John 10:28-29 (KJV)
28 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand."
One of the greatest lies Satan whispers to all of us is that we can lose our salvation. He stirs up doubt, fear, and worry, causing us to question whether we’re truly saved or not. Thankfully the words of Jesus tell us the opposite of our thoughts. If you believe in him, you are eternally secure. In John 10:28, Jesus promises us one thing. "I give unto them eternal life." Eternal life isn’t temporary. It isn’t based on your performance, your works, or your ability to hold onto God. It’s based solely on Jesus, who holds onto you! Many people worry about whether they’ve done enough to stay saved. But salvation was never about what we can do, it's about what He's already done. On the cross, Jesus declared, "It is finished". He didn’t leave anything undone. His sacrifice was complete, perfect, and eternal.
The gospel isn’t about what you achieve, it’s about what Jesus has already accomplished.
Your righteousness isn’t based on your ability to avoid sin, it’s based on Jesus’ obedience and his eternal sacrifice. Sadly, many people don't believe this simple truth. Satan has a simple strategy, he makes you doubt your salvation, in order to steal your joy and distract you from sharing the gospel. When you focus on your works, your failures, or your feelings, you begin to lose sight of the truth. That is why God calls us to walk not by sight, feelings, or circumstances, but by faith. You must believe that Jesus has made you holy, righteous, and blameless in God’s sight. Your salvation doesn’t depend on your performance but solely on Jesus' sacrifice.
Doubt comes when you focus on "you", whereas faith comes when you focus on Jesus.
The beauty of salvation is that it’s a gift, not a wage. We don't do anything to work for it. When you believe in Jesus, you can rest in the assurance that your salvation is secure. God doesn’t break His promises, and He doesn’t change His mind. Once you are saved, you are always saved.
Eternal life isn’t something you can earn, so it’s also not something you can lose either. I hope we can let go of the worry and fear that Satan tries to plant in your heart. Trust that Jesus’ sacrifice was enough. When doubts creep in, remind yourself of God’s promises. That he chose you over his only begotten son. He reconciled us forever!
Amen!
Leviticus 3:1 (KJV)
"And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord."
In Leviticus 3:1, we see instructions for the peace offering. This offering, whether male or female, had to be without blemish meaning perfect. While the peace offering was an Old Testament practice, it foreshadowed something much greater: Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice for our peace. The word used here in Hebrew is שֶׁלֶם, shelem which is a masculine noun. This is important because Jesus (the husband/masculine) in the only sacrifice that God accepts.
No matter how good our works may seem, they are not sufficient to bring us peace with God. True peace comes only through the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. True peace and reconciliation doesn't come from what we can do, it comes from what HE can do.
Our works may look good, but only Jesus is the only one that's good enough for God. Isaiah 53:5 (KJV) says, “The chastisement of our peace was upon him.” Jesus bore the punishment required to bring us peace with God. His sacrifice wasn’t just sufficient. It was perfect and without blemish, fulfilling the requirement of the peace offering. True peace isn’t achieved by us, it’s received through Christ.
Many people strive for peace with God through their own efforts. They try to pray harder, do better, keep the commandments, and live perfectly. But Leviticus 3:1 shows us that only a perfect offering is acceptable to God. No matter how noble our works may seem, they are blemished by sin. This is why Jesus’ sacrifice is so crucial. He is the only one who is truly without blemish, the only offering acceptable before the Lord. I hope we can all see that every scripture in the bible is descriptive of Jesus.
The only thing we must do is have peace and rest in his sacrifice. Amen!
We'll be going over this in depth tomorrow (Sat, 1/11 at 10 AM PST)
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Ephesians 3:8 (KJV)
8 "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
These days as I gain more popularity on social media, I am seeing more ridicule and persecution than ever before. People call me a heretic, a cult leader, false prophet, fake minister/pastor, I've heard it all.
As a human with feelings of course those things can get to me. Imagine people speaking falsely and making absurd allegations about you. But I'm so thankful that God gave us his precious Bible. Every time I'm going through hardships and feel like I'm dying, I turn to the book of life.
Today as I was reading Ephesians 3, I stumbled across this verse. The Apostle Paul is one of the most remarkable figures in Scripture. He preached the gospel boldly, planted churches across the world, and wrote 14 books of the New Testament. Yet he was called the ring leader of cults. He should be angry, sad, and even discouraged. But we can see that His heart was full of humbleness and humility.
In Ephesians 3:8, he calls himself “less than the least of all saints.” How could someone so impactful think of himself this way? Paul understood the magnitude of God’s grace. He never forgot who he was before encountering Jesus. He was a persecutor of Christians and murderer. But he also fully embraced who he became through Jesus: a redeemed, holy, and righteous child of God. This balance of humility and boldness fueled his mission to preach the gospel, even in the face of persecution.
Paul showed me that true humility isn't thinking less of yourself but thinking more of the grace of God.
I felt as if Paul was speaking to me directly today. Reminding me that following Jesus often brings criticism and persecution. People spoke against him, questioned his authority, and sought to kill him. This wasn't because of his past but solely because he preached the gospel of grace and perfection boldly.
Now of course we're not on the level of Paul, but as Christians today, we also face rejection and slander for proclaiming the truth of salvation by grace through faith alone. Works cannot get us into heaven and because we make claims to focus solely on Jesus, we get ridiculed.
But like Paul, I was able to find strength in humility.
I thought about Paul's life deeply today. The sadness he must've felt going through persecution. Having his own disciples question him. When he was persecuting Christians and killing them, nobody had anything to say except words of encouragement. Yet, as he changes his heart to preach this precious gospel, he is called a false prophet, cult leader, and fake Apostle.
I thought about how Paul didn't have any titles. He wasn't a pastor, elder, rabbi, or even part of the original 12 disciples. Yet he boldly preached and did so much more than all the disciples combined. He essentially preached the gospel to the whole known world in his time. That is truly amazing.
I was able to discover that humility allowed him to move forward boldly even in the midst of persecution. Humility sustained him to never lose hope. He continued to preach boldly no matter what type of judgement he faced. He showed that even if we don't have titles or the proper "training", we can still boldly preach this gospel. What matters most is the message of Jesus Christ.
We do not need to have a title to have a testimony.
Paul acknowledged who he was before Christ. Only evil and persecutor of the gospel. How he was once a sinner but now saved only by grace.
But he didn't stop there, he also acknowledged who he is in Christ. He embraced his identity as righteous, holy, and set apart through the blood of Jesus.
Paul is teaching that true humility isn’t thinking less of yourself rather it’s thinking more of God.
As we face challenges, criticism, or even persecution for preaching the gospel, Paul gives us a blueprint for how to respond. We must always remember who we are without God. We are saved through faith and grace alone. This allows us to stay humble because it wasn't anything we did to receive the grace. None of our works were involved. It was God who gave us that grace. This then allows us to move boldly with humility. It also allows us to accept the criticism we all face as Christians. Yes without Jesus we are everything people say we are. However, our identity now is in Christ.
This verse allowed me to move forward boldly even after being called a heretic, fake minister, false prophet, anti-christ etc etc. I hope we can all focus on the gospel rather than accolades, titles, achievements, degrees and anything that distracts from the gospel.
We are all royal priests in the eyes of God and chosen to preach his precious gospel. It's funny how we didnt face much ridicule when we were focusing on the world. Serving the flesh, getting a job, and occasionally going to church, nobody had a problem with that. Yet, now that we share our testimony and how Jesus made us perfect. Many people started judging and ridiculing us. It's proof that God is working. Satan wants to deter us from preaching this precious gospel. I hope we can all preach boldly like Paul. Amen!
