Eternal life comes from PERSEVERANCE!

THE LORD’S PROMISE:

“… To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

-Revelation 2:7, NIV

The Lord promised me that I would gain eternal life if I overcome life. He also revealed to me these two points on what I should do to overcome.

WHAT SHOULD I DO TO OVERCOME?

1. Persevere on being obedient

“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”

-Revelation 2:3-4, NIV

The Lord spoke to me through these verses and gave me an encouragement to persevere more on following His commands. The Lord wants me to double my effort and become more consistent on my work for Him. Also, the Lord has promised me that all of the works I’ve done and will do for Him would not be useless, for He will remember all of them in the last days.

2. If I fall…

“Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

-Revelation 2:5, NIV

a.      REPENT!

The Lord told me that when the time I fall again into sin comes, I must go back to Him and repent. He told me that if I don’t repent, the lampstand(which represents the salvation that was already given to me) will be taken away. And I don’t want that to happen, I want to inherit eternal life!

b.      Get back up and CONTINUE THE WORK!

The Lord told me that after my repentance, I should get back up and continue with my work for Him. The Lord wants to get my perseverance on working for Him back, the perseverance I have left when I fell into sin. This is the reason why the Lord wants me to remember all of the works I have done for Him before.

All in all, I could say that only my perseverance can make me become an overcomer of life. I must always remember that if I want to inherit eternal life, I must first overcome my mortal life.

Imitate what is good!

“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God."

-3 John 1:11, NIV

I was struck deeply when I read this because I believe that it is the Lord who talked to me in this verse.

The Lord told me that I should not be corrupted be the things of the world. He said that I must be zealous and continue on serving Him more. He wants me to be still with my faith even at the times I am surrounded by evil things.

Instead of letting myself be corrupted by these evil things and imitate them, the Lord told me to just imitate what is good. He told me this so that even though I am surrounded by evil things, I would know how to stand against them and rebuke them from corrupting my soul. With this, I realized that it is a great thing that I have been a part of a church which is consisted of good people who are living with the right doctrine. It is great that I am with them because it is through them that I know what I should imitate. The Lord also told me that by this way, by imitating what is good, I would be recognized as a man that comes from Him.

I do not want to imitate what is evil because I do not want to be categorized as someone who has not seen God. I do not want to become a Christian with a blind soul. I want to be recognized as a man that is from Him!

The Lord’s Command: TO LOVE

“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.”

-2 John 1:6, NIV

All of the Lord’s commandments, both from the Old and New Testaments stresses out one point, and that is to love. I’ll use the Ten Commandments as an example. If we really understand the meaning of these Commandments given by God, then we know that it teaches us how to love God and other people.

WHAT THE COMMANDMENTS TEACHES ABOUT LOVING GOD:

The first four commandments:

-> The First Commandment tells us to love the ONLY ONE AND LIVING GOD. Just like a man who is loyal to his wife, same thing must be applied in our relationship with God.

(Exodus 20:2-3)

-> The Second Commandment tells us to love the nature of God of being unseen. This is the reason why God does not want to make images of Him.

(Exodus 20:4-6)

-> The Third Commandment tells us to respect the name of God. Well, how can we say that we love God if we blaspheme His name?

(Exodus 20:7)

-> The Fourth Commandment tells us to keep the Sabbath day holy. This is a special day made by God for us to get closer to Him. This day is our weekly date with God.

(Exodus 20:8-12)

WHAT THE COMMANDMENTS TEACHES ABOUT LOVING OTHER PEOPLE:

The last six commandments:

-> The Fifth Commandment tells us to respect our parents. Showing our respect to them, I believe, is the only way we could do in exchange of all the things that they did to us.

(Exodus 20:12)

-> The Sixth Commandment tells us to respect the lives of other people. Hurting other people is not an action done out of love.

(Exodus 20:13)

-> The Seventh Commandment tells us to give respect to the people from the opposite sex. God wants us to be sexually moral, both in our thoughts and in our actions.

(Exodus 20:14)

-> The Eighth Commandment tells us to respect other people’s belongings.

(Exodus 20:15)

-> The Ninth Commandment tells us to respect other people’s personal life. God wants us to live in the truth. He does not want us to destroy other people with slanders.

(Exodus 20:16)

-> The Tenth Commandment tells us to be contented with the things that we have. Being contented with what we have in our lives shows that we love and respect ourselves.

(Exodus 20:17)

With this, I could say that the Lord’s Commandments are not just law like many are thinking, but also are instructions to us on how to love.

Christianity: A Fellowship with God

“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.”

