Category: 1 Corinthians

  • Is self-help the answer? What does the bible say?

    "Self-Help ?" superimposed

    The self-help industry is estimated to generate over $50 billion a year worldwide, with about 40% of that in North America. That tells me people know they are a mess. I have no doubt that some of that money brings at least temporary results for some people. I’m all in favor of better people.

    The problem is that very little, if any, self-help material addresses our key problem. Our problem is sin, and the effects of that sin.

    The Bible is not a self-help book, and the gospel is not a self-help program. The Bible tells of our need for God and His plan of rescue. The gospel is that plan.

    The gospel tells us that when we become believers, we are no longer the same person.

    Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

    That person no longer exists. The new creation still has problems, but we are reconciled to God and transferred into the Kingdom.

    … giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Who rescued us from the authority of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-24

    That doesn’t immediately clear up all of our other problems. For that, the Holy Spirit works in us. As we draw closer to God, our behavior and character change. Our ideas about what is and isn’t truly important transform over time.

    Other than Jesus, no one has been born without sin. Adam and Eve were sinless for some short period of time, but they fell in a most spectacular way. You and I were born with a sin nature and a propensity to sin. We cannot defeat it on our own, no matter how many good works we do or how many self-help books we read.

    The Lord is our helper. The Lord is our healer. He created us in His image, and His desire is for us to be more like Him.

    We are works in progress, but we are His workmanship.

    For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

    He will not fail to finish what He started in us.

    For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

    Get help where you need it, but never forget that your true help and healing is supernatural. The God of the Bible is the ultimate helper.

    Trust Him.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    You might enjoy: A progressive revelation of Heaven. Seeing Jesus more clearly every day.

    Summary:

    The self-help industry may offer temporary improvement, but the Bible teaches that humanity’s deepest problem is sin, and true transformation and healing come only through God through Jesus Christ.

    • The gospel is not a self-improvement program but God’s rescue plan that makes believers a new creation reconciled to Him.
    • Human effort alone cannot overcome sin; lasting change comes through the work of the Holy Spirit shaping believers over time.
    • Christians are God’s workmanship, and He faithfully continues the work He began in them until it is complete.

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    Self – the source of our problems

    Adrift? Find your way back

    Two old farmers ask where is God in a broken world?

    The promised helper, the Paraclete

  • Death The Final Frontier

    We have all heard the theme from the television series Star Trek, “Space. The Final Frontier…” This morning I want to deal with the real final frontier … death. Or is it?

    For many people, death is a taboo subject. We avoid it. We are afraid of it. We institutionalize it so that we don’t have to see it. Yet death is part of life, at least in a fallen world. It is strange to me how something so natural brings out such visceral reactions in people.

    We have many euphemisms for death or dying. The last call. Passed on. Kicked the bucket. Shuffled off this mortal coil. To buy the farm. The big sleep. Gone home. In a better place. Crossed over. 

    I am certain that with some thought, we could easily come up with a list of hundreds of ways to avoid saying the dreaded “D” word. We seem uncomfortable even saying the words death or dying.

    Death is a serious subject, but for the Christian, it should hold no fear. The non-believer has plenty to fear because after death they will face the divine judgment of God and an eternity in torment. Now, that frightens me.

    Christ defeated death and the grave for all who would believe. We are given eternal life in glory with Him. That is a reason to rejoice.

    Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the corruptible inherit the incorruptible. Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:50-57

    When a loved one dies there is the pain of loss for the people left behind, but the one who has gone ahead, pain and fear no longer enter the picture. For a Christian who has died there is only joy.

    I don’t fear death at all. I have preferred ways that I think I would like to die, something quick and painless would be nice. A long lingering death wouldn’t be at the top of my list, although I could take comfort in knowing that God is sovereign and even that would not be wasted. He would still be brought glory.

    Our bodies are temporary temples to the Lord, just as the tabernacle in the wilderness was in the desert. When this body passes we shall be raised with an imperishable body to be a living temple for the Lord forever.

    We will trade in this life of sin, suffering and pain, lived in a temporary tent, for a life of bliss and worship in a permanent That is an amazing change and none of it is something we merit. It is a joy filled promise.

    We owe the entirety of our future to God’s preordination. Every element of our salvation, even the faith to turn to Him is a gift from Him.

    All of us will face death. Will you face it knowing the great rewards that are in Christ or will you face it with justified fear and trembling?

    If you are interested in a classic Puritan view on the subject of death, check out 

    I am not affiliated with this ministry at all. I just appreciate that they make so many of the Puritan and Reformed writers readily available at no cost.

    My prayer is that you consider death just one more step into a much larger world and live in a way that brings Jesus glory until it comes.

    Be blessed
    Kevin

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