No Other Way

God makes the rules.

Matthew 4:17 From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. "

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who calls out to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

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Imagine living in one of the most religious cities in the world, this city is full of teachers that want to tell you how you can do the right things to get to Heaven, it isn't very likely that you are going to be impressed when one more teacher shows up. That's the situation in Jerusalem when Jesus began his ministry.

As soon as Jesus begins his ministry it is clear that he claims to be God and he is the King that decides if we will be able to enter his Kingdom. The Bible is God's gracious opportunity for us to know him and know how to please him so that we can live with him in his new kingdom.

Nobody likes to hear that there is only one way and that each of us is responsible to discern what the truth is. Jesus tells us that the road and the gate is narrow and that it is a difficult path that few will find.

2 John 1:9 Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

In today's culture we like to pretend that truth isn't absolute, that reality is optional and that every view of God is a different path to the same place. One of the problems with this idea is that in order to maintain this option you will have to discard the Bible and Jesus completely.

"What is truth?" There is only one correct answer to the question that was asked by Pilate at Jesus' trial. The exclusive truth claims of Christianity don't allow it to line up next to the other religious paths and coexist as one more option in our efforts to be at peace with God.

How Can All Of These Be True?
Jesus says: I am equal with God and I am the only way to God. Jews and Muslims say: God could never become a human. Hindus say: God can often become human.

We are all religious, we all have a theory of what is next when we stop living here, to say that all religious views are equal and that none of them is superior is in itself a theory that you are trying to advance. But why do we think that God is so passive and tolerant and that he will let us decide how to be with him for eternity?

It is a tragedy that so many people ignore God's generosity and choose their eternal destiny without digging into God's word. We don't get to make the rules and it is irrational to gamble our eternity without study God's word to see what he says.

We all have faith in something, life is full of things that we cannot prove, yet we live everyday assuming that certain things will happen. The most meaningful things in life such as love for another person cannot be proven but we exercise faith that they really do and that they will continue to do so.

Christ followers have good reason to believe that their view of the afterlife is superior to all others. We are the only people that have a leader that fulfilled hundreds of prophecies through his birth, his life and his death. We are the only people whose leader claimed to be God and performed many miracles to authenticate his claims, including his return from the grave.

Don't accept the lie that all roads are going to the same place. Study God's word and see for yourself why Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

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Tim Keller - Authentic Christianity (podbay.fm)

Privileges Of God's Children: Access - Part 1

Don't think that you are much as a child of God?

1 Peter 2:4-5  You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but He was chosen by God for great honor.  5  And you are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple. What's more, you are His holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

Hebrews 10:19-22  And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.  20  By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.  21  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house,  22  let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

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In the last post I learned that because of Jesus work on the cross I have the privilege of being joined with Christ as a part of his church, I am one of the living stones that he is using in the construction of the building, but that's not all, I am also a priest in the temple.

Most of the religions in the world have some person that is on a pedestal above the common man, he is the person that has the privilege to be closer to God and speak to their followers on God's behalf, that's not what God has in mind. Even the man made gods that we invent are indifferent and apathetic to our situation, it is usually a relationship based on fear, there isn't an invite from those god's to draw near to them.

I have always heard that we are priest and that we do not need to go through anyone else to have access to God but I have never had a clear picture of what it fully means to be a priest. This study by John MacArthur tells you what it meant to be a priest in the Old Testament as the Bible shows us in Exodus 28 and 29, Leviticus 8 and 9 and Malachi chapter 2.

What A Priest Is

Chosen by God - No volunteers or applications or committees Cleansed of sin - Washed to symbolize the work of Jesus Clothed for service - Their garments symbolized purity Anointed for service - Symbolizing the Holy Spirit on their lives Ordained to obedience - They blew it right away (Leviticus 10:1-7) Walk with God - "they walked with Me, living good and righteous lives" (Malachi2:6) Have an impact on sinners - "they turned many from lives of sin" (Malachi2:6) A high regard for the word of God - People should go to him for instruction (Malachi 2:7)

When the Bible tells us that we are priest that's what it is calling us. We have been chosen by God to be cleansed from our sins and to have the righteousness that comes through Jesus. We have been anointed with the Holy Spirit to have gifts that we should use to serve the body of Christ. We have been called to obedience and to walk with God, meditating on his word so that we can have an impact on the sinful world around us. What an interesting picture from the Old Testament of what I am supposed to be in Christ!

God uses ordinary people

1 Corinthians 1:28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.

Do you think that you are unworthy of being a priest? Did God ever choose anyone other than the weak and the under qualified? When he chose the tribe of Levi, he wasn't choosing the nicest, most holy bunch to be his priest, God did what he always has done, he selected one of the most unlikely tribes in all of Judah. (Genesis 49:5-7)

I have the privilege to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ and I have direct access to God to offer the sacrifices. It doesn't make any difference who i was before I came to Jesus and chose to follow him.

Thank you Lord for choosing me to be a priest, to be clean before you and able to come directly to you, help me to never take my privileges for granted.

Believing Without Seeing

Trusting in God even though you cannot see him.

1 Peter 1:8-9 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

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It may sound like nonsense to believe in a being that you haven't seen in person or that you have not had an opportunity to touch, but you can come to faith in God without turning off your brains, believing in God is actually very logical.

Jesus was seen by thousands of people yet it was only a fraction of the world population at that time, there wasn't a way for him to be seen by the masses like there is today, the story of his life and his mission was passed along by the thousands that did see him.

Peter wrote this letter to Christ followers that were scattered all around Asia Minor that loved Jesus even though they never met him. They had heard of his character, his teaching, his message of love and forgiveness, his sacrifice for sin, and his resurrection and ascension, and they had learned to love him and believe in him.

You don't have to abandon all logic to come to God or to believe in Jesus, there are so many testimonies about him that we don't have an excuse for not knowing him, it doesn't take a great leap of faith. We can rely on the testimony of:

✔  Creation (Psalm 8:1-4) ✔  Scripture (John 5:39-47) ✔  The prophets (Luke 24:44) ✔  The disciples  (Acts 2:14 - 4:37)

✔  Jesus (John 10:25, Hebrews 1:3) ✔  Holy Spirit (John 14:26) ✔  Stephen the Martyr (Acts 7:1-60) ✔  Paul (Acts 17:22-34, Acts 26:1-32)

The evidence for our Creator and for our Savior and the Holy Spirit is very clear. They are all infinitely loving, they have given us more than any other, provided for our forgiveness. They have a place for us to go to spend eternity with them without any sorrow or pain a place where we were made to dwell.

“If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid. But someone else

is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true."

No other religion has so much testimony to validate it's teachings. The Jehovah's Witnesses have the testimony of one man; Charles Taze Russell. The Mormons have the testimony of one man; Joseph Smith. Islam has the testimony of one man; Muhammad. Even Jesus told us that the testimony of one man isn't valid even if the testimony is from Jesus himself.

Hebrews 2:3-4 How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Christianity is the only accurate revelation of God to man, there is overwhelming testimony to authenticate it, no religious system that man has devised can measure up. God has desired to be known ever since the Garden of Eden when he spent time daily with Adam and Eve and he still wants to be know by you and I.