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Thoughts Archived > Why Jesus....Why Salvation? Lesson 4 of 4


27 Feb 2011

                                                                                     

 

February 27, 2011

 Isaiah 12 

 Why Jesus....Why Salvation? 

Lesson 4 of 4 

 

Isaiah

"In that day you will sing:  "Praise the LORD!  He was angry with me, but now he comforts me.  See, God has come to save me.  I will trust in him and not be afraid.  The LORD GOD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."  With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!  In that wonderful day you will sing:  "Thank the LORD!  Praise his name!  Tell the world what he has done.  Oh, how mighty he is!  Sing to the LORD, for he has done wonderful things.  Make known his praise around the world.  Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy!  For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you."

 

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Thoughts.....

 

Good morning!  We are in the final week of our study, and I pray this has helped you become empowered to share the salvation message with others.  If you have studied this with intense dedication and focus, you will have learned much and possibly be exhausted.  If you have only read what I have written herein, you may not be exhausted, but you have learned enough to preach the gospel message based on fulfillment of prophecy:  give history.  I hope you will read the whole chapter surrounding each of the scripture references to get a complete picture of what happened and what the Lord has to offer us.  And I hope you will read from the book referenced below to flesh out your 'knowing'.

I talked/wrote at length a few weeks ago about whether you will be saved or endure.  Since then, we have been stepping back and directing our thoughts toward the basics.  It dawned on me some may not have the basics as to why one should consider the Lord and salvation in the first place.  So for the last 3 weeks and this one, I will give some prophecy, and some fulfillment, to help those who need it, to better understand the reality, the truth, the history with documentation, about Jesus Christ and why you should be saved...and others.

I hope you will get your Bibles out for this study and not dismiss it.  It will help you better understand and explain to others 'why Jesus...why salvation'.  It may help you understand why you should, if you have not, what it would mean to your life were you to choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Perhaps you already have.  Perhaps you need to rededicate your life now.  Pray earnestly and think clearly.  He is waiting here for you now opening his arms in love.

This study will also help you teach and preach he saves....all who go to him with sincere and earnest hearts, following him and obeying him.  Walking with him, not just talking about him.  There are those who 'talk the talk and walk the walk'  There are others who do willingly for him, but don't share him.  Others share him and don't reeeeally walk with him.  Some do good to make themselves look good, or help themselves think they are good.  The latter entails delusion.  Some take it a step further from talking and walking to teaching and preaching.  Which ever of these paths God calls you to, and you choose, the talking/walking, or, adding teaching/preaching, do so with the fullness of your heart and the dedication of an earnest student at all times.  There is SO much our Lord wants to share with you to help you and others along lifes way.  Those who receive him in fullness, and go forth to share him with the world in oneness with him, will be able to walk on the 'Highway of Holiness....it will be only for those who walk in God's ways....only the redeemed will follow it....they will be overcome with joy and gladness'.  Isaiah 35: 8-10               

If you do not have a Bible, you can access the scriptures to read further on www.NewLivingTranslation.com.  The book I will be using uses the New King James Version, but in the interest of attempting to be consistent, I will use the NLT as usual, however, I may provide texts from the NKJV, but will note....providing I remember to transpose accurately.

Some of the information I am about to provide to you is from The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict   Evidence 1 & 2 by Josh McDowell.  I am not including everything, but I will give you some basics.  I hope you will get a copy of this book and read it in its entirety, which may take a lot of your time, if you choose to study with intensity.  Notes are taken from Chapter 8:  Support of Deity:  Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled In Jesus Christ.  The next chapter:  Support of Deity:  The Resurrection - Hoax or History? is extremely power packed.  I may or may not choose to review it in the future, but either way, please do consider picking up a copy of this book, perhaps in the public library, and spend time in reviewing this topic in depth. It will fill you to overflowing with responses....answers....when folks say they don't believe....or don't know who he is, or how to believe because they don't know him or know the steps to salvation. 

I have broken this study up into a total of 4 weeks, as I indicated above, due to its length.  I hope you have 'hung in there' with me.  Some of what you will be reading, and have read, may be too basic for some, but if you are not utilizing what you know everyday, then you need to be reminded, so to reinforce your talk and walk, and inspire you to 'get on with it'.  Some information may go, and has gone, over your head.  It's okay.  Go slowly through the scriptures and repeat them if necessary.  Not everyone is a scholar, but everyone should choose to read the scriptures to learn 'why Jesus...why salvation' to make a choice for yourself, and, hopefully, choosing THE Lord., will then go on to share who he is, that he is, and how wonderful he is. Remember that he will meet us where we are.  Here we go....

Prophecies Fulfilled In One Day           

Book notes:  "Twenty-nine (29) prophecies from the Old Testament, which speak of the betrayal, trial, defeat, and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ were spoken at various times by many different voices during the five centuries from 1000-500 B.C.  Yet all of them were literally fulfilled in Jesus in one twently-four (24) hour period of time." 

Me:  I have only given a few here, the rest ARE noted in the book noted above. 

