He loved you long before you were even born. He was God in the flesh who took your punishment for sin. He is the one who rose from the dead, proving that sin and death has no power over Him. He did all this for you. And now, He’s asking you to be willing to tell others that He has saved you! My prayer is that the love Jesus has for you would give you the courage to speak up for Him. He is a hero that we should be talking about! I love you all… God bless you.
Greetings from America! Hello everyone. It's hard to believe that it has already been two months since APJ summer school. We miss you all and talk about you an awful lot. I'm really excited about this blog because we want to continue building a relationship with each of you and answer questions you might have concerning Christianity and your faith.
The question I would like to talk about today is, "Is there more to spending time with God than just reading my Bible?"
First off, if you don't have a bible I would encourage you to use an online source called www.biblestudytools.com. Reading the Bible and studying about God is a great start to building your faith but IS there more to spending time with God? I guess before I answer this question I have a question for you.
If you and I wanted to get to know each other and we wrote letters back and forth but we never spent time with each other in person, how deep would our relationship go?
Our relationship would only go so far because you really can't get to know someone just by reading about them can you? I mean, you can know about them and memorize a lot of facts about that person but knowing them personally is much different.
But how do you get to know God personally? I mean, you can't physically see Him or touch Him so how does that work? Spending time with God may look like this:
1. Spending time with God involves a CONVERSATION with Him
Next week we will talk about how you can hear the voice of God and I know you've already hear from Jesse on what it means to pray. Praying/talking with God is a conversation that is really no different than talking with a friend or a family member. In Matthew 6:6 Jesus encouraged His disciples to go off and be alone when they pray. Tell Jesus about your struggles, the things that discourage you and what is going on in your life. He wants to know!
2. Spending time with God involves enjoying CREATION with Him
Yesterday I went out in my kayak and spent an hour exploring the lake behind my house. The sky was a piercing shade of blue. I saw exotic Florida birds, ducks, palm trees, cypress trees covered in moss, etc. I looked for alligators and water snakes but I didn't see any! As I sat back and soaked in the experience I couldn't help but remember the God who created this. In Psalm 19:1 it says "The Heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship."
Can you imagine taking a train ride to St Petersburg, showing up at the Hermitage Museum, and getting a private tour from the very artists who created the objects and paintings displayed there? God wants to give you a private tour through the nature He has created.
Why don't you try these two things this week and then comment about your experience on this blog. We'd love to hear from you! I'm praying for each of you, that your faith will remain strong and that you will change this world in a powerful way!
Hey everyone! Its Elisha again. I hope you all had a wonderful summer. You are probably thinking about starting school or you might have already started school.
Today, I want to talk to you about how to study this book. How do you study the Bible? At first glance, the Bible is really big! If you do not know where to start, it can seem a little bit overwhelming. So that is what I want to talk to you about: how do you study the Bible. I encourage you, before you even start reading the Bible, ask the Lord to help you, through His Holy Spirit, to understand His truth.
In Psalm 119:18, the psalmist prayed. He said, to God, “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your Law.”
Ask God to open your eyes and your understanding so that you can behold the wonderful things in this Book.
Another verse, Jeremiah 19:13 God says to His people, “You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
He wants you to find Him. He wants you to search for Him with all your heart.
So where do you start? Like we already said, it is a big book! Every book in the Bible is a good book, so I do not think there is a wrong place to start. One good book is the book of John . It is one of the shorter gospels and it records Jesus’s life while He was here on earth. It records His words, His sermons and some of His miracles. It is a great place to read about your Savior- what He did while He was here and about what He has done for you.
Another good book is the book of Ephesians. It is a shorter letter that the apostle Paul wrote to one of the early churches. It reminds us of who we are in Christ and, as children of God, how we should live our life.
As God speaks to you and shows you things from His Word, I encourage you to write them down and put them on your mirror or maybe on your notebook and meditate on them day and night. Memorize those truths. Hide them in your heart. They are God’s little love letters to you. In fact the whole Bible is God’s love letter to you.
So now I have a question for you. Why do you think we should study the Bible? Why should we bother?
Jesus said while He was here on earth, in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Eternal life? Yes, it means going to heaven when you die, but even more than that, it is getting to know the Lord every single day. That is eternal life, and it is an awesome journey. How do we know God? How do we get to know Him? We get to know Him through His Word.
