The Gift and the Gift Card.

This ministry is based on something very simple yet almost too incredible to believe. The fact that Jesus Christ came from heaven - His sole purpose was to hang out with humans long enough for us to get to know him and then die a vicious death to pay for all the wrong things we did, do, and will do - ever. That was it - the entire mission. He came. He taught. He paid, because he loves us. And then He was taken back up to heaven.

In Mark's account of his time with Jesus he recounts the abuse that Jesus endured for me. In chapter 14 Mark tells how Jesus was before the Jewish ruling counsel and how they physically beat him with their fists, slapped his face, and spit on him. But this abuse just scratches the surface. Later, in chapter 15, Mark tells about how the roman soldiers scourged him. If you've ever seen the movie The Passion of the Christ, you now are aware of what a scourging is. Even as I write this I get queasy over the memory of that scene. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, a scourge is a handle with many leather cords attached to it. Today it's most commonly referred to as a cat o' nine tails. Often, metal objects were attached to the ends of the tails so that when it hit the skin it would tear it open. Even after the scourging, Mark tells us that the roman court pressed the crown on thorns into his head, spit on him some more, and beat him in the head with a stick.

My friend, you and I were separated from God by the sin in our lives. God saw this and he didn't like it. He wanted a way to have a relationship with us again. The only way He could do that was to have Jesus Christ endure this punishment and eventually die and go to hell - all so that you and I could have a relationship with God again. You and I should have been the one spit on, beaten up, and scourged - our skin ripped apart in searing pain. You and I are the ones who rightly deserve to die and go to hell for the sin in our lives. But God doesn't want us to go to hell. He doesn't want us to die. He loves us and wants a relationship with us. He wants us to be with Him.

Jesus Christ took our place in the beatings, the abuse, the death, and our place in hell so that we could go on living in community with God. He loved us that much. He gave us this gift - the gift of forgiving the wrong things we do and a seat with him in heaven forever. We don't have to pay for it - the price has already been paid. We can't earn it like a paycheck. It comes with no strings attached - it's free!

For Christan married men, this gift comes with a gift card attached. The card says just one thing on it:

Ephesians 5:25
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her."

*If you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as the one who saves you from the wrongs you do in your life you're still separated from God. If you want to change this, send an e-mail to Info@4BetterOr4Worse.org and someone will contact you and help you make this happen in your life. We can't do it without him, and what's more is that we were never meant to.

Basic Training - Part Four: Victory!

Welcome to the fourth and final post dealing with the basics of Christianity and how God created us as human beings.  This information is the basis of the Christian faith and the foundation that a Christian marriage is based on.  These are concepts that are taken directly from the Bible.  The material and diagrams are produced by the Association of Exchanged Life Ministries (www.aelm.org).

There are diagrams to the right of the post that go along with the information.  If they seem small on your monitor feel free to right click on them and download. them to your computer.  This is NOT copyrighted material.  Each post will remain here for a week with the respective diagrams.  At the beginning of a new week, a new post will appear with the new diagrams.  The previous post will of course be beneath the new post, but the diagrams for the previous week will be gone.

Again, because this is a blog specifically focused on men - men will be specifically referred to.  Yet the information here applies equally to both men and women.

Part Four – Victorious Living.

I just want to take a moment and thank my wife, Jann for helping me put together and condense the exchanged life material into these four small posts.  She’s been a great help to me.

In the first post we talked about how God created us in three parts – body, soul, and spirit.  We looked at what happens when we’re dead to sin and, because He loved us so much, he offered us the gift of grace, which is the exchange of our dead, sinful spirit for his Holy Spirit.  In the second post we talked about how grace makes it so that we no longer have to be concerned with living our lives perfectly in order to achieve salvation.  We are free to choose NOT to sin because we are no longer slaves to sin.  The third post talks about our new identity in Jesus Christ and how it is Him who lives in and through us.   Yet, we still have to make the choice to follow him or to follow our own way. 

This week I want to close out this series by celebrating this victory over sin.  I’m going to do this by walking through some Bible verses that show how great this victory is.  Again, our victory is complete through Jesus Christ who died on the cross.  He took us with him spiritually on the cross, to hell, and back again through resurrection and has us spiritually seated with him in heaven.  It’s over.  It’s done.  You’re salvation is complete and there’s nothing you need to do but have a ball with it!

Let’s look at some things:

In Romans 8:36-39 the apostle Paul spells things out pretty clearly:

As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How great is it to know that nothing can separate us from the God who loves us?!

In Romans again, Paul explains our freedom from slavery to sin:

Romans 6:16-18

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

When you live under grace the Holy Spirit inside you directly effects the three parts of your soul – you mind, will, and emotions. 

In Romans 15:18 Paul talks about how realizing this victory changes the way you think (your mind). 

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done.

It also changes what you want to do (your will).

Romans 13:14

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Remember -  you are free from sin and have the ability to choose.

Victory under the grace system also brings peace (emotions).

Psalm 23:3

He restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Ephesians 3:20, 21 shows us the effect we can have on our corner of the world. 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

Phil 4:19 assures us that God is all we need for anything in our lives.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

In the following verses the Bible confirms that God lives inside us and we have His power through the Holy Spirit.

I Corinthians 2:16

For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"  But we have the mind of Christ.

Phil 4:13

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

This is the fabulous message of salvation that empowers us to be not only Christian men, but also husbands and fathers living under God’s grace.  Under the grace system we have the opportunity to do wonderful things in the relationships with our spouses and families.  The content of these four posts is the foundation of any information you read here. 

With out God’s gift of salvation through grace anything you would read here would be simply my opinion based on my efforts to be as good as I can be according to the old law of right and wrong.  Because of the Grace of God, I’m able to be used by him, for Him to speak to you through me, and I receive a blessing for it. 

This is not the gospel according to some guy.  This is God speaking to you through me.  If it ever becomes anything else it’s time to shut down this blog (go back and look at Romans 15:18).

Thanks for your time.

Basic Training Notice

Starting Monday, October 20, my wife and I are going to post a collaborative series of messages that address the basics of being a married Christian.  While this blog is specifically addressed to men, the content of these posts apply to both men and women. 

There will be 4 posts dealing with what happens when you become a Christian, the power of the Holy Spirit inside us, the gift of Grace and how it gives us freedom from sin, and how we live having won the battle over sin.  I'll put up a new post each monday starting Oct 20 with the last post on Nov 10.  This series is intended to be a check-up, putting us all on the same page as I go forward with the mission of supporting Christian married men.  

If you receive 4BetterOr4Worse posts through an RSS feed you'll want to actually go to the site and bookmark it.   The RSS feed will not bring over the visual aids that go along with this series that will really help you understand how to apply this information.  

I want to thank my wife Jann for helping me put these things together.   She has received formal training on all of the information covered and she's helping me condense a huge amount of information into 4 posts. 

See you next week!