Accused by False Witnesses

Prophecy

Psalm 35:11:  "Malicious witnesses testify against me.  They accuse me of things I don't even know about."

Fulfillment

Matthew 26:59-60  "Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death.  But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, there was no testimony they could use. 

Me:  Have you ever been wrongly accused?  Then you know what Jesus went through.

Wounded and Bruised

Prophecy

Isaiah 53:5:  "But he was wounded and crushed for our sins.  He was beaten that we might have peace.  He was whipped, and we were healed!"  (See also Zech. 13:6.)

Fulfillment

Matthew 27:26  "So Pilate released Barabbas to them.  He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him." 

Me:  Have you ever been beaten or beaten down?  Jesus understands and hurts for us, but only his beating and death on the cross can save us.

Hands and Feet Pierced

Prophecy

Psalm 22:16:  "My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; and evil gang closes in on me.  They have pierced my hands and feet."  (See also Zech. 12:10.)

Fulfillment

Luke 23:33:   "Finally, they came to a place called The Skull.*  All three were crucifed there - Jesus on the center cross, and the two criminal on either side."  NKJV reads:  "And when they had come to the placed called Calvary, there they crucified Him."  (*Notes from NLT re: verse 33:  Sometimes rendered Calvary, which comes from the Latin word for 'skull'.)  (See also John 20:25.)      

Made Intercession for His Persecutors

Prophecy

Isaiah 53:12:  I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death.  He was counted among those who were sinners.  He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners."  NKJV reads:   "And He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Me:  Have you exposed yourself to death?  Then you know what Jesus went through.  Our loved ones did not die in vain.  Nor did Jesus.  Only his death resulted in all of us being offered life everlasting...so your loved ones would have the opportunity of being with you again.  Will you make the right choice to accept him as Lord and Savior today...with the hope of rising with them?  

Fulfillment

Luke 23:24:  "Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing."

Me:  Ask forgiveness for your sins....be cleansed mind, body, spirit, and soul.  Ask for his healing touch and be made whole.  

Book notes:  "This office He began on the cross (Luke 23:34), and now continues in heaven (Heb. 9:24; 1 John 2:1)," (Fausset, CCE, 733)

He Committed Himself to God

Prophecy

Psalm 31:5:  "I entrust my spirit into your hand.  Rescue me, LORD, for you are a faithful God."

Fulfillment

John 23:46:  "Then Jesus shouted, "Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!" 

Me:  I pray you will entrust your spirit into the hands of the ever loving, ever living Jesus Christ today, that you may have a new life with him, right now, while you are alive.  And then walk with him and talk with him, so to obey him and be granted everlasting life with him.

Prophecies Concerning Events after His Burial

Prophecy

Psalm 16:10:  For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your godly* one to rot in the grave.  *Or your Holy One.

Fulfillment

Acts 2:31:  David was looking into the future and predicting the Messiah's resurrection.  He was saying that the Messiah would not be left among the dead and that his body would not rot in the grave."  NKJV reads: "His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption."  (See also Matt. 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:46; Acts 13:33.)

Me:  OBEY him.  That is the key to eternity.  It is not enough to say, "Ya, I know who he is."  It is only enough when you are willing to die for him, too.  Remove self in lieu of his Holy Spirit.    

Book notes:  Jewish source:  The Sanhedrin II, Babylonian Talmud states the following:  "Mishnah.  All Israel have a portion in the world to come, for it is written, "Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.  But the following have no portion there-in:  He who maintains that resurrection is not a biblical doctrine, the Torah was not divinely revealed."  (Nezikin, BT, 601)  

Me:  This last sentence is a powerful statement.  If it is not divinely revealed, you have not been called.  Or you have not looked to understand.  Or you are reading a book you do not clearly understand, and so it is not speaking to you.  Let me explain.  As a child I was first raised on the King James and then The Revised Standard.  The King James was a battle for me to understand because I could not get past the 'thees' and 'thous'.  It did not provide clarity.  The Revised Standard was much better without the 'Kings English'.  But it was rather lofty to me....like a refined and overly wise professor speaking just a tad above me.  When I read the The Living Bible the first time, my world was transformed.  The New Living Translation is an updated version of that.  And even the more current updates do not speak to me as clearly as the 1996 edition.  I do use the King James and also  the New International Version Life Application Bible for study, too.  Golly, I have other Bibles I use as well.  But no bible speaks clearer to me, nor offers a greater grasp, and therefore is best able to be understood, than the NLT 1996.  So, if you haven't 'gotten it' in the past, or your pastors, ministers or priests have sounded lofty or you've tuned out, tune back in with the NLT and see if it makes a difference to you.  I hope you will glorify him by your choices, and that you will start to do that today.         

Ascension

Prophecy

Psalm 68:18  "When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives.  You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you.  Now the LORD God will live among us here."  NKJV reads:  "You have ascended on high." 

Fulfillment 

Acts 1:9  "It was not long after he said this that he was taken up into the sky while they were watching, and he disappeared into a cloud."