Imagine that there was a man who was in love with a woman. One day he asked her to marry him. The whole time they were engaged, that girl went to the library and got books on how to cook, how to be a good wife, and how to raise godly children. She was always reading! Every time that man asked to spend time with her, she would say that she was too busy.
Then the wedding day came and they got married. All of a sudden that girl realized that she did not even know the man she was marrying!
It is a silly example, but often we do that with God. We read good books about God, we go to church and sing songs, but we never actually get to know the King of kings and Lord of lords. We can do that by being still and letting Him speak to us through His Word.
Pick a book. Read a chapter a day, or as much time as you can, and get into His Word. Ask God to show you His truth. He wants to spend time with you. Get to know your Savior by reading His words to you. He loves you so much and He wants to spend time with you. So I pray that you will spend time with Him.
Hey everyone! Meaghan here from America. I miss you all a lot; I can’t believe it’s been almost two months since we saw you all in Russia.
This video will be pretty short but it’s going to be answering the question, “How is the Bible different than other holy books?” or “How do we know the Bible is the truth?”
Now I like being organized in speaking so I’m going to give you all three main reasons why the Bible is more accurate than other holy books. The first is that it’s inspired by God, second, that prophecies have been fulfilled, and third, that the Bible is historically and archaeologically accurate.
So first let’s talk about divine inspiration. We believe that God superintended over the writers while they were writing the Bible; that it was His ideas that He put in their mind and that He wrote the Bible through them. I think it was Dr. Paul Enns, who’s a theologian, that said that the idea of divine inspiration is that God wrote the Bible and did it by superintending over the writers by the Holy Spirit while they wrote in their own manner and style. So while, yes, it was written by people, God was writing it through them.
2 Timothy 3: 16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training righteousness; so that the man of God might be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
Divine inspiration is the first reason we can believe the Bible is the truth. God Himself wrote the Bible and He is perfect therefore what He writes must be perfect!
Now secondly, the prophecies of the Bible. The first prophecy I’d like to talk about is where God promised Abraham in Genesis 12:7 that Israel would have the land that Abraham was in and that it would be blessed. What’s interesting about Israel is that twice we've seen Israel come back together as a nation, the most recent being in the 1940’s I believe when it was declared a nation. This has never happened where a nation of people were scattered and then brought back together. The Bible specifically prophesied that it would happen though.
Secondly, of course, Jesus. Jesus fulfilled over 270 prophecies about who He would be, where He would be born, who He would be born to. The Bible must be accurate because it recorded those prophecies and then Jesus fulfilled them all.
Lastly, I just wanted to talk about the archaeological consistency of the Bible. The Bible is very consistent with archaeological findings. Dr. Nelson Gluek said that, “No archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible.”
Another quote from a professor of systematic theology is “There exists no document from the ancient world witnessed by so excellent a set of textual and historical testimonies.”
So those are some quotes from some professors. I really enjoy reading renowned professors because I think it really helps back up what I’m saying but the main point is that the Bible is very archaeologically consistent. We’ve found the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Red Sea we found actual chariot wheels from the Egyptians. You all may remember the story of when God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to get out of Egypt while they were following Moses and how the Egyptians tried to follow them but were drowned. We actually found chariot wheels from that historical event. There are many different findings and you should look them up!
Most importantly though, the Bible is truth. First because it’s inspired by God, second, it’s fulfilled prophecies unlike any other religion [other religions don’t have any kind of real life application or miracles like the Bible does!], and lastly, there’s not as much archaeological evidence for other holy books, not nearly as much; the Bible’s never been contradicted by a historical finding.
So I’m praying for you guys! Hope you’re doing great and enjoyed the post!
Hey good morning – its Mr. Sputo - well at least it is morning here. I hope that you have had a great summer. I am so glad to see that you are trying to live by faith and follow Jesus.
Jesus wants you to honor your parents. So today I want to talk about how do you have your own faith while honoring your parents?
For some of you, your faith is not the same as your parents and your family. For this reason, it is VERY important how you live.
The reason why I said this so carefully is because People will judge us more by our actions than our words.
So in the same way, your parents and your family are more likely to respect your faith by how you live rather than by what you say.
