NAILED TO THE CROSS

                                     

If you're a Christian, and/or attend church regularly, or if you've been around Christians much, then I'm sure you've heard somebody say that the law was nailed to the cross. They say the Ten Commandments were only for the Jews, not for Christians, and they were nailed to the cross when Jesus died. Then, they usually quote Romans 6:14-15, and say, "We’re not under the law but under grace."

So, if we no longer have to obey the 10 Commandments, is it okay to Lie, Steal, Kill, Commit adultery, and take the name of the LORD in vain? Then they say, "No. Nine of the Commandments were repeated in the New Testament, so we do have to obey those nine."

Today, I want to ask, and answer the question, What exactly did Jesus nail to his cross?

We'll start with Colossians 2:11-14, and Ephesians 2:11-18

Colossians 2:12-14
12 You were buried with him in baptism and rose with him through faith in the operation of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 Because you were dead in your sins and uncircumcised in your flesh, but he made you alive together with him, and forgave you for all your sins,
14 Erasing the handwritten law that was against us, which was contrary to us, he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Ephesians 2:11-18
11 So remember, that in the past, you were Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcised by those who are Circumcised in the flesh;
12 At that time, you were without Jesus. You were not part of the community of Israel and were strangers to the covenant of promise. You were without God in the world, and had no hope:
13 But now, in Jesus, the Messiah, you who were once far away are made near through the blood of the Messiah.
14 Because he is our peace. He has made both, one, and has broken down the wall that separated us.
15 In his flesh, he destroyed that wall, which was the law of precepts and ordinances, in order to create in himself one new man from the two, and make peace;
16 So that he might reconcile both to God in one body, and destroy the wall through the cross:
17 He came and preached peace to you who were at a distance, and to those who were near.
18 So now, through him, we both have access to the Father through one Spirit.

In these 2 passages, Paul is talking to two different churches, but he's saying the same thing to both, although it's not word for word. Notice that he uses the same terms in the highlighted sections in each passage marked by corresponding colors.

Paul is telling the Colossians and the Ephesians that Jesus died for the Jews and the Gentiles to bring all his followers together as one people. There was a law of precepts and ordinances which he calls a wall that separated both groups. He also calls it the handwritten law which was against them. Both terms refer to the Law of Moses.

He says Jesus destroyed that "Wall" which was the handwritten law of precepts and ordinances which was against them by symbolically nailing it to his cross. He became sin for us on that cross. He was the supreme sacrifice that all the animal offerings pointed forward to. So, what was nailed to the cross? It was the Law of Moses; not the Ten Commandments. Let's look at a few verses from Moses to confirm this.

Deuteronomy 10:1-5
1 At that time the Lord said to me, Cut two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me into the mountain, and also make you an ark of wood.
2 And I will write on the tablets, the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you will put them in the ark.
3 And I made an ark of shittim wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up into the mountain, with the two tablets in my hand.
4 And he (God) wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them to me.
5 And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.

Notice that the 10 commandments were written on two tablets of stone, and were placed inside the ark of the covenant itself, but, as the next few verses show, the Law of Moses was written in a book, (scroll) and placed in the SIDE of the ark of the covenant.

Deuteronomy 4:14
14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, so you might do them in the land which you go over to possess.

Deuteronomy 31:9
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

Deuteronomy 31:25-26
25 Moses commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

Notice that the Law of Moses (Precepts/Ordinances and Judgments) was against them. That's the same wording Paul uses in Colossians 2:14. The law that was against them was the Law of Moses, and clearly, that is the law that was nailed to the cross; not the Ten Commandments.

Since that's the case, what about the Ten Commandments? Well, the Bible tells us the Ten Commandments was the Old Covenant written on stone (Deut. 4:13), and the New Covenant is the Ten Commandments written in our minds (Hebrews 10:16).

The Ten Commandment Law was NOT nailed to the cross, the Law of Moses was. So, that means the Ten Commandments are still there for us to obey; all ten, not just nine, and by the way, all ten of the commandments were repeated in the New Testament; not just nine, as some people claim.

The Ten Commandments were not just for the Jews. In fact, they were not given to the Jews. They were given to the Children of Israel, which, at the time, consisted of all twelve tribes. The Jews came much later from the tribe of Judah. The Ten Commandments existed before God wrote them on the stone tablets for the Israelites in Exodus chapter twenty. Look BACK at chapter 16 and read this verse carefully.