-1 John 1:5, NIV

Like what has been taught to us ever since in our childhood, we have known that God is good, pure and holy. We know that God, being the light, loves the righteous and hates the wicked. It was made known to us through the bible that God blesses those people who obey His commands and punishes those who does otherwise, like what had happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. And through the bible, the real nature of God was revealed to us.

“If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”

-1 John 1:6, NIV

Now for us who call ourselves “Christians” and are claiming to have fellowship with God, I think it is just right to say that we have no right to continue this fellowship if we are still living a life driven by sin. Why? Because Christianity is not just a religion or label we could just play with, for we are carrying the name of Christ. The problem today is that there are many people who claim that they are Christians, but are living against the will of God. The actions of these people are just bringing disgrace to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “Christian” means "a follower of Christ". Now I am confident to say that it is better for those people who are living against the will of God to stop calling themselves "Christians". Why? What do you think other people would now think about Christ if they saw a Christian living a life driven by sin? Of course they would think that Christ is also sinful, which He isn’t. We must remember that we are representatives of Christ here on earth, and Christ does not deserve such disgrace. I say that it is better for such men to stop claiming that they are "Christians", that is if they still choose to continue their sinful lives, for even though they are “Christians” by label, their “Christian life” is just a big lie.

“But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”

-1 John 1:7, NIV

So if we really want to have fellowship with God, then we must walk in the light. We must make every effort and strive to become holy. Yes, I know that it is hard to do this and we may fail in the middle of this journey. Even though we say that we are doing everything for the sake of holiness, there is still a possibility that we may commit a small, small sin. We must remember that a sin is still a sin, and man who sinned is considered unrighteous. But even though we have fallen into sin while we are in the middle of this journey, if we choose to rise and continue walking for the sake of holiness, we would be purified by the blood of Christ from these. And in this, we would experience the real fellowship with God.


Original link for the photo: https://rudyvrodriguez.wordpress.com/author/rudyvrodriguez/page/4/

Why the second coming of Christ does not come right away?

In 2 Peter Chapter 3, Peter described what it would be like in the last days, in the second coming of Christ. He said that there would be scoffers who will say, “Where is this coming’ He promised?”, denying Christ who saved them. They also forgot that the world was created by the word of God, and it is also by the word of God that the world will be destroyed, together with the ungodly men.

But even though the day of judgment is set for the destruction of the ungodly men, the mercy of God still remains. This mercy is the reason why the end does not come instantly.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

-2 Peter 3:9, NIV

Now we can see how patient the Lord is to everyone, for He is still waiting for the repentance of the ungodly men. The Lord does not want anyone to perish! Now we can see how much the Lord loves us, even though all of us had become disobedient at least once in our lives. It is so overwhelming that the Lord remains faithful to every man, even though there are men who denies and blasphemes against Him. It is also very embarrassing for Him to see that there are people who repay His kindness with disobedience.

So what could we do to repay the Lord’s kindness?

“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.”

-2 Peter 3:14, NIV

All we have to do is to make every effort to become holy at His sight. Some say it is hard, and for most, impossible. But that is not the case for those who knew Christ, His mercy, His patience and His love for us. We accepted Him as our Lord for Him to take the wheel of our lives, and with Him we strive to become holy people. This is the reason why many people who were ungodly before was changed at the time they encountered Him.

It would not be hard for us to give our every effort into becoming holy, that is if we truly love Him and treasure His love within our hearts and minds.

“Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him.”

-2 Peter 3:15, NIV

The Lord is just waiting for us, especially those people who went astray in their lives to go back to Him. So for those who haven’t accepted Christ in their lives, please don’t let this opportunity just pass away. Salvation only comes to those people who surrendered their lives to the Lord. And for us who were already in Christ, let us remain still until His second coming and not get caught by the currents of the world. The Lord is patient, so we must remain patient too.

The new generation's Timothy

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.”

-2 Timothy 4:2, NIV

In this verse, Paul instructed Timothy to preach the Word, and I believe that the youth of this generation are the new Timothy’s. As the new Timothy’s of this generation, we are instructed to preach with “great patience” and “careful instruction”.

Question: Why do we need to preach the Word?

1. To “CORRECT” the people’s way of living

-There are a lot of corrections needed to be done specifically on the people’s way of living nowadays. We can see that many people are selfish and worldly. Many are attached to the things of the world, but we must let them know that having expensive things or gaining success is not what life is all about. This is where we must jump in. We must preach about what life is really all about. That life is not all about working hard in order to get something and to become successful, but about having a relationship with God.