That’s why it is very important that you obey Jesus' commands to love and honor your parents.
Jesus wants you to be the best child in your family – so that when your parents see your great love and honor they will know that this goodness comes from the one true God.
The LORD wants you to obey your parents in everything – well almost everything
– THE ONLY TIME you should not obey your parents is if your parents tell you to do something that breaks God’s law.
For example – now I am not saying this would happen – but suppose your parents tell you to kill someone or to tell a lie or to steal something.
We know from the bible that the LORD does NOT want you to kill, lie or steal.
These things are evil and we should not do them – even if it means that your parents might get angry at you for not doing them – but deep down in their hearts they will respect you because they know that these things are wrong and that you did the right thing.
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The same is true of your families’ traditions.
Some of the traditons that you grew up with might break God’s laws.
If you are not sure if they do – ask us here at APJ and we’ll help you to understand what the bible says about it.
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Even when your parents see that you are their best child, there is a chance that they will reject you.
If this happens, it will be very difficult for you, but you must remember, that they are NOT rejecting you. They are really rejecting Jesus who is in you!
This is nothing new. People have been rejecting Jesus since the beginning in of time. That is why they crucified Him!
But you must pray for strength and courage to continue to love and honor your parents.Because you love and want to honor your parents, one of the most important things that you must do is to pray for your parents – pray every day that the LORD would open your families’ eyes to see and believe in Jesus.
And remember that Jesus said that He will never leave you nor forsake you.
We want to talk about assurance of Salvation! How can one actually know that they are born again? It talks in the Bible that we can know we are saved.
John 5:24
"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes on him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."
If you are a believer and have accepted Jesus as your Savior, the devil wants you to have doubts. It's not uncommon for us to have doubts as Christians but there should be no reason to have them if we read the Bible and see what God says about it. He said we can know...
1 John 5:13
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."
So when you become a Christian and are born again, God gives us the Holy Spirit and that's how we can know we are born again.
Rom 8:1
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
The Holy Spirit will help us and that is what we need - to rely on him to help us get through our Christian life.
John 10:28
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."
Once we are saved, no one can snatch us out of Gods hand. We are sealed and secured in God! If you're having doubts or fears about your salvation, remember these verses. We can know because we have the Holy Spirit.
Rom 10:13
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Salvation is a gift from God. He will not take it away from us if it's genuinely in our heart.
If you have fears and doubts about whether you are a Christian, or that you don't feel good enough, maybe you don't think God can forgive a sin you have committed! Always remember God will forgive you, its not a good enough reason to go and sin just because God will forgive us though...
If you are having doubts or fears, talk to God about it. Read the Bible too and see that God has offered us everlasting life which is forever and it cannot be taken away.
I hope this is an encouragement to you, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to ask us. We will do our best to answer them from the Bible.
Hi Guys, it’s Shanna from Florida, and I’m really excited to be talking to you guys today! I'm going to be sharing with you all about lies versus truth and first of all I want to read to you from my Bible a passage that is awesome about this and its in John chapter 8 verses 31 through 32. "And then said Jesus to those jews that believed on Him, if you continue in my word then you are my disciples indeed, And you will know the truth and the truth will make you FREE."
God was talking to his disciples, the ones who had believed on him already, and was telling them how they could walk in freedom and live a victorious life. Later on He refers to Himself as the truth in John chapter 14 He said I am the way the TRUTH and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me. So Jesus Himself is truth and His word is Truth. Later on in this same chapter, John chapter 8 verse 44, He talks about Satan, our Enemy, and says He was a murderer from the beginning and did not live in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own for he is a liar and the father of it.
Satan himself is a liar and is going to constantly try to attack Christ’s followers with lies. There is no question about it, he is going to try to attack you with lies and probably already has attacked you with lies. A lot of these lies can start when you are very very young and maybe they seem to be true to you. I know in my life I have believed lies because of things people have said to me, because of thoughts I have had because of what has happened in my life and one of the lies I used to struggle with was thinking that I had to work really hard to earn Gods love and acceptance and that God would love me more if I did more good things. I used to believe that and I didn’t realize until I searched scripture about this that I was believing a lie, because I just thought that all my life. I was like ‘Oh God looks at everybody and He sees this person that did a lot of good things as way up here and He’s going to love them a lot more than this person who didn’t do very many ‘good’ things down here’ And whenever I did something bad I thought ‘He doesn’t want to look at me, he doesn’t love me any more’ But God says NOTHING can separate us from his love in Romans 8. Death can’t, life can’t, the angels can’t the demons can’t NOTHING in all creation can separate us from the love of God. And that lie was broken when I realized the truth, see the TRUTH is what set me free!
