​Is God’s Grace in Vain? (Read time ≈ 5 minutes)
1 Corinthians 15:10 (ESV)
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
 
                Grace + labor is a curious thing. Paul’s attitude, mindset, and approach to the work of God really tells us a lot…. Is it just me or have I been referencing Paul a lot lately? Anyway… Paul, as we know was an enemy of God, a persecutor of the Church prior to His salvation. He reminds us of that in verse 9. Also, Jesus is clear on this matter. You are either for Him, or you are against Him (Matthew 12:30). You are either a friend of God, or an enemy of God. There really is no spiritual Switzerland (neutral ground). Anyone who thinks they are neutral on God will be greatly disturbed on judgment day.
 
                Paul realizes it is ONLY by the grace of God that he is what he is. Being used by God in the way he is. But he also says, “His grace toward me was not in vain”. This is what a genuine response to salvation looks like. A second chance at life, a renewed spiritual life given only by the grace of God. He spent His blood on me for my salvation, so I am not going let the high price that He paid for my salvation go to waste! NO! I will not! I will work, harder than ever. So that the grace of my Savior does not appear to be in vain. Paul labored hard for the world. He labored even harder for Christ. Did we go from laboring for sin, fleshly desires, worldly wealth and get saved and then turn into a lazy, gluttonous Christian? Wasting away this new life that Christ gave us? No, a proper response to salvation is not laziness. It is also not, “I have to work to earn this”. It is, I must work so that Christs blood appears to be well spent on me! So that His sacrifice for me is not in vain but that others will see the work He has done in my life and see the power of the living God in me! And even though Paul acknowledges he works so hard, he still acknowledges that not only is his salvation only by the Grace of God but that his success in his labor is also only because of God’s grace within him.
 
                Ask yourself today. Do I think I have earned any of this? Hint: The answer is, no. Ask yourself, does the price that Christ paid for my soul appear to be in vain? This answer can only be answered by you. If you do feel as though you work hard for the Kingdom, then remember that it is still only by the grace of God that you succeed in that labor. Paul, perhaps the greatest laborer for the Kingdom of Heaven, at least in the first century church, acknowledged these things. Only by grace was he able to become who he became. Through that grace he worked and saw fruit for the kingdom and again, acknowledged, it was only by God’s grace that is in him. How about you? Is Gods grace in vain? Despite his wicked past, Paul was able to confidently say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.” Ask yourself, can I say the same about my own life? If not, what is standing in the way? Identify it, then eliminate it. Let not the grace of our King be in vain and let His grace work fully in you.
 

​The Days of Eternal Joy are Coming (Read time ≈ 5 minutes)
Revelation 21:3–4 (ESV)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
 
I’m not breaking any news to anyone when I say, life can be hard! We can go through seasons of trials and what feels like constant struggle. We can also be going along, and everything is going great and then…. One phone call, one conversation, one instant, one tragedy, one moment… and everything has changed. Sometimes these trials feel like a lifetime. Sometimes these trials, in some form or another, truly do last a lifetime. Paul speaks of a metaphorical “thorn in his flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. This was not a literal thorn but something that represented a great struggle and trial for Paul. He ultimately had the revelation that God had allowed this trial to keep him humble; but ultimately, also was not something that was going to go away. Some hardship is seasonal, some hardship is more than that.
 
There will come a time when all hardship ends. When every tear is wiped away from the eyes of the Fathers children. That every pain, every trial, every loss, every minute of brokenness, every heart break, will all be just a memory. No more pain from death (both in our life and around our life), no more mourning, no crying, no more pain. For we will be in the presence of our Heavenly Father in New Jerusalem, a new Heaven, and a new Earth. We will be standing face to face with our Creator, living within His glory, receiving the reward for all our labors and struggles on Earth that we endured for His Name. Everything that once seemed so heavy and burdensome will now seem light. It will seem as if it was only for a moment, and we will realize just what it was all about. Eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). Now, God will reveal to us the things, the matters that we could not see before. The things we could not perceive previously, now make sense. We realize just how temporary everything on earth truly was, and the power of eternal values are revealed to us (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The pain we feel today, which feels like a lifetime, is really quite short in reality when compared to eternity. Eternity, something actually impossible for our minds to fully grasp the concept of no matter how hard we try.
 