Me:  Don't let him disappear from your vision....ever.

Seated at the Right Hand of God

Prophecy

Psalm 110:1:  "The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit in honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet."

Fulfillment

Hebrews 1:3  "The Son reflects God's own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly.  He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command.  After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven.

Me:  "And he will come again to judge the living and the dead."  Hebrews 3:7-11:  "That is why the Holy Spirit says, "Today you must listen to his voice.  Don't harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God's patience in the wilderness.  There your ancestors tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.  So I was angry with them and I said, 'Their hearts always turn away from me.  They refuse to do what I tell them'  So in my anger I made a vow:  "They will never enter my place of rest.'" 

Where will you be?  Will you be able to enter his place of rest?  Will you trust him with your life today?  Will you drink deeply from the fountain of salvation with joy? 

"And now beware!  Be sure that you feed and shepherd God's flock - his church, purchased with his blood - over whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders."  "And now I entrust you to God and the word of his grace - his message that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself."  Acts 20: 28 and 32. 

Be blessed.  

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Let Us Pray

 

God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, please forgive me of my sins...known and unknown.  I have not loved you with my whole heart, I have not loved my neighbors OR myself, let alone 'as' myself.  I humbly bow my head and ask you to forgive me and lift me to a greater understanding of who you are, that you are, and how wonderful you are, so that I may learn to know you better and worthily magnify your Holy Name.  I also want to understand what path you want me to follow, as I live my life, and how to walk that walk.  I want to share you with others and live my life in a way that they learn who you are through me.  You are all things, feelings, emotions, life.  You are heart and you are soul.  You are breath and you are NOT death, but everlasting life.  Help me convey that to all who cross my path with gentleness, joy, and love.  Help me so fully know you that we become one.  I know I will never be perfect, surely you know that about me, too.  But I do know that I and everyone must raise the bar of standard of living, even if we think where we are where we need to be.  I kinda figure when I get to heaven, I will have reached the right height in the bar.  Atleast I hope that is the only reason I will be called home....I will have learned something and done something super right.  I hope the reason for my death will not be because you are so tired of me not listening....tho' I try.  I used to always say, "Try is not an action verb, do is."  So help me get on with DOING for you.  I have been appointed now and told to go forth with this teaching.  Please anoint me, Holy Spirit.  Please come into my life to so overflow through me that I cannot stop talking about how wonderful are you, God, and Jesus.  How wonderful are your works, O Lord.  Thank you for carrying me so far and so well.  Don't stop now, please.  The going is just getting started...again, still, further...continuing.  And I PRAISE you, O Lord of hosts!  Thank you so much for loving me and dying for me.  I am so grateful.  Why Jesus....why salvation?  For everything....for forgiveness of sins, life eternal, forever, for every one!  Alleluia!  Amen.                       

     

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More love.... 

  Benediction...Blessing

 

Let us hear from Paul as he prays:  

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.  Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT         

 

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Scroll down to read Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving...'The Unforced Rythms of Grace'.

 

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Definition of a Christian:  Anyone who believes in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Regardless of church name or religious affiliation. 

It is not how we worship, but that we worship....the Trinity!   

 

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If you feel that the Church of the Holy Spirit has inspired or helped you, we'd like you to prayerfully consider tithing regularly to us or gifting us, so that we can further the work and carry out the will of the Father as proclaimed in Matthew 28:19-20 NLT

 to

 "Go and make disciples out of all the nations

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.  And be sure of this:

I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

 

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  Our Current Cause

It is time to reach into the community and the world around you to see wherein lies the greatest need.  As you choose to focus on these areas, do so with a servant's heart.  Whether the need is for children, adults, or animals, or any cause in between that will help those in need, ask God how you can best serve his needs, what path you must take, and how long you should persevere.  Sometimes we are to be in the lives of others merely as stepping stones.  Sometimes we are to touch those lives forever.  Whatever journey you are called to take, whatever team you will be a member, know this:  God is with you always...even til the end of time.  He loves you, is grateful for you, and will help you along life's way, especially if you are helping others along theirs, persevering with a servant's heart. 

Please accept my sincerest thanks....and God's....and may God richly bless you!   

 

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If you have any questions, we can be reached at:

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Please note Trinity Missions or CoHS in your subject line.

 

As we grow, you will have options for allocating your gifts.

In the meantime, we hope you will trust us to direct them to where the need is the greatest.

 

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    One last thing....

 

 Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving

'The Unforced Rhythms of Grace'

 

"Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer:  "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.  You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people.  Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.  "The Father has given me all these things to do and say.  This is a unique Father - Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge.  No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.  But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen."

"Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly.

 

  Matthew 11:  25-30

  The Message

 

And the people said,

"Amen."

 

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I now write most prayers in the position of ' I ' (first person) because most people are sitting at their computer alone, not in groups, and it allows those reading and praying to personalize the prayer as coming from them going to God.  Variations may appear on holidays when families may wish to use the prayer provided.

 

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  Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

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Bible Authors and Minister