I wanted to show you guys something, see right now I am at my home in Brooksville Florida and if you look out the window you can see what’s going on outside, or I hope you can see! It’s raining very very hard, and, well not very hard I guess just raining. And if I went out there right now, just decided to walk outside, and I might do that, no I guess I won’t do that, so what If I went outside right now and walked out there? What would happen? Well, I would get wet, soaking wet, and because I have mascara on it would probably run all down my face, but I would DEFINITELY get wet, because it’s raining. What would I have to do to not get wet? I would probably have to like carry an umbrella or something like that. Well see every day we are going out into the world, and Satan is there. The Bible says he is lurking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He has many demons serving him and they want to bring us down as believers they don’t want more people to come into Christ’s kingdom. Satan doesn’t want more to people to come into Christ’s kingdom and if he can get Christians to start believing in lies then we will get very discouraged and down and start believing things that aren’t true about ourselves or about God and we need protection from the lies of the enemy. In Ephesians chapter 6 it says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty unto the pulling down of strongholds. Satan is going to try to build strongholds in our lives through lies, but we have weapons! If I put up an umbrella, I can go outside and not get wet, and God lists there some of our weapons and the first one that he lists is TRUTH and we need to be girt about with truth. Truth is the word of God. So our covering, our umbrella can be God’s word. We need to fill our minds with it. We need to be constantly listening to things that are telling the truth to us, not lies. So first of all some steps I would like to recommend to be able to fight lies and fill are hearts with truth is to go to God and ask Him to reveal to you if there are any lies you’ve been believing ever since you were young, or even lies that maybe started recently. There’s even a list of lies in the APJ workbook if you still have it, you can look it up and see if you have believed any of those, and once you have identified them, ask God to show you what the exact opposite truth is. Once you’ve found it in scripture, in the Bible, put that in your mind and in your heart. Memorize it. Maybe even write the verses down and put them around your house, in your mirror where you get ready for the day or in your car, just have that truth in front of you. And as you meditate on the truth, make sure you aren’t filling your mind all day with lies. Satan also likes to lie to us through things that are out in the world, like going out in the rain. He’ll lie to us through tv, through music, through movies and friends. And that doesn’t mean you have to take all of that out of your life, but ask God to evaluate the things you are listening to and make sure that truth is what is going in more than lies.
So that is what I would like to share with you guys about lies versus truth and I guess will talk to you guys later, and I miss you very much but thank you for letting me share.
Q. Can Satan read my mind? What is spiritual warfare? How do I resist Satan?
A. Great questions!
Satan can’t read your mind. “Satan is a created being, originally a powerful angel (see Ezekiel 28:13,14). Though he aspired to be like God (see Isaiah 14:13,14), he is not God's equal in any way. Only God has the ability to be everywhere — all present, all-knowing and all-powerful. Therefore, only God has complete and continual knowledge of our minds' activities (see Psalm 139).”
However, Satan can put thoughts into your head! Bad thoughts, etc. Just like Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew 4.
Spiritual warfare is real! Ephesians 6:4 says: “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Satan and his demons roam the world trying to influence people and thwart them from obeying Christ.
However, you can say “NO!” and resist Satan with Christ’s power! To resist means to push away. To not obey. To say no to Satan’s temptations to do bad and sinful things! If you are a child of Jesus, you now have the capability to war against Satan and his tricks, because you have Jesus on your side! The Bible says in James 4:7 to “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The key here is to SUBMIT to God! Humble yourself before Him. Make sure there are no areas in your life where you are telling Him “No,” or aren’t being obedient. Then, when you resist the devil, he will flee!
I miss you so much! I left a part of my heart in Russia with you. You guys are all so special to me but I just wanted to come and talk to you today…. I’ve been asked to share on the topic what is the love of God and how am I accepted by Him? Let’s first talk about the beginning part of the question; “WHAT IS THE LOVE OF GOD?”