Exodus 16:4
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, Look, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather a certain amount every day, so I may test them, to see if they will follow my law or not.

Much earlier than that, God said this about Abraham;

Genesis 26:5
5 Because Abraham heard my voice, and obeyed my ordinances, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

So God's Law was already there before there was ever a Jew or a nation called Israel. The Israelites had been in Egypt for over four hundred years and had been deeply influenced by Egyptian culture. Many of them were even serving the Egyptian gods. They needed to be reminded of the true God's Law, so he spoke the Commandments to them, and then he wrote them down for them. The fact is, that God's law has always existed because he has always existed.

Just a few more points to wrap it up:

The New Testament does say, "You are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). But the first part of that verse says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you…"

Romans 3:20 says the law is the standard that shows us what sin is.

In Romans 7:7, Paul says he would not have known what sin was without the law.

Romans 10:4 says the goal of the law is to bring all who believe to Jesus to be justified.

1 John 3:4 says, Whoever sins, breaks the law: because sin is breaking the law.

There could be no sin without the Law, so it has been around as long as sin has. Please look at these next few verses carefully.

Galatians 5:18
18 If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

BUT, those who are not led by the Spirit are STILL under the Law. Let me say that again. Listen closely. Galatians 5:18 says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." Those who are NOT led by the Spirit are still under the Law. What does that mean?

We who have accepted Jesus as our Savior are not under the Law because we've accepted God's free gift of Salvation, and our sins have been forgiven. We're now under Grace. But, just because we're no longer under the Law, doesn't mean the Law is no longer there. Those who have NOT yet been saved still need the Law to show them what sin is so they can come to Jesus and be saved.

Galatians 3:24-25 says it another way.

Galatians 3:24-25
24 So the Law was our teacher to bring us to Christ, so we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a teacher. (The Law)

Everyone is not saved. Everyone does NOT have faith. Those people STILL NEED THE LAW to tell them what sin is. They still need the Law to show them they're lost, and to point them to our loving Savior. They still need that teacher. So the Ten Commandment Law has not been changed nor done away with. IT IS STILL THERE, just as strong, and as in effect as ever.

Keeping the Ten Commandments WILL NOT save us. We should obey them because we ARE saved. All ten, not just nine of them. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). If we love him, we should want to obey his Commandments; Not to be saved, but because we ARE saved.

So, the next time you hear someone say the law was nailed to the cross, you'll know that it was not the Ten Commandment Law. It was the law of Moses with the precepts and ordinances, and the sacrifices that symbolized the one great sacrifice of the Son of God for us for all time.

You can read what the Bible says about the Old and New Covenant at the link below.
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-old-and-new-covenant.html

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MY AMAZING AUNT - A TRUE PIONEER

In my mind, my Aunt Lee was a miracle worker, an inventor, a pioneer, and an amazing aunt, among other things. She wasn’t perfect, but we loved her very much, and she loved us. She was smart. She was a very hard worker, and very independent. She was an average-sized woman, but she had muscles like a man. She had a hard life. She grew up in the early 1900s working in the fields in Mississippi. She was born on 1/1/1919.

She was actually my great aunt, my grandmother’s sister. Their mother was a Cherokee Indian. They still practiced some of the old ways of our ancestors; Especially natural healing, although some of that had been diluted over the years. One of my sisters fell over on a wood-burning heater when she was just learning to walk. She burned her head badly before anyone could get her off the heater. I remember Aunt Lee and my grandmother putting some kind of concoction on it. They said it would “Take the fire out of it.” It healed, but she still has a spot on her head with no hair to this day.

A few years later, I burned the back of my hand on the same kind of heater. My aunt went out and found an earthworm, and fried it in a skillet with some other stuff. Then she mixed it with some molasses, and God only knows what else. She made a poultice with it, and put it on my hand to “Take the fire out of it.” It healed up, but it left an ugly scar. I could still see it after I became an adult, but it had moved several inches up my arm. Today, I can’t see it at all.