2. To “REBUKE” people from doing evil

-Old selfish desires and sins need to be stopped in order for people to change. Some of the people believes that what they normally do like smoking, drinking alcohol, having sex and taking drugs are not bad, but we must teach them that things like these will never do good in their lives. We must preach about immorality and its consequences so that they will know what they need to stop.

3. To “ENCOURAGE” people

-In our preaching, we must not just end up on giving the people knowledge about what is wrong, because if we do this we could just lower their confidence. Correcting and rebuking people from their mistakes are good, but in doing these, the people become more conscious of the mistakes they have done. Now this is where encouragement kicks in. We must encourage them so that they will have the fire to stop themselves from doing the wrong thing and do the right thing. We could not just see them walking with sad face after our preaching. Of course, we want to change them by encouraging them to do the right thing!

Question: Why should we have great patience and why should we give careful instructions?

Ø      We need to have great patience because we cannot change people instantly.

Ø      We need to give careful instructions because we could lead them into doing the wrong thing with our words.

So let me end up in this question. Do you think that you are the new Timothy of this generation? If you think you are, then go preach the Word! Good day and God bless.

In CHRIST there is a CHANCE!

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.”

-1 Timothy 1:15, NIV

If we look at the past life of Paul, we could really say that he is the worst of all the sinners. He waged war against God by persecuting everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. But instead of being condemned by God in everything he did, Paul received forgiveness and was used to show the saving power of Christ. The power of God in which no one can run from. The power of God’s love that can forgive even the worst.

And this is a fact that many should know, that even if you think that you are the worst person in the world, you can still have your second chance if only you accept Christ in your life. We don’t need to be born again in the flesh so that we could change the way we live. We just need to be born again with the Spirit, baptized in Jesus name, so that we can have a new life. Just like what ate Faythe, our youth pastor said: “Christ is like our birthday, because in Christ there is always a CHANCE.”

“But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.”

-1 Timothy 1:16, NIV

I tell you this: You can NEVER run from the love of Christ! You can NEVER even hide from it! Whatever you do, the love of Christ will always be there running behind you. His forgiveness is always available. If you have committed a sin, you don’t have to backslide! Just face Christ, repent, and you can gain your redemption again. Christ is patient. Even if you are trying to run from His love for almost all of your life, He is just there waiting, until the time you are ready to face Him.

It is not Christ who is not ready to accept you, it is you who don’t want to accept Christ. Christ wants you to have a new life, but it is you who wants to be chained on your old life. Christ is giving you a second chance, but it is you who don’t want to give yourself a chance. BUT remember this, THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION IN CHRIST. Just face Him and make Him your Lord and Saviour. Christ gave up His whole life just for you to have a new life. All you have to do is to live the remaining time of your life for Him. Trust me that if you do that, you will never be the same again.

STAND FIRM!

“So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.”

-2 Thessalonians 2:15, NIV

All of Paul’s teachings were passed to everyone who believes in Christ from different generations through the bible and the church. Now for us believers, we must stand firm and hold on to the gospel and the teachings of Paul.

Question: We are already in Christ, so why do we need to stand firm and hold on to these teachings?

Yes, we were already saved at the time we received Christ in our lives, but Christian life does not just end in that. The question after receiving Christ must be “What’s next?”. Of course, our life does not just end in that. We know that when we go back to the world outside, temptations, pressures and struggles would be there trying to get us back to where we are before. They will try to put us back into our failures. BUT if we stand firm, we wouldn’t fall just like that. Why? Because we hold on to the teachings!

“May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope.”

2 Thessalonians 2:16, NIV

All of the teachings that Paul passed to us is all about the grace of God, which is Christ Jesus. And if we stand firm in his teachings and the grace, we would have:

1. Eternal Encouragement

Ø      Encouragement that comes from our friends and family are not bad, but we must remember that they would not be there with us forever. Humans have limitations and we die, but encouragement that comes from the word of God is eternal, meaning, it will always be there. With the word of God, we would never be discouraged because we know that God is with us. Even if we fall sometimes, we know how to get back up. If we stand firm in the word of God, nothing can stand against us.

2. Good Hope

Ø      Before, when we don’t know God yet, we are just hopeless people. We would just cry out and have low self-esteem when we fail in something we do. But now that we know God, if we just hold on to all the teachings taught to us about Him and His Son, we wouldn’t be like that anymore. We would never lose hope because of His promises to us. Well of course, all we need to do is to fully believe in them. PLUS, our hope will not lead us to nothing because we know that our God is the God of truth, and He will do everything that He says. If we stand firm in His word, we would never be shaken by any struggles that come to our lives.

So brothers, stand firm with the word of God! Even if the largest storm enters in your life, just hold on to God and believe in Him. He will never fail you.