When I think of God’s love, I think of unconditional love. I compare this to the love that a parent has for a child. A parent loves a child unconditionally, not based on that child’s performance, but as a commitment and a love that is given by God for that child. That is the way God loves us. God does not love us based on our performance. He loves us unconditionally. It pleases God when we are good, but He loves us whether we are good or whether we are bad. Remember my daughter, Elisha? I love her as a commitment. That is the way God loves us; as a commitment.
The Bible tells us in Romans 5:8, 'But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'
Another thing that I think of when I think of God’s love, is eternal love. God loves us eternally. The Bible tells us that God would never leave us nor forsake us. He will always be there for us. There is nothing we could do to stop God from loving us. Romans 8:38 & 39 tells us of that. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
So, let’s talk about the 2nd part of my question: HOW AM I ACCEPTED BY HIM? When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you became a child of God. You made the faith choice to believe that Jesus died for your sins and became your Savior. And when you made that decision, you became a child of God. We are all of one body. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Now I may not be your brother, or your sister, or your mother; but in Christ, we are all brothers and sisters.
John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
God does love you. He loves you unconditionally; He loves you eternally; and He has a GREAT plan for you. Jeremiah 29:11 is a wonderful verse to tell us how much God loves us. It says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
And of course, one of the most important verses is John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
So I hope this has been an encouragement to you. I hope it draws you closer to Christ. And I hope that I get to see you again soon. I know that I will see you again in Heaven, but I would like to see you again here on earth. God bless you.
Hi Everyone! It’s Elisha here, all the way on the other side of the world in America.
I just want you all to know that I miss you all so much and I am praying for you.
Today I want to talk to you about grace. What is grace? What is God’s grace? I’m going to start with a verse:
Ephesians 2:8-9, “ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
By definition, grace means undeserved favor- its favor that we really do not deserve. There is a cartoon here in America called Dennis the Menace. It is a comic. It is about two boys, Dennis and his friend Joey. They go to their older friend, Mrs. Wilson's, house and they come home with a whole armful of cookies. Joey says, “Wow, what did we do to deserve all of these cookies?”
Dennis says, “Mrs. Wilson did not give us cookies because we are nice, but she gave us cookies because she is nice!”
That is exactly what grace is- it is getting things that we do not deserve.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Bible has a whole bunch of things that we cannot do, like, lying, stealing, getting angry, and coveting (wanting something that your friend has). Those things are called sin. We cannot go to heaven as a sinner. In fact, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. That means that the payment- the consequence- of sin is eternal death in hell. That is what we deserved.
But, God loved us so much. He said, “I know that you deserve that, but what I am going to do instead is this: I am going to give you favor and I am going to send my Son, Jesus, to die FOR you. So that if you just believe in Him, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (because He died, but three days later, God raised Him from the dead) you will be saved.
That is grace. We deserved hell, but now we can go to heaven IF we believe.
Maybe, you are already a Christian. That is awesome! Grace still applies to you. Because, when Jesus was on the cross, He took our sin on the cross, but then, He gave us His righteousness. He gave us His holiness, His goodness, His blamelessness. We are now holy and righteous. That is grace!
We were sinners. But now we are holy.
We were Satan’s possession. But now we are God’s child.
We were guilty, but now we are forgiven.
It is completely undeserved, but God gives it to us. The Bible says in Ephesians, that God lavished His grace on us (Ephesians 1:8). Because He loves us, He made you to be a new person through Jesus Christ. He wants you to live a whole new life.
And that is what I am praying for you. That you would live in that new life. I hope to see you all very soon. I miss you a lot...I am even wearing my Moscow t-shirt.
Romans 3:23 - All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 3:10 - ... 'there is none righteous, no not one...'
None of us are able to do ENOUGH GOOD to enter into the perfect, holy presence of God. Our righteousness are as filthy rags to Him (Isaiah 64:6). Any 'good' deed we would attempt to commit is tainted by our sin nature - we inherited this nature from Adam ('.. for by one man, sin entered the world, and death by sin..' Romans 5:12).
We are born covered by sin, slaves to sin, bound to SIN without choice.