She taught us how to live off the land, mainly by gardening, and canning to preserve food for later. She had a peach orchard in her backyard beside her garden. In the summer we helped her and our grandmother work in the garden and then harvest it. We had fresh vegetables all summer and we canned some of them in jars for the winter. We canned peaches and made peach cobbler pie. 

She was the first person to ever take us fishing. There was a small bridge over a large creek below Dead Man's Curve on Highway 72. We fished for a while and caught several "big ones." When we got back to her house, she put the fish in a big iron pot and poured scalding hot water on them. If I remember correctly, she had her stepson scrape all the scales off with a knife and clean the fish. Then she cooked them. When they were done, she magically removed all the bones “so we wouldn’t get choked, and die.” I didn’t know how she did it at the time, but I was glad to know I could eat it without dying.

She was a miracle worker alright. She always had cornbread. She would make it in a big skillet and it would be thick, too. What was left, she would save for the next day. By then, it would be hard and tough, but she had a little trick. She would carefully pour milk or water over the bread slowly enough to let it soak in. Then she would warm it up in the oven and make it just as good as it was the day it was cooked.

She could work a miracle with milk as well. She could take a gallon of milk, and magically turn it into two gallons right before your eyes. It wasn’t really magic, of course. She would buy a new gallon of milk, then pour half of the full gallon into an empty milk jug, then fill both of them up with water. Boom! She instantly made two gallons of milk from one. When I talked to my kids about that years later, I joked that she invented 1% milk or more like .5%. Haha. In reality, I guess it was 50% milk, but I just remember thinking it tasted like it was mostly water.

I really do think she invented bacon bits. She would intentionally cook her bacon too long, and when it cooled down, it would be very brittle. "Brickle, as she called it." Then she would break it up into small pieces and put them on her eggs. She made ours like that sometimes when we would eat with her and it tasted pretty good.

She was a pretty remarkable woman, and she always challenged us to be all we could possibly be in every area of our lives. When I started learning my multiplication tables, I had to write them all out. When I told her what I was having to do, she asked me how high I was having to go. I told her “ones through twelves. That’s as high as they go.” She told me I needed to go to my twenties. I thought that was too much. Writing all those lines up through the twelves was too much for me, but I did what she told me to, and you know what? I don’t remember what 13×5, 6, or 7 is.

She was tall and skinny and built like a man. She spent most of her life working like a man. She built things and repaired things. She had an outhouse for years, but she finally built a bathroom inside when we were older. She had all kinds of things in her house that I always thought was pretty neat. There was painter’s putty, paint, gaskets for cars, corkboard to make gaskets, and all kinds of other stuff.

She had an antique, foot pedal-operated sewing machine that she used to make quilts and clothes. They looked professional, too. She made many of our clothes. She had a collection of patterns for everything, I guess. She had crocheting needles, hooks, yarn, and a neat sewing basket with all kinds of needles, thimbles, threaders, and every color thread you could think of. She had an awesome button collection with every color, shape, and size you could imagine.

She used to make toys for us from the empty thread spools. She had a checkerboard that she had made from a piece of paneling. She uses old soda bottle caps for the checkers. She gave it to us when we were older but I don’t remember what ever happened to it.

She had an entire wall filled with pictures and not many matching frames. Some were metal, some were plastic and some were wood. They were all different sizes, too. She was a pioneer in that area. At a time when that wasn’t popular, she dared to do it.

She had the first T.V. I ever remember seeing. It was a big floor model in a brightly stained wooden cabinet. There was room on the top for her big, black telephone with the clear rotary dial and the long spiral wire that connected the receiver. She was on a party line, which meant she shared the line with a few other people. I remember picking up the receiver one time and hearing two older ladies talking. It scared me to death. I just knew they would tell my aunt that I was messing with her phone when I had been specifically told not to. I don’t know why I thought they would even know who it was, but I was scared anyway.

There was also room on her TV for an ashtray, a stack of papers, a telephone directory, and a lamp, if I remember correctly. At one point, she had a small, green, ceramic planter made to look like a log. She had a small green plant in it with small leaves. It ran up and over the top of the curtains that covered her large, picture window. We didn’t have a TV at home so we thought it was amazing to watch, on the rare occasion when she would have it on during our visits. I remember seeing shows like Bonanza, Gun Smoke, and Hee Haw.

