“Prepare a physical pathway for the Lord, make upright and just in a wilderness a highway for our God.” Comment: This Old Testament prophecy was also quoted in the New Testament in several places! In (John 1:23), John the Baptist quoted this scripture to the religious and political leaders explaining what he was doing and why! The word “way”, used in the New Testament means a road in which one travels. Here is the real deal. We as believers had a way prepared for us to find God! The message you received about Christ may have come from a Evangelist, Pastor, teacher, Priest, prophet, elder, parent, grandparent or a missionary! They prepared a way for you to find Christ! We are to return the favor! You are preparing the way for others as you preach His Word! You may be doing a Bible study, prayer group, web site, Blog, audio or video tracts, prison ministry or a Pastor of a local church. You may be a missionary in a foreign land! You may distribute Bibles, Gospel tracts or do hospital and nursing home ministries. You may be doing a food kitchen or clothing distribution for the poor. Just like John the Baptist you are preparing the way for people to find Christ! At Jesus first coming John the Baptist prepared people to receive Christ! However today Christ’s second coming is even more important to prepare people’s hearts because His second coming will not be as Savior but as Judge of all. This makes our mission very important! John sacrificed his life for his mission but today the stakes are even higher! Even more is on the line today! At Christ’s second coming there will be no more choices available to you! Your eternity will be locked in forever! We cannot afford to play church! We must play for keeps! No business as usual. Each day that slips by begs the question what did I do today to prepare the way for others? Will we be able to answer Christ at the Judgment Seat with confidence and assurance that we did all we could to reach the lost? Was our heart in the world or in Heaven? If our destination is Heaven then think about Heaven! We cannot work our way to Heaven but we can prepare a way for others! Go out into the whole world and preach the Gospel. At marriage we say, “I do.” When we join the military we say, “I do.” Then the sacrifices begin! Jesus on the Cross said, “It is finished.” May the God of Heaven give us the grace to finish the highway to Heaven for others and receive the rewards Christ has promised us! Nothing could be more rewarding than to be in Heaven and witness others coming in after us who we have helped to prepare the way for them! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: grace
A Miracle! Isaiah 7:14
King Ahaz was a wise King! When the Lord told him He would give him a sign he did not want to tempt the Lord! He did not want to put God to a foolish test! Ahaz was really telling God I do not question you! Mortal men do need to be questioned! Jesus will do that at the judgment! Men and women asked Jesus a lot of questions! Are you really the Son of God? Prove it! Come down from the Cross if you are God! The word sign means a miracle in the Hebrew! Jesus virgin birth is a miracle! After Peter witnessed the miracles he told Jesus you are the Christ the Son of the living God! The Lord gave Peter signs! The star over Bethlehem was a miracle! Christ’s resurrection from the dead was a miracle! Salvation is a miracle! Being born again is a miracle! These acts of God are beyond the natural and are supernatural. They are God’s Grace in that God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves! Miracles are the love of God towards men! Faith in God is living from miracle to miracle! It cannot be explained outside of God! Your life is a miracle! If you were not here you could not experience the love of God! No miracles! That is why abortion is so cruel. You kill a miracle! We need life to make choices! Could not wonder and awe about God? Could not see the slender of His creation! Could not experience His Power and Glory! Could not know His peace! Without Him no purpose! Only loneliness and emptiness! No hope! But surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life! Lord give me another miracle today! Not to prove who you are but prove I cannot live without you! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
War & Faith!
“In my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength!” Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) Comment: Can we start on the wrong side of history and end up on the right side of history? If the truth be known we all started on the wrong side of history! Otherwise no one would need to be saved! Ask the thief on the Cross! Today there are billions of people on the Cross in the valley of decision! Millions will get saved! My favorite example of a thief done straight is John Newton! You remember his song, “Amazing Grace.” He was captain of his own slave ship! Then in the midst of a storm on the sea when they were about to perish God showed him how wicked he was! He repented and returned to Liverpool England and joined a small church. This is where he wrote his famous hymn! In 1787 he wrote a book, “Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade.” This book helped William Wilberforce a Parliament member over a 20 year period abolish the slave trade! Will tearing down confederate statues help America? No! For they remind us we all need a Savior! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Are You The One? Mark 14:61-62
I believe every generation born asks this question sooner or later! Caiaphas the High Priest asked Jesus this question! After Judas betrayed Jesus the Jews apprehended Jesus and a mock trial was held! Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders of Israel as He is to the religious system today! The religious leaders raised up false accusers against Jesus to nail Him! However the false witnesses could not agree with their testimonies! Why was Jesus such a threat? They had their long robes and long prayers but Jesus at the snap of His fingers raised the dead, healed the blind and the lame, walked on water and cast out demons! So Caiaphas had to ask the question that he dreaded to ask and inside knew this was probably the guy! Jesus are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed? What was he really asking? Let us break these words down one Greek word at a time! Christ means the anointed one! That is He was covered with the Glory of God! The word son used here, “Hulos”, is a specific word reserved for the Son of God as opposed to the generic word used meaning the offspring of parents! The word Blessed is reserved for God who is worthy of praise! Humans can be favored by circumstances however these circumstances can change and usually will over time! God is the creator of all and we are the recipients of His love! Jesus replied to his question with an affirmative yes and added more as we see in verse 62. Caiaphas then accused Jesus of blasphemy and Jesus persecution and execution followed! Suffering can come because of who you are! Good or bad! Jesus suffering was pre-planned by God! Jesus always referred to “His Father” except at the Cross! At the Cross Jesus said, “My God why have you forsaken me?” Have you ever felt forsaken? There are many benefits for following Jesus such as eternal life, peace, joy, love, long suffering, patience and the list goes on! Also remember many suffer today because of His name! Such as the Christians in the Middle East, Africa and places including America! It is not easy to suffer for who you are however Jesus suffered because of who we are! Sinners saved by Grace! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Worship!
