Going Forward in Chaos, Part 3
The Truth
By Bob Benson, President/CEO CCBA
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
Happy Easter!! Two key events in history are recognized and celebrated this weekend. I will highlight them both in this article.
Summary to Date
No matter what is happening in the world or your life, “You’ve got to keep on dancing.” How does one do that effectively and with a sense of peace and hope? One needs an anchor for their soul during times of fear, disappointment, venerability, disillusionment, or uncertainties – of any kind. You need to define reality. And you need help defining it.
Practical Strategic Insights: The Key Insights in this article and the articles to follow fit together like key pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Whether you have been a Christian for many years or are an inquisitive seeker, I pray you will read through the entire letter. It is my pleasure to share these key insights that God used to set me free. The theme in these articles of insight is:
The Bible is reality, not a religion.
In Part I: The Anchor, we presented scientific evidence from an astrophysicist in Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Miracles. The evidence concludes the Universe had to be created by an intelligent and creative higher power from outside of the Universe. The Bible calls this higher power God or Jehovah. If you have doubts, please read Part I published in January 2022. The bible is reality, not a religion. Christ never intended His Church to be a religion. The bottom line repeated throughout Scripture concerning our relationship with Jehovah was summarized by King Solomon, “Fear God and obey His commands for that is the whole duty of man.” WHY?
In Part II: Jesus Christ, Undercover Boss, we noted the Bible declared creation, including humans, to be “very good,” perfect, without blemish or “shame.” Adam and Eve were in perfect harmony and connection with God and His life-giving force. They were happy and at peace, experiencing everything they needed for a fulfilling life. To keep it that way, God gave them a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan influenced Adam and Eve into disobeying God.
Because of this disobedience, “sin” entered their bodies, giving them a sinful nature that passes from generation to generation. This has resulted in a dysfunctional world population influenced by Satan and his forces.
This is why Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross! He paid the penalty for our sins and provided for us to have life on earth with a new nature. One that is again, as it was in the beginning, made in God’s image and sinless. Each person can obtain that new nature if he/she chooses to receive Christ into their life as Savior and Lord. However, each of us has to personally choose to live in the new nature daily through the power of Christ in us and the renewing of our minds. How do we renew our minds? With the Truth!!!
Key Insight: Jesus Christ, God’s Son and King of God’s Kingdom, came to earth to provide humans with the restoration of their hearts and supernatural solutions for the sin nature condition. He came to defeat Satan’s diabolical schemes to keep humans controlled by the sinful nature and his forces of darkness and evil. Part II presented 16 reasons Christ came to earth to set people free. He came “that they may have life, and have it to the full,” the way it was originally intended by God!
These solutions are activated by belief in Jesus, gratitude for his death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and by personally receiving Him into our life as Lord and Savior. That is freedom from the bondage of our sinful nature and Satan’s power.
Key insight: The Bible is reality, not a religion. Christianity was never intended to be a religion. The Bible is a book of truth (reality), an operating manual so to speak. It instructs us how to experience life as God originally intended, in a positive relationship with God, His Son Jesus Christ, and each other.
Key insight: To experience this fullness, you must read and apply the Bible as reality! Do this even if you don’t understand what you are reading, or you don’t see a positive outcome immediately. That will come in God’s timing as you ask Him for help, directions, understanding, and wisdom.
The Bible instructs us that God is a personal and loving God, that is, He is involved in our lives in many ways. How much He is involved is determined by our choices, understanding of the various spiritual resources He has given us, our trustworthiness, and our belief (trust) in Him.
In 2 Peter, the Bible declares that “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” How much power does God (Jehovah) have? Look up at the Universe tonight – He created it! And He created it from a location outside of the known Universe! How do you get to know Him? Follow His teachings and spend time with Him in prayer.
Jesus Christ, King of God’s Kingdom
Christ Came to Bear Witness to the Truth!
“Then Pilate said to Him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’” John 18:37 ESV
In the Strong’s Concordance, the meaning of alétheia: truth is summarized: “In ancient Greek culture, 225 (alḗtheia) was synonymous for “reality” as the opposite of illusion, i.e. fact.” The definition: “truth Usage: truth, but not merely truth as spoken; truth of idea, reality, sincerity, truth in the moral sphere, divine truth revealed to man, straightforwardness.”
It is interesting to me that Jesus says “the truth,” not just any old truth. I have been attending evangelical churches for over sixty years and have never heard a sermon on the fact that Jesus said it was “for this purpose I was born.” Christ came to define reality. However, it no longer surprises me because Christ said we have an enemy, Satan, and he doesn’t want us to know “the truth” (reality). That’s why “there are approximately 41,000 Christian denominations and organizations in the world today” (Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary). Many of them claim to have the truth but teach conflicting truths. God is not the author of confusion – Satan is!
“I have come here from God. …I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning [deceiving Adam & Eve with lies], not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says…”
John 8:42-47
Christian or non-Christian, let’s look at some key teachings about “the truth” that will change your life forever. When you sincerely ask God for the forgiveness of your sins and thank Christ for coming to earth to die (pay the penalty for those sins) and receive Christ to dwell in your life as Savior and Lord, you are “born again.”
At that moment, four (4) very significant changes happen.
- You are born into God’s family and you literally become one of His children!
- Christ enters your life and dwells in you through God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
- Your old sinful nature dies on the cross with Jesus, and you receive a new nature, made in the image of God. Your new nature has no “sin” living it!
- You become a decedent of Abraham and a hire of the promise God made to him!
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32 NIV
What does Christ mean here? He means precisely what he said. To hold to means to “comply with” and “cling to” them. To never let go of them. “I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!” John 8:51 NLT
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:1-2 NIV
How do you renew your mind? With “the truth.” Prioritize reading the Bible for yourself and ask Christ to lead you to the truth.
Christ Came to Die for Your Sins & Offer You the Gift of Life
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:16-18
The following verses from the Bible tell the story better than I can.
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” John 12:24-27
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13
You may be asking; how do I receive Christ into my life? You can easily do it simply by praying to Him. Following is an example. Begin by being honest with Christ and pray about what’s on your heart. Admit to Him that you have sinned against God and His law (the ten commandments). Thank Him for dying on the cross as payment for your sins, and invite Him into your life as your Savior. And receive him as the Lord of your life. Ask him to direct your steps, for guidance, for wisdom, and knowledge. Pray about anything else that is on your mind.
Then read the Bible regularly, asking Him and the Holy Spirit to guide you to the truth. If you have not already done so, start by reading the book of John and then read the rest of the New Testament. Trust Christ by holding to His teaching. And be mindful of who Christ is.
“In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, He has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent Him. “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
John 5:22-24 NLT
“Christianity is a Reality, not a Religion”
“…I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God…”
Acts 2:29-33
Happy Easter – He Has Risen!!!
Next month we will move forward with Part IV of Going Forward in Chaos by examing more of the 16 reasons Christ came to earth. In the meantime, remember:
The 15 Dynamics of Building a Cash Cow
“You may say to yourself, ’My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” Deuteronomy 8:17-19 NIV
THE LORD BE WITH YOU AND BLESS YOU!