In contrast to this truth, there is another truth. That by ANOTHER man, Jesus Christ, we are able to receive the gift of LIFE; grace by faith. (Romans 5:17) We are FREE from the condemnation of sin when we accept Christ as our Savior, who shed His blood on the cross for the penalty of OUR SIN. He died so that we might live.
Being IN CHRIST, there is no condemnation of sin. 'For the law of the spirit of LIFE has set you FREE in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death!' - Romans 8:2
On Temptation -
When we accept Christ into our hearts and become heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17), our bondage to sin is BROKEN. We are no longer Satan's slaves. We now belong to GOD. And now, being no longer an enemy of God, we become Satan's enemy.
Luke 17:1 - '..Temptations are SURE to come..'
1 Corinthians 10:12 - 'Let those who think they stand, TAKE HEED, unless they fall.'
Temptation is sure to come, even greater now that we are enemies of Satan. NO ONE is exempt from temptation. We will ALL be tempted at one time or another. We are not alone in these tempting's either! The bible tells us that the temptation we face is no different than what others have also experienced (1 Cor. 10:13). Satan will try to keep us enslaved in our own minds and tell us that we are alone, that God could never forgive us for our sins, that we are unloved, or trapped and unable to escape. SATAN IS THE FATHER OF LIES! Jesus himself was tempted by Satan, and He countered the lies of the Devil with the Truth - God's word!
1 Corinthians 10:13 - '.. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.'
Truth - GOD IS FAITHFUL!! When we feel like there is no way out, we can call upon God and His truth, knowing that there IS a way of escape that He has ALREADY provided for us!
Romans 8:31 - '..If God is for us, who can be against us??'
We are not only free from slavery to sin, but now, we have GOD on our side.
Know the word of God. Find a bible and read it, know it, study it with your whole heart. It is your tool, your WEAPON in the war Satan will be waging against you EVERY DAY. The more you know the truth, the more the lies of the devil are done away with.
You are not alone in temptation. You are no longer bound by sin. You are free from the law of sin and death. By the blood of Christ, you are no longer condemned!
Who is Jesus? What did he do for us? Why is his love for us so amazing? These are all questions we have about this God whose name is Jesus.
Who is Jesus? He’s the son of God. The Bible says in John chapter 3 verse 16: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life.'
God sent his only son Jesus to die on a cross for you and me. Why? Why would God send his son to die for you and me? The reason why is because he loved us. That’s what makes the love of God so amazing, that he would die for us.
Sin is simply anything you do that is wrong. Have you ever broken one of the Ten Commandments? That is sin. The Bible says in Romans 6:23: '..the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.'
Did you know the payment of your sin is death? Because of your sin, you must die. But, God sent us a gift. His name was Jesus. This Jesus came to die on a cross for my sin and your sin because he loves us so very much.
Did you know God loves you? Did you know that God will never leave you? Did you know God will always be with you because he loves you? But why did he do this for us? Jesus had to die so that we could live. Eternal life means a life that goes on forever. There is no end to eternal life. And Jesus died so that you could have eternal life in heaven. Jesus was beat for you. Before they placed him on the cross they led him to a pole, tied him up and beat him. Because of sin, you should have been crucified on the cross. But, Jesus Christ came and took a beating and took the pain and died on the cross so that you wouldn't have to. Why? God loves you more than anyone else will ever love you. Because of this amazing love that Christ had for you he died in your place on the cross. Love him back!
Hi Everyone!!
I’m Ruthann and we want you to know that we really miss all of you at the International School of Tomorrow! We are excited about these daily videos and we hope that you will watch them and leave us comments if you have any questions!
My topic for today is DO I HAVE TO READ THE BIBLE??
If the question is do I HAVE to read the Bible to be a Christian, then the answer is NO. We don’t HAVE to read the Bible in order to BE a Christian.
BUT if the question is SHOULD I read the Bible, then the answer is YES!
But why?
Why should we read the Bible? Let’s explore this question together:
The Bible is the WORD OF GOD. Let’s stop and think about that for a minute:
We often think of reading the Bible as something difficult or boring. Sometimes we also think “I just wish God would speak to me!” But what if we realized that God HAS spoken and DOES speak to us through His Word, the Bible.
Does that make reading it sound more interesting?
The Word of God will light your way,
It will help you make right choices,
It will heal your wounds and hurts,
It will strengthen you, protect you, and lead you.
It will make you wise.