No matter what we face in this life, there is truly nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ and from our eternal salvation except for us. No trial, no struggle, no pain, nothing. No one and nothing can take our soul. We can only give it away. If we keep our spirit in the hands of our Father, there will come a day when He will wipe every tear from our eyes, all pain and suffering will only be a memory, and we will enter into the glory of our Father for all eternity.  Really, I don’t think I can do this any justice, so I will let Paul the Apostle do the talking:
 
Romans 8:31–39 (ESV)
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
         “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
                What feels like a lifetime today is only but a moment in the scheme of eternity. Hold on for dear life onto your Savior. The day will come, no more tears, no more pain, no more death, no more mourning. The old is gone, the new has come, and it’s here to stay… eternally in heaven with our Comforter, our Savior, our Father. Cling to Christ, the days of eternal joy are coming.
 

Obeying God or Man? (Read time ≈ 8 minutes)
Acts 5:29 (ESV)
29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
 
                We live in a world that is full of self proclaimed gods. I am fully aware that if you went to the people around you in your life, be it family, friends, co-workers, or bosses, they probably wouldn’t admit this or call themselves a “god”. However, while they may refuse to admit that title upon themselves, they at the same time expect you to please them and do things they want you to do OVER what God (notice the capital ‘G’), the real God, Elohim, Creator of the universe and Creator of you, wants you to do. We live in a culture that is far more willing to proclaim authority over you and your life and not only claim to be worthy of your submission but will deny God entirely. We live in a culture that profanes God and rejects Him. If we allow this to dictate our actions we run the risk of reducing ourselves to the futile mind that Paul warns us of in Romans 1:18-32. We know the truth of God but no longer honor Him with our lives. This happens when over time we begin to obey man rather than God. This, at times, may be the recipe to some kind of illusions of success in this world, but it will not stand the testing fires of eternity (1 Corinthians 3:10-15 **PLS READ THAT ONE**.
 
                The Apostles answered “We must obey God rather than men.”. We read this and we say, “Oh yeah! Get ‘em Pete and the bros!!!”. We applaud their boldness and bravery as they are faced with some powerful men, telling them to stop preaching the name of Jesus and they respond with a big, fat, NOPE! And on top of it, they double down and remind them that they were the ones who crucified Christ and they were going to continue to preach His name! Gets you amped up, doesn’t it? Obedience to God was of the utmost importance to Peter and the apostles. That is very clear. Then we close our Bibles… share that verse on facebook with a few fire emojis and 100 emojis and then we turn around and bow down to the world around us…. At least, I hope not. We too, must obey God rather than man. But to which we might say, “Sure, but no one is telling me not to preach the name of Jesus, so I think I’m doing good.” Well, firstly, I ask, but are you preaching the name of Jesus? No one will tell you to stop doing something you’re not doing. Okay, okay, that was a cheap shot, not what I came here to talk about… but think on it anyway. Actually, I came to talk about the finer details of obeying God rather than man. As I said, we live in a culture that profanes God and rejects him, rather than obeys God. So, if that is true, shouldn’t we then question all things about our culture against the Word of God and what He wants for us, as His children?
 
                If the culture is strongly pushing something as good and/or necessary then you should stop and think to yourself, “But what does God say?” The world around us tells us how to act, how to talk, what to wear, where to go, when/if to go to college, when to get a job, when (and how) to get married, when (and how) to have kids and how many to have, what a successful life looks like, what to eat, where to eat it and who with, what to inject into your body(yes I went there), who to spend time with, or who not to spend time with, what the ideal life looks like, healthy habits, and acceptable habits, they tell you how to look at yourself and how to look at others, they tell you what life styles are okay and what ones aren’t, they tell you what you must accept and what you must reject. Yet so many Christians today just go with the flow, the path of least resistance. They don’t look at the finer details of day-to-day life and ask, “Is God okay with this?”. How many generations of messed up, anxious, depressed, addicted, broken people have to pass by before we Christians begin to question the status quo? How much pain do we have to suffer from the “it’s just the way people do things today” before we ask ourselves that question… “Am I obeying man rather than God?” What does His word have to say about my everyday life? What does His word have to say about the way I go about my life when big decisions loom and hard choices come? Am I just doing what everyone expects? Or am I doing what God commands?
 
                In the face of obvious Christian persecution of the Gospel it is quite easy to look at situations and say “Oh yeah, that’s not good! Obey God rather than those men”. But in day-to-day life, the things that will mark us “weird”, “different”, even the occasional “cult”. Are we willing to do these things in obedience to God in direct defiance of the culture we live in today because we desire to obey God rather than man and because we desire to obey God rather than the ways of man? See, this is where we get lost at times… the ways of man can be more influential on our day to day lives more than people in our faces about our faith. If we don’t know what God says about it then we will inevitably go with what the world says about it. It’s time to examine our lives and ask the question about all areas of our life, “Am I obeying God or man with this area of my life?”.