What you worship owns you! So what do we worship? What do you spend your time thinking about? Do we have any idol’s? Some could be sex, money, fame, fortune, sports, offspring, houses, land, religion, gambling, work, school, health, success, cars, boats, airplanes or do we worship ourselves? These things have power to enslave you but not save you! All of these will one day leave you and forsake you! Pride will cause people to surround themselves with these idol’s! There is only one who ransomed His life to save you from yourself! Is it time for new management? Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you and has proven that to you by sacrificing His life for you on a Cross! Good Friday Message, Grace Community Church, Fulton, Maryland.
Cheap Grace?
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves! Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession…cheap grace is without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate! Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich was assassinated by Adolf Hitler eleven days before the end of WWII.
Peace and War! Genesis 3:15
The coming of the woman’s seed was Jesus birth! On the Cross Jesus body was bruised and broken! At Jesus second coming Satan’s head shall be bruised and broken! The seed of the woman brought forth a Savior! Since then Satan has declared a war on women through religious systems that persecute women and political systems that promote abortion and same sex marriage! Satan attempts to destroy lives through through religious and political systems that oppose Christ! His plan is to destroy future seed that might come to Christ! Satan also has a war on believers in Christ! He also has a war on Jews for Salvation has come through the Jews! Satan’s offspring is at constant war with Christ’s offspring! God has declared war on evil but His plan also includes His only Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice made to deliver us from evil. Our judgment for sin was taken on Jesus at the Cross! Christ made peace with God for us in that our judgment was taken by Christ at Calvary! Even the most intelligent human could never devise such a plan! God is awesome in that He has punished the wicked one Satan author of evil forever and yet spared his victims with Salvation and eternal life with God! Amazing Grace! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Are You Saved? Ephesians 2:8
We looked at the word grace previously used in this passage now we will look at the word saved. So what does saved mean? Saved from what, who, when,through,by and the list goes on! Saved from your boss? They say real joy is putting your milk carton on the breakfast table in the morning and there is a picture of your boss on the milk carton listed as a missing person! Is being saved dependent on me? I can be a good driver but a reckless driver can kill me! Can i be saved from financial ruin? How about working? Still i can be fired or laid off! Saved from bad health? Stop smoking but you could still get lung cancer! Saved for what purpose? Do i need to be saved from people or for people? Saved from a terrorist or for a terrorist? To be saved using the Greek root word in this scripture means to be saved from eternal death! To be delivered from physical death! To be healed and restored to health! To be saved from danger, loss and destruction! Where is the evidence that you are saved? This is the most important question you will ever ask! Where else in the Bible do we find the two words grave and saved used together? Genesis 47:25 “The people of Egypt told Joseph thou has saved our lives let us find grace in the sight of your Lord and we will be Pharaoh’s servants!” The best evidence you are saved is you will be a servant! Jesus said he who is greatest in the Kingdom of God is servant of all. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Is Grace for Everyone? Ephesians 2:8
The word Grace used in verse 8 is connected to other words in this passage such as faith, saved and gift. The word grace does not stand by itself! However in the interest of time we will just cover the word grace here. Grace is many things! It is expressed in a person! We must remember grace is initiated by God! Grace is an act of God manifested in you and me which brings joy, peace, pleasure and gratification! It is God’s favor on your life! He bestows unmerited benefits on your life! At the end of the day grace has pardoned your sin! Grace is God doing for you what you cannot do for yourself! So is grace bestowed upon Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics and atheists? The internal grace God has given everyone is to know when we have done wrong! Then the product of sin will be guilt! Guilt is destructive unless you know what to do with it! If not you end up on drugs and other mind altering chemicals! We take our guilt to the Cross and receive more grace! Do not try to carry it yourself! I remember a lady years ago asked me if God can forgive any sin? I told her yes! She told me but i cannot forgive myself! I asked her if she was greater than God? To reject grace is to reject Jesus Christ! So then what do you have left? You create your own religious system or ideology to support a defense against grace! It might be secular or religious! It might be the evolutionist who says God has no part in creation of the world! It might be Islam or another religion justified by works that creates murder of yourself and others to get to heaven! It could be a Hindu who creates millions of gods to appease his guilt! If sin can be justified then more sin will follow! When you act in your own name or in the name of a man created god bad things happen! God gave grace to everyone by going to the Cross and being raised from the grave for our justification! God dying for your sin and guilt not by your own efforts! Grace is hard for some to receive because it removes their own efforts and places the burden of proof on God! It is the easyist thing to do but man will complicate by his own efforts! You have to be humble to receive a free gift but to reject grace borders on a idiot! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse GodWhoisGod.com
Amazing Grace 1779 AD
John Newton the slave trader turned preacher had only two missions! His mission was to break the hard heart and heal the broken heart! He was so bad before his conversion that he got traded himself to a slave ship for punishment! Newton joined William Wilberforce a British Parliament member to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire! Their work culminated with the Slave Trade Act of 1807. It is estimated that his hymn Amazing Grace is sung 10 million times per year over the past 237 years! His hymn has also been at the top of the popular music charts over the centuries! This song was born out of a prayer meeting! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com