It is the standard by which we determine right and wrong
It will show you what God is like and tell you about His promises, His commands, His love and His mercy.
The Bible also tells us the story of how from before time even began, God had a plan to rescue and save a broken world. ALL the stories in the Bible are pointing to Jesus and how HE is the answer to our brokenness and sin.
It tells the story of how Jesus came into this world, the perfect, SINLESS, Son of God and died to take the punishment you and I deserve as sinners.
It tells the story of how Jesus proved His victory over sin and death by His resurrection from the dead.
And it tells the story of how God invites you and I to be a part of His family.
Jesus said that He came to give life. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME” (John 14:6)
Jesus also said “THE WORDS THAT I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU ARE SPIRIT AND LIFE.” (John 6:63)
So we read the Bible because its words are more than just words on a page…It says in Hebrews that “the word of God is living and active”. (Hebrews 4:12)
Even as a Christian, I personally have struggled to read the Bible regularly. I’m busy, it’s hard to find the time to set aside just to pray and read my Bible, and if I’m honest, sometimes I just don’t even want to. I’m still learning and growing in this, but as I’ve been dealing with other things in my life, I have realized that what Jesus says in John 8:31-32 is true:
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
I’ve realized that I can’t know what the truth is UNLESS I open up the Bible and read it. I can’t get to know the God who wrote this book and revealed Himself to us through it, unless I open up the Bible and read it.
Which leads me to the next question…
How often should I read the Bible?
I think actually a better question is “How much do you want to KNOW GOD?”
One of the amazing things about being a Christian is that our RELATIONSHIP with God
can grow and deepen as we know Him more.
He already knows us. But we get to know Him as we spend time with Him, and especially as we make it a priority to read His Word and listen to Him speak through it.
Setting aside time to read and spend time with Jesus doesn’t just happen. It takes making it a priority, deciding that it’s important, and then doing it!
You can be creative with this! Some people make a set time in the morning, some people make it at night. Maybe riding the metro or over your lunch break is the best time for you.
The important point is that you DO make an effort and begin to include it as a habit in your life. Like I said before, there is no way to KNOW this God and what He has said unless we open up the book for ourselves and read it!
How do I START reading the Bible?
This is a great question! The Bible is obviously a big book, and sometimes it can seem overwhelming.
First, pray. Ask God to open your eyes and give you understanding to what you read. In the Psalms, King David prays and says “Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions.” (Psalm 119:18)
Then, here are a couple of ideas for how to start reading:
Proverbs is a great place to start. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. You can read one chapter a day.
The Psalms are also a good place to start. Many people find strength and comfort in the Psalms.
Also, I would highly recommend that you start with the first four books in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books tell us the accounts of Jesus’ life here on earth, his teachings, and his death, burial and resurrection.
Don’t be intimidated by not knowing where to start. Feel free to ask any of us for more ideas!
Finally, if you have or can get a Bible of your own, WONDERFUL! But, if that is not possible, I wanted to tell you about a fabulous app that you can download to your smart phone:
It’s called YouVersion and I’m including a photo of what the app looks like in the blog post. This is my favorite Bible app and the cool thing is that it not only has the entire Bible in various English versions, it also has the Bible in hundreds of different languages. So if you feel more comfortable reading the Bible in your own language, this app probably has it available!
So, that’s all for now, but if any of you have questions or comments, please do leave them in the comment section below.
Well it's great to have you along and thanks for joining in our Russia Vlog.
My name is Jesse and I'm from Australia.
I'd just like to thank you for taking the time to watch this video, today we are going to look at PRAYER.
What is prayer? Does God hear our prayer? What do we pray for?
Before we start talking or praying to God we really need to get an understanding of who He is and what He has done for us. He is the creator of heaven and earth and He is the one who has made us.
The thing I find amazing is that God is interested in having a relationship with us.
In the bible it says "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:" -Psalms 66:18
That is king David talking there. It's just like any relationship we have with people; when we do things against them and sin against them, it breaks that fellowship. It's the same with God. When we pray to him and have sin in the way it makes it difficult to have that fellowship with God. We need to be careful and be aware of that in our lives when we come to pray to God and confess that sin because it says in the bible "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9
So we know that He loves us and He wants to hear from us. Sometimes I even wonder; why do we need to pray if God already knows what's going to happen?