One day the picture tube went out on the TV, so it wouldn’t show a picture. The audio still worked though, so she listened to it like a radio for a while. She didn’t have a lot of money, so she couldn’t just run out and buy a new set, but she got a used one that showed a picture, but had no sound. It was smaller than her floor set, so she put it on top of the big one, and turned both of them on. Then once again, she could see what she was hearing. Creative and innovative.

She was married a few times. All of her husbands had died except one. I thought he was dead for a few years because he wasn’t with her, and we had never seen him. I heard her talking about him having an accident that broke his neck. For some reason, I thought a person died if they had a broken neck, but evidently, he didn’t. I found out when I was older that he was very much alive.

She had several men to come courting, but we didn’t know that was what they were doing at the time. Finally, when we were older, she met Uncle Tony and married him. We grew to love him as much as we loved her.

I only remember being angry with her a few times. Once, I did something I shouldn’t have done. I don’t remember what it was, but she was going to whip me, so I ran from her. Big mistake. She chased me, and she was pretty fast, too.

I ran around behind our house. Then I saw a shed that my uncle had built so I ran around behind it but the woods were thick back there, so I was forced to turn back to the path I had been on behind the house. When I came out from behind the shed, there she was! She had cut me off. I remember screaming because I was shocked to see her there, and she almost got me. Now she was even closer than before. She was right on my heels.

I was running to find my grandmother. When I finally made it to her, I ran behind her, but that didn’t help much. Aunt Lee reached over my grandmother’s shoulder and slapped me. She hit me right in the mouth and made my lip bleed. My grandmother didn’t like that at all, so they had an argument which actually happened probably once every couple of months anyway, for some reason or another. Sometimes they would get so mad at each other that they would go weeks without even speaking to each other, even though we lived right next door.

She wasn’t really a bad person. She was just human, like the rest of us, but she certainly loved her family, and she had a good heart.

When my sisters, and I were taken away from our grandmother, and put into foster care, she did everything she could to help her get us back. She helped her buy a mobile home, and she gave us some property to put it on. She helped our grandmother raise us, educate us, and take care of us. I have a lot of good memories of her.

Like a lot of others, I have many bad memories from my childhood, but I have plenty of good memories, too, and those are the ones I try to focus on the most. That’s what we should all do; Focus on the good things rather than the bad.

In Philippians 4:8, the Apostle Paul tells us this; “Whatever is true, honest, right, and pure, whatever is friendly, respectful, virtuous, and worthy of praise, think about these things.” If we would all follow these instructions every day, we would be much happier people. Let’s try it; Shall we?

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4 THINGS CHRISTIANS MUST DO

The Bible tells us that we’re in a war. This war is not fought with guns and tanks and Grenades. It’s a spiritual war. The Apostle Paul does a great job of explaining this in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6.

Ephesians 6:12
12 Because we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places.

In verse 11, Paul tells us to put on the whole armor of God. In this spiritual war, this is a spiritual armor. He tells us exactly what each piece of that armor is.

Ephesians 6:14-17
14 So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 Shoe your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
16 Most of all, take the shield of faith, which will make you able to extinguish all the fiery spears of evil.
17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

So the Armor Of God is:
The Belt of Truth
The Breastplate of Righteousness
The Preparation of the Gospel of Peace (Shoes)
The Shield of Faith
The Helmet of Salvation
The Sword of The Spirit (Bible)

Again, this battle we’re in is not a physical battle, but a spiritual one. You and I weren’t asked if we wanted to be in this war. We weren’t asked if we wanted to fight. We weren’t given the opportunity to voice our opinion on the subject at all. This war began a long time ago, and the human race became part of it when our first parents, Adam and Eve, listened to Satan’s lies and disobeyed God. The choice that Adam made that day threw the whole human race into the middle of that war, and like it or not, we’re in a war against an enemy who is many more times powerful than you and I.

We’re fighting against an enemy who is more resourceful than we are. This enemy is at least thousands of years old, maybe much older. However old is, he’s had six thousand years to study humans. He knows exactly what makes us tick. He knows what our weaknesses are. He knows exactly what strategy to use to get to each one of us. The only chance we have against this powerful, and resourceful enemy is to ally ourselves with someone who is more powerful than he is. God is the only one that fits that description. He’s the only one that can give us help in times of trouble.

