Eternal Life - Knowing Him

In John 17, Jesus is validating his mission and his being sent 'from the Father'.

"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples 6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours."

I am greatly impacted each time I read the Scripture above because it validates the real TRUTH about life and LIFE (life as God intended)!

God granted Christ authority over all people. God, our creator, grants this authority to His Son. He has authority to give eternal life to all that God intends to give eternal life. Hello!! Pretty clear, huh? Any questions??

What is eternal life? TO KNOW GOD AS THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM HE HAS SENT. He means clouds and angels and pristine and white and cool and.......... no, Eternal Life is to KNOW God and KNOW Jesus Christ.

Who do you know the best? Your best friend? Your spouse? Your brother/sister, boyfriend, huh? Eternal life (heaven, eternity, everything) is to KNOW God and Jesus Christ. To really know them.

Paul's, Peter's and John's exhortations to us in many areas of their letters to the churches are to KNOW God; a relationship with HIM...

How? Again, read the Bible, Christian oriented books, listen to wholesome Christian radio, talk about your faith with your Believing friends. Get to KNOW Him and your Eternal Lifing (my phrase)... haha, LIFE - ing.

How did they get there? By Believing in Christ. By Believing His words, which is 'obeying' what Christ said; Believe in God, believe also in me.

There we go......

Love ya

Bill/Dad

Well... A New Energy for Those I Love

Good Morning!!

Whew, Anne and I have been at it over the last week or so. What do I mean? We've been working, traveling, attending basketball games (of course) and, most importantly, visiting with people we know and love. Yup, that's what's got me invigorated... the people we know and love.

I'm not going to delve deeply into it, but, I have been energized to challenge all of you to participate with me.

This may be violating some copyright issues with the Rick Warren Ministry, but I intend to contact them to ask if it's OK, but................

I challenge you!! Do this with me and your life will never be the same, guaranteed. (get that G?).

I am going to read through Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose Driven Life" and I am challenging you all to read it with me. We will sign the commitment sheet, we will read a chapter a day and we will complete the requirements at the end of each chapter. I am asking you to commit to it with me, to stay on track and to respond each day with an email to me that you are on track. I don't want to coerce anyone to do it, but, I know that when committed, we can do it together and grow in the knowledge of God.

Please email me and I will forward the first chapter to you. We will begin on Monday, 2/23/09.

Please, my loved ones, commit to doing this with me. It will change your life to the better!!!!!

No coersion, but, come on Anne, Mom, Dad, G, Robin, Sha, Robert, Taypo, Damian, McKenzie, Matt, Reilly, Fab????

Bill/Dad

A letter response to a friend of mine;

I am inspired by the letter below. Indeed, I believe you are right and that this type of consideration is important.

As I was reading I kept thinking of the 'prompting of the Holy Spirit' in each Believer's life. I believe that regular Bible reading and study/meditation are critical to the Spiritual conviction of the Believer, including what you have identified as 'socially acceptable sins' below.

I believe the Holy Spirit is working in each Believer's life and each of us is responsible for our response to Him, for instance, I participate in a few of the 'sins' you identify below. I am constantly reminded to, not, waste my time in senseless things like; watching too much tv and sports (in particular), but to use my time more wisely by reading and/or planning for Chrisitian outreach. And, to not criticize (gossip about) others, but to recognize their need for a Savior and being prompted to pray for them vs gossip about them. You see, it is the Holy Spirit that reminds, counsels and guides me to do those things. I believe it is a connection to the Lord through my devotionals and consistency in reading the Bible and fellowship that reminds me to........... obey Him.

We are to encourage those that are not Believers to become Believers. We are encouraged to love our fellow Believers and work within our gifted areas to set the example for our brothers and sisters to 'grow in the knowledge of God'. I recently have been reading a wonderful book by Gary North, "Backward Christian Soldiers" and one thing that jumped out to me was; "The prophets also reminded them of the warnings of Deuteronomy 28. there would be judgments from God: in economics, agriculture, civil government, military strategy, foreign policy, religious worship, and family relations. There is no escape. Sinners must repent.

In other words, the Old Testament prophets closed the escape hatches. They would not let the sinners off of God's hook in any area of life. They told them that God's judgement is comprehensive because men's sins are comprehensive.

But we must never forget what kind of judgement the prophets preached: judgment unto resporation. God had them preach judgement unto destruction to the pagan nations around Israel (except for Jonah, when he preached in Neneveh). What we, too, must preach, is judgment unto restoration." pg 43, Gary North, 1984, Institute for Christian Economics.

Judgment unto restoration is the message.........

In Him.

Where the heck have you been??

Alright, I admit it... I've been a slackard, McFly.... No really, I have been ignoring my devotional time. I don't know exactly why it happens (I do have a bit of an answer I may share another time), but, I believe I am normal and that, at times, each of us slips into our little 'worldly' place. Hmm?

Regardless, I have been drawn back to write and to share.

God is awesome. Just read the beginning of the Bible; Genesis 1.... "in the beginning, God created...." and the rest of the story unfolds from there.

We are new creations in Christ which is what happens according to the New Testament accounts of Christ's walk on earth. When we believe on Him and maintain our faith in God's reclamation of us through Christ, it is our faith in Him that assures our place in Heaven's eternity.

"8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2.

It is our appreciation and thankfulness to God that draws us into a life of faith, love, compassion and service. It is the Holy Spirit that indwells us and continuously reminds us of God's mercy, Christ's sacrifice and our need for God's intervention in our lives and work. We are to 'put on Christ.' It is God that is doing His work in and through us. Praise Him!!!

Look into this life by reading the Bible, maintaining close accounts with God through prayer, recognize the truth about yourself and your need for God's mercy, love others as they are just like ourselves, and, grow in the knowledge of God.

Amen