When we read God's word (the Bible) that is him speaking to us, and when we pray that is us talking to the Lord - we actually talk to God!
It's because of what Jesus has done, He died on the cross for our sin. He made it possible for us to approach God. It's because what Jesus has done that we can enter the holiest of all. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, -Hebrews 10:19"
It's because the atonement for our sin and what Jesus has done; it's because he died on the cross for us.
When we come to pray we need to make sure we have what we call short accounts, make sure we don't have sin in the way and also to make sure that we can have that fellowship with God to know we can talk to him about anything.
That's an amazing thing!
So when and how can we pray? We can pray everyday all the time. There are verses in the bible that talk about this... "Pray without ceasing. -1 Thessalonians 5:17"
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. -Philippians 4:6"
So we can actually talk to him about anything, any troubles we have - even if you're having a hard day. Just like you would talk to your friends or family.. But talking to God is so much more precious and special because He knows what we are thinking. He knows the thoughts and intents of our heart. So whether we are having a good day or a bad day, we can talk to God about it and know that He will hear us.
I would like to encourage you to spend time in prayer. Talk to God and read His word as well and know that we can have that fellowship with God. First of all we need to make sure we have confession of our sin.
I would also encourage you to look in your workbooks as well - there is an hour of prayer and there are different verses you can look at. It's toward the back of your workbook. It talks about the prayer closet. There are many verses in the bible that talk about praying in secret and that our Heavenly Father will reward us openly.
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." -Matthew 6:6
God wants to answer our prayers He wants to hear from us. I would encourage you to spend time in prayer with the Lord, and also read Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lords Prayer.)
It says we ought to pray according to Gods will that he would be glorified.
So when we ask God for things we shouldn't be selfish and think of ourselves, we should think about God and who He is and that He would get the glory.
Thanks for taking the time to watch this and I hope it's been an encouragement to you!
I’m a Christian. Now what? What is a new creature? How does a Christian act?
I am so excited that you decided to accept Jesus’s gift and become His child! I am rejoicing with God that you are now a part of the family of Christ! Over these last two months or so, you might have wondered, “Now that I’m a child of God, how do I live? I’ve made the decision to acknowledge that Christ is Lord of my life, now how do I live as a Christian?”
Great question. And kids, this is honestly a question that I, someone who got saved a long time ago when I was closer to your age, still have to ask myself! So, lets learn together, OK?
God wants you to get to know Him better! He wants you to spend time talking with Him in prayer and learning how He wants you to act. In addition to being the story of Jesus, the Bible is also like our “instruction manual” for life!
The Bible has so many things to say about how to behave and how not to behave. We follow these commands because we love Jesus, not because He is like a stern school teacher!
How do I get to know Jesus better?
Read the Bible each day! The Bible is His story, and has all the information that you need to learn more about who He is and how to live a holy—pure and good—life!
Spend time praying and talking with Jesus. Ask Him questions! Ask Him to help you be strong and follow Him. He wants to hear from you! He wants to talk with you!
Psalms 145:18 says “The Lord is near to everyone who calls upon Him.” Jesus cares about you and your troubles!
2. How do I say no to sin (or, bad things)? I want to be holy and good for Jesus, but how do I say no to Satan and his temptation?
In Romans 8, the Bible says:
“And because you belong to him [JESUS], the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death … God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins … [we] no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
… So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. You are not controlled by your sinful nature … you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
Because of that, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit …
Selections from Romans 8.
So, basically this means that when you weren’t a child of Jesus, you were a SLAVE to Satan (the devil) and sin (doing bad things)! You couldn’t be free from sin! But here’s the good news! Now that you are a child of Jesus, He has FREED you from the power of sin! You can say no to the evil temptations of Satan.
This doesn’t mean that it will be easy!
Matt. 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
This means that to be a follower of Christ, you have to sacrifice—it will be hard living for Jesus and as His child when your family doesn’t believe in Jesus—when your friends think you are weird because you don’t go out and do bad things with them.
In conclusion:
1. Spend time with Jesus—reading the Bible and praying and talking with Him!
2. Remember, you CAN say no to bad things because you are now a child of Jesus. Christ has made you into a NEW person! Make the choice to follow and say “yes” to Him every day!