Yes, God is all-powerful, and yes, he will fight for us in this battle, but contrary to popular belief, we have a part to play, too. I’d like to suggest four very important things that Christians need to do in this war that we’re in. These are not the only thing that we need to do, but I believe they’re the four most important things.

1) Trust God Completely.
2) Pray and Study God’s Word (The Bible)
3) Avoid Evil
4) Tell Others About God’s Love

In order to truly trust someone, you have to have a relationship with them. As we pursue a relationship with God, and our relationship with him grows, our trust in him will grow. As long as we’re continuing to pursue that relationship, it’ll grow stronger, and stronger to the point where we can identify with Job when he said, “Even if he kills me, I will still trust him” (Job 13:15). Remember the three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? When they were faced with a choice between obeying the king or God, in Daniel chapter 3, they chose to obey God even though they were threatened with death if they didn’t obey the king. Look at Daniel chapter 3, beginning in verse 14.

Daniel 3:14-17
14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
15 Now, are you ready? When you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, or any kind of music, fall down and worship the image which I have made. If you do not worship, you will be thrown, the same hour, into the middle of a burning fiery furnace, and who is the God that will deliver you out of my hands?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego responded and said, King Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter.
17 If it be, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, King.
18 But if not, know this, King, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

Did you notice how much faith they had in God? They said, “Our God IS able to deliver us from the fire” (Daniel 3:14-17). They knew God has the power to deliver us out of any situation, and I mean ANY situation. But they also knew something else. They knew that God doesn’t always deliver us from a bad situation. They knew that it might be in his will for them to die.

Many times, throughout history, we can see where new Christians have been born from the death of Martyrs. Remember, God didn’t save John the Baptist in prison. Some people wonder why, but we know there was a reason. God always has a reason for the things he does, and for the things he allows, and we need to realize that in our own lives. We need to trust that God is able to deliver us from anything, but if he doesn’t, then we need to trust that he had a good reason and continue trusting that he knows what’s best for us.

We need to trust God and obey him, completely. The best way to gain that kind of trust is to do the second thing I mentioned in the list; Pray and Study God’s Word. We must have personal daily devotions, and personal daily Bible study, mixed with praise and prayer to the Creator of the universe. We need to make sure the lines of communication stay open. We need to have a close, personal relationship with God so that when he tells us to do something, we know that it’s actually him speaking to us. The only way we can have that is to study the word of God and pray daily, and I mean two-way prayer where we praise him and listen to him, not just ask for things. We also must be willing to change when God tells us we’re doing something wrong, and he will. He’ll also help us to change.

The third very important thing we need to do is Avoid Evil. Job is a good example for us as Christians today in several ways. Job chapter 1, verse 1 says this;

Job 1:1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz named Job, and he was perfect and upright, and feared God, and avoided evil.

The Bible says Job avoided evil. That needs to be our testimony. We need to turn away from evil and go out of our way to avoid it. If we know we have a certain weakness in a certain area, we need to do whatever it takes to avoid that thing. We need to be aware that Satan and his evil angels set traps for us. They know our weaknesses, and they attack us where they know they’ll have the greatest chance of getting us to sin.

Have you ever heard of or seen a situation where someone is offered a certain amount of money to stay in a ring with a big guy for a certain amount of time? All he has to do is avoid the bigger guy until the time is up. What about the kid in school that’s being bullied by another student like I was when I was young? The only way to avoid this situation is to totally avoid that person.

If we know we have a weakness for something, we need to avoid even seeing it. Take alcohol, for example. If we’re tempted by it, and we go to the store to buy things we need, we shouldn’t go down the aisle where the alcohol is. Avoid it. I have a friend in that situation, and that’s exactly what he does. We need to be as diligent as we can and avoid sin whenever possible. That will help us with half the battle. There will always be temptations, but there’s good news. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God always provides a way to escape when we’re tempted to sin, so remember that the next time temptation comes to you.

Don’t play with the devil’s toys either. There are certain things that some see as entertainment that have evil influences. We need to be aware of these, and if there are things we have doubts about, we need to avoid them as well, until we can be sure one way or the other. We must lay aside everything that will come between us and God.