​Growing in Sanctification (Read time ≈ 10 minutes)
2 Timothy 2:21 (ESV)
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
 
            It seems there are two types of sanctification for us as Christians. Between the Biblical definition and the dictionary the word sanctification means, “the action of making or declaring something holy / the action or process of being freed from sin or purified / the action of causing something to be or seem morally right or acceptable / to make holy or sacred to be set apart for special use or purpose”.
 
                The first type of sanctification is something that can ONLY be done by the Blood of Jesus Christ that He shed for you and me. We cannot take even just one step towards sanctification without first being cleansed by the Blood of Jesus (Hebrews 13:12). This type of sanctification is when Christ cleanses your life in ways you cannot. Sure, we can always just ­try harder and trying harder isn’t necessarily bad, but trying hard doesn’t undo what we have already done. We hurt people, rather it be physically or emotionally, and we regret it, we apologize, and we make efforts going forward to change our behavior but, that doesn’t remove the pain or damage that has already been done. Damage has been done, a transgression has taken place and there is no ctrl + z option (there is no undo button). We can put our best foot forward, and I hope that you do, but no amount of effort in the future can change what’s already been done. This is what makes it impossible for us to be sanctified by our own efforts. No number of good deeds can wipe away our past. That is why Jesus saw it necessary to do what He did for us on the cross; for our supernatural sanctification, to do what only He can do and accomplish what we already failed at. This type of sanctification is the first type of sanctification any person can get, and they can only have it given to them by Jesus
 
                The second type of sanctification is a bit different though. It’s a level of sanctification that I think many Christians NEVER get to, especially in this hyper grace theology generation we live in. They never get to it because, one, no one tells them about it and two, it is HARD and we live in a time where so many people “just can’t even!”, whatever that means…. The fact of the matter is that, if we ever want God to take us to new places in our life, new dimensions of ministry, new levels in our personal life, then we must begin to sanctify ourselves. See, this second level of sanctification takes work. It is still only accomplished by the grace of Jesus Christ and the empowerment of His Holy Spirit, but it will not be accomplished without initiative and effort on YOUR part. Search throughout the Bible and it is clear, without a doubt, that the first type of sanctification is ONLY given by Jesus Christ, and it is given by grace alone and we do not earn it. But the second level of sanctification requires labor, hard work, commitment and willpower. It requires you making a choice that today, I am going to pick up my cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24-26). BTW, many historians and scholars believe the typical roman cross for crucifixion to be somewhere between 165-300 pounds. I’m sorry to break it to you if you didn’t already know, but this walk with Christ is HARD and it is not for the faint of heart. Sadly, this why so many fall away over the years. And this is why it is so crucial that we labor for this second type of sanctification. Just as clear as it is throughout scripture that the first type of sanctification comes only by the Grace of Jesus Christ, it is also clear that the second type only comes from a committed lifestyle of personal sanctification. We don’t just get saved and wake up the next day perfect and sinless. We must make efforts to sanctify ourselves to make ourselves more and more useful for God’s kingdom. Paul says to Timothy, “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” Speaking of anyone who chooses to take his sanctification to another level is ready to be useful for God! To think that, at our first sanctification we became temples of the Holy Spirit, set apart by God. If our Lord dwells within us, shouldn’t that compel us to live differently? To strive to sanctify ourselves further, to live a righteous life before God and man? Paul thought so (See 2 Corinthians 6:16-19 + 7:1)
 
                The second type of sanctification is so uncommon in the modern Christian because it is hard to achieve. Thankfully, as is the case in all things when seeking to carry out Gods will for your life, you are not alone in this. God has given you fellow believers to labor side by side with, to pick you up and help you along (Galatians 6:2). He has given you close relationships to help you stay sharp in this walk (Proverbs 27:17). He gave you people to commune and fellowship with (Hebrews 10:25). Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, “No, God has not given me those relationships” then to that I say, yes He has, but you have either not sought them out or you have rejected them, or you have not embraced them, or you are not where God wants you to be because the fellowship of believers is a crucial element for ALL Christians. Even more importantly, though for the second type of sanctification is the help that ONLY God can give. Yes, the first type of sanctification is 100% accomplished by Christ. The second type of sanctification takes our efforts but even then, our own efforts will never be enough, we NEED the power of the Holy Spirit within us to strengthen us to live a sanctified life. God’s help is found in God. Gods help is found in seeking God (1 Chronicles 16:11)! Jesus came to sanctify us and save us from our sins, then He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us forward onto the second type of sanctification (John 16:13) so that we can be set apart and useful for the Kingdom of God. If you want your life to be useful for the King, then sanctify yourself further and as Paul says, “If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the Master of the house, ready for every good work”. That can be you, but you have a choice to make every day. Will I seek out my sanctification today as I pick up my cross and follow Christ?