Ambassadors For Christ

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NASB)
An ambassador is a delegate from another government. True believers are in this world representing the kingdom of Heaven. An ambassador does not create policy; he or she only announces it and conforms to it. We announce the good news of our King and act according to His directives.
People may draw conclusions about a government based upon the character and demeanor of its ambassador. People may draw conclusions about the kingdom of Heaven based upon our representation of it.

The Gospel According To Jesus – Part 155

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny Himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Luke 9:23-26 (NASB)

Whoever Believes In Him Shall Not Perish

“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, no wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NASB)
What is it to perish? It is to lose all hope in Christ, all trust in God, all light in life, all peace in death, all joy, all bliss, all union with God. This shall never happen to you if you believe in Christ. If you believe, you shall be chastened when you do wrong, for every child of God comes under discipline. What son is there whom the Father chastens not? If you believe, you may doubt and fear as to your state, as a man on board a ship may be tossed about, but you have gotten on board a ship that never can be wrecked. He that has union with Christ has union with perfection, omnipotence, and glory. He that believes is a member of Christ. Will Christ lose His members? How would Christ be perfect if He lost even His little finger? Are Christ’s members to rot off, or to be cut off? Impossible! If you have faith in Christ, you are a partaker of Christ’s life, and you cannot perish. If men were trying to drown me, they could not drown my foot as long as I had my head above water. As long as our Head is above water up yonder in the eternal sunshine, the least limb of His body can never be destroyed. He that believes in Jesus is united to Him, and he must live because Jesus lives. Oh, what a word is this, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29 (NASB)
Charles Spurgeon

The Gospel According To Jesus – Part 154

“My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
Luke 8:21 (NASB)

Malicious Words

Redbird's Roost

“A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.” Prov. 15:4 (NASB)
“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others, than by what others say about him.” Lee Aiken

I grew up on a farm. Cousins and friends were always coming out to visit and we loved to venture into the woods to explore. There was a lot of polkweed that grew along the creek, and being boys, the first thing we would do would be look for those polk plants.
Polkweed has berries. We would pick the berries, build little forts and have polkberry fights. We would throw the berries at each other as we were sheltered in our forts, and if someone was hit it would leave a purple stain.
When we returned home, everybody knew what we had been doing. Needless to say, we were in…

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Good Character

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not marble.
Charles Spurgeon

The Gospel According To Jesus – Part 153

“No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see the light. For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and come to light. Therefore, take care how you listen. For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”
Luke 8:16-18 (HCSB)

Who Would Dare Preach As Jesus Preached

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8 (NASB)
We who profess to be children of God, born of His Spirit and washed in His blood, should display the humility of Christ in our daily lives. But meekness and humility must not be mistaken for lack of conviction and character.
Jesus spoke out against religious hypocrisy in language so burning, so full of fire and scorching denunciation, as can be found nowhere except in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew. The only people He could not get along with were the scribes, Pharisees, chief priest, and elders. He denounced them as “whitewashed tombs”–clean on the outside, but full of dead men’s bones and corruption within. The compassionate, meek, humble Christ used language that fell with tremendous, powerful vibrations of indignation as He pronounced woes upon the religious pretenders of His day. Again and again He cried out, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He called them “serpents” and “generation of vipers.” The hardest sermons this world has ever heard were preached by the humble, loving, tender Son of God. “No man ever spoke like this Man”–wonderful words of life, words that could bring sight to the blind, cleansing to the leper, life to the dead–and yet “no man ever spoke like this Man” against religious hypocrisy–“blind guides leading the blind.” No other man would dare preach as Jesus preached.

The Gospel According To Jesus – Part 152

“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocks; when it sprang up, it withered, since it lacked moisture. Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground; when it sprang up, it produced a crop: 100 times what was sown. Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!
This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seeds along the path are those who have heard. Then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seeds on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and depart in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. But the seed in the good ground–these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit.”
Luke 8:5-8, 11-15 (HCSB)

Only The Loving Heart Can Know Christ’s Love

“And that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” Ephesians 3:17b-19a (NASB)
Just as a blind man can never be made to understand the glories of a sunrise, or the light upon the far-off mountains; just as a deaf man may read books about acoustics, but they will not give him a notion of what it is to hear Beethoven, so we must have love to Christ before we know what love to Christ is. We must consciously experience the love of Christ before we know what the love of Christ is. We must have love to Christ in order to have a deep and living possession of the love of Christ, though reciprocably it is also true that we must have the love of Christ known and felt by our answering hearts if we are ever to love Him back again. Alexander Maclaren