So, we need to trust God completely. We need to avoid evil at all costs. We need to pray and study the Bible, which is part of worshiping God, and last but not least, we need to tell others about his amazing love, and his sacrifice for them.

In the Bible, we have example after example of God’s people sharing the good news of God’s love with others. Unfortunately, part of that message includes the bad news of what will happen to those who refuse to follow God. Not because he’s mean, and just wants everything his way, but because he’s so holy that sin can not exist in his presence.

We need to warn people that God is coming back, and they need to be ready, but we don’t need to do it in a way that will make God seem like an evil tyrant. We need to call people out of something to call them into something. It’s our duty. We need to understand that we all don’t have to stand behind a pulpit, or go door to door, necessarily. We all have different gifts, and we should look for ways to witness and tell others about Jesus using our talents. We should always be looking for opportunities to share the gospel with others. We should be telling everybody to wake up, he’s coming back soon. This is very important. People are dying every day without a saving relationship with Jesus, and that’s so sad.

There was a Christian man named Bill traveling on a train. As he was eating in the dining car, he noticed something about the waiter. His name was Walter, and he was having a bad day. Several of the passengers were not being kind to Walter. He was doing his best, but still, they criticized him and complained about the food, and about his service.

When Bill finished eating, he left Walter a nice tip, and a little gospel tract, with a note on the table, and went back to the passenger car, and sat down to read. After a while, the waiter came walking down the aisle looking at all the faces of the people, and he finally came to Bill. He sat down and said, I want to thank you, Sir. My life has been in chaos lately and today just added to it. I was feeling so awful, I was planning to go home tonight and kill myself. Then he said, Thank you for giving me this pamphlet, and this encouraging note. Now, I realize what Jesus did for me, and I’m going to live the rest of my life for him.

There are people just like Walter out there. We see them every day. You never know, but maybe a kind word or a smile from you may save somebody’s life. Giving somebody a gospel tract, or an encouraging note may be just what they need to pull them back from the edge. There are many more ways to witness than going to a foreign land and preaching. Every one of us can be a witness in our daily lives. We all need to have a personal Ministry. Each one of us. Find something you like and are good at, and use that to show Jesus to others, and I promise you that sharing with others will bless you just as much as it does them. Try it. You’ll be blessed.

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Adapted from my sermon “War” 2008

SPEAKING WITH THE CAPTAIN

September of this year (2018) marked the seventeenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy which brought down the Twin Towers in New York, and reports say, almost three thousand people lost their lives. A lot has changed since that dark day, but one thing that hasn’t changed, even since the time of Moses, is the fact that when things get bad, many people turn to God. Then when things don’t look so gloomy anymore, he gets put back on the shelf, and it’s back to the same old grind; “Life as usual.”

That’s what appears to have happened concerning the 9/11 tragedy. For quite a while afterward, it was widely reported that the attack had brought America together in a way not heard of before. There were reports of church attendance shy-rocketing in a similar way that the Y2K scare had prompted so many to seek God. But, eventually, as time went by and the threat lessened, many of those newcomers went back to their old lives and put God back in storage until they need him again.

God is always there for us when we need him, but he’s also there when things are going great. Oftentimes, longing for our companionship. In tragedy, in happiness, in poverty, or in prosperity, there’s never a time when we don’t need God. Even Jesus relied on God. He said, “I can do nothing by myself” (John 5:30). 

How much less can we do without God? We must realize that we’re “only dust” (Genesis 18:27). It took God to make that dust become flesh, and it takes his power to maintain it. Sure, we can do it our way, and many do but look what God’s word says about that. “There is a way that seems right to men, but in the end, it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12). So what do we do? We must develop a close, personal relationship with God through Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). How do we do that? The answer is prayer.

First, we “must be born again” (John 3:1, 7). Without that new birth, humans don’t want to serve God. We don’t want to submit to authority. We don’t want someone telling us what to do. We want to be in control. We want to do what we want to do so that attitude has to go and God is the only one who can purge it from us. Hearing the word of God, and seeing our great need for his forgiveness is the first step. The next step is asking God to save us, and he will (Romans 10:13, Acts 2:21).

There’s an old English proverb that says, “Many things are lost for lack of asking.” James said the same thing in James 4:2; “You do not have because you do not ask.” Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive” (John 16:24). Prayer is the key to success in every situation. From being saved to being healed; From being able to forgive someone, to finding a spouse, or a job. Prayer is the breath of the soul. Prayer is two-way communion with the Creator. It’s not reserved for just asking him for help. 

We can come to him any time. He wants us to talk to him daily and he wants to talk to us. The more we communicate with him, the closer we’ll grow to him, and the closer we get to him, the better we’ll understand what he wants us to do, and how he wants us to act. The better we know him the more we love him, and the more we love him the more we want to obey. That’s how we grow as his followers.

The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that we should “pray without ceasing.” He’s not saying we should constantly be on our knees with our eyes closed. He’s simply telling us to stay in constant communication with God in our minds. God can hear what we are thinking and he can talk to us in our minds. We just need to listen. He’s always speaking to us and he’s always listening, so ask him for what you need, and yes, ask him for what you want as well. “He will not hold back any good thing from those who live right” (Psalm 84:11).

Be sure to pray for others daily as well, and don’t forget to thank God for all you have, and for every answered prayer. “…in everything, make your requests known to God by asking him in prayer, with thanksgiving.” (Phil 4:6b).

The Christian life is not all fun and games, but it’s a lot more simple than many think it is. Again, the key to a good relationship with God is prayer. So be sure to communicate with him daily.

In the Bible, life is sometimes compared to a ship sailing on the sea. As the old Ship of Zion sails these troubled waters, we all must realize that we’re not merely passengers along for the ride. We’re part of the crew. We have to remain in constant contact with the Captain. We can’t do it right on our own. We need that close, personal relationship to remain faithful, especially in the storms. 

Sometimes it seems easier to abandon ship, but in God’s word, we’re told that unless we remain in the ship we can’t be saved (Acts 27:31). So no matter how rough the waters ahead become, or how bad the storms are, remain faithful and don’t abandon the ship. In Matthew 24:13, Jesus says, “Those who endure until the end will be saved.”

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PARADISE FOUND

What is Paradise? Where is it? There are several conflicting beliefs from different groups of people on this subject. All I need to know is, “What does God’s word say about it?”

The word Paradise only appears three times in the Bible. The Apostle Paul mentioned it once in 2 Corinthians 12:4, and Jesus mentions it the other two times, in Luke 23:43, and again in Revelation 2:7. Let’s start with the last one first.

Revelation 2:7
7 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; To him that overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the middle of the PARADISE of God. 

There’s our first clue. Wherever PARADISE is, The Tree Of Life is there, also. Does the Bible tell us where the Tree Of Life is? Let’s see.

In Revelation 21:10, John saw a vision of the great city, holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. He spends the rest of the chapter describing the city. Then in chapter 22, he says the tree of life is there in the city.

Revelation 22:1-2
1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
2 In the middle of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bare twelve kinds of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 

So, according to Revelation 21 and 22, the Tree of Life is in the holy city, New Jerusalem and so is the throne of God. The next two verses tie it all together.

Ecclesiastes 5:2b
2 …for God is in heaven, and you are on earth…

1 Kings 8:39a
39 Then hear in heaven your dwelling place…

So, according to the Bible, God is in heaven. Heaven is where he lives. That’s where his throne is. The Tree of Life is in the same place where God’s throne is, which is heaven, where he lives. The Bible tells us that the Tree of Life is in Paradise. So, Paradise is just another name for heaven.

Paul said the same thing in 2 Corinthians 12:2 and 4.

2 Corinthians 12:2,4
2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.
4 ….he was caught up to paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

So, again, Paradise and heaven is the same place. Paradise is just another word for Heaven.

This is a good example of how to study God’s word. We have to search the Bible (Acts 17:11) and compare scripture with scripture (Isaiah 28:10) to see what the whole Bible says about any certain subject. Of course, we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand (1 Corinthians 2:14). So pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and serve God without hesitation. As we read and study the Bible, God will show us the truth (John 16:13) and he'll give us better understanding (Proverbs 4:5-7). He'll lead us into a close, personal relationship with himself, and someday we'll go to live in Paradise with our Creator who loves us with a love beyond anything our human minds can comprehend right now. That will definitely be Paradise.

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