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Dear
Christian Friend:
Donna
and I celebrated our 49th. wedding anniversary on Oct.
8th. Below is a little article that the Lord gave me as
I awakened that morning, with these thoughts about Jesus
on my
heart!
- Pastor Max Solbrekken, October 9, 2004
WHY
JESUS IS SO UNIQUE? THERE IS NO ONE LIKE HIM IN
HEAVEN OR EARTH!
When
Jesus enters a life, He changes that life for the
betterment of society! Jesus gives direction, purpose
and meaning to life because He is LIFE!
He
does for that person what he cannot do for himself,
because man has been less than fulfilled, ever since the
major theft of true knowledge, understanding and
equilibrium. Jesus restores man back to his rightful
place on this planet with life, and that more abundant!
(John 10: 10)
Satan,
the adversary of God and man - a killer and murderer -
executed that theft from our first parents, Adam and
Eve, in the Garden of Eden! He is charged with
grand larceny and with rebellion and idolatry! Before I
continue with this incredible, yet true story, let me
share the following expose of the 'Evil One', whom we
call Satan (heb. adversary) and the devil (gr. liar,
false accuser).
SATAN
IS: A
lying spirit, a defeated foe, a fallen angel, an
eternally lost entity, a master deceiver
SATAN
IS: a
subtle counterfeiter and forger, a gigantic masquerader,
a deceptive angel of light, a terrible joke and bad, bad
news
SATAN
IS: a
murdering personality, the god of filth, a destroyer and
killer, a thief, the father of lies, an habitual liar, a
constant loser, a tormentor of the first degree
SATAN
IS: a
bully extra-ordinaire, the very plague himself, sickness
and disease multiplied, evil personified, the enemy of
God and man, a quick change artist, the doomed despot,
the unsatisfied sadist
SATAN
IS: the
architect of perversion, the defrocked archangel, the
disobedient rebel, the world's greatest gangster and
saboteur, terrorist of terrorists and father of all
jihadists, suicide bombers and children killers!
Please note: I wrote this section, by inspiration about
30 years ago! m.s.
About
2000 years ago, however, history was made on the
grandest scale ever conducted on Earth, when God
the Son came to this planet in the form of a virgin-born
child in Bethlehem. Incarnated, God in human
flesh!
For
what purpose and to what end did He come? To
seek and to save that which was lost and to liberate
sinful, sick and dying humanity from the slavery of
Satanic Intrigue and invention! To redeem fallen man
from the curse of the law! (Gal. 3: 13) And to build His
Church and empower it to take back what Satan had stolen
from the human race!
What
can Jesus be likened to?
To frightened sailors aboard an ocean going sail ship
that had been drifting helplessly for days,
toward an island whose inhabitants were hungry
cannibals, He is a merciful wind that suddenly came out
of nowhere, in answer to the fervent prayers of the
missionary, Hudson Taylor!
To
millions of hopeless, superstitious and fearful slaves
of sin, false religion, despotic tyrants and enslaving
addictions, Jesus gives hope, peace and the sheer joy of
liberty, safety and the sense of family!
What
can Jesus be likened to? He is like
water to the one dying of thirst, food to the starving
refugee and pure familial love to the child of neglect,
abuse and violence! He is peace to the troubled mind,
pardon to the tormented conscience and new health to the
diseased body!
Jon
Calvin - the great reformer - stated: "I gave my
life to Jesus and what did I get in return?
Everything!"
Jesus
said : "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on
earth." (Matt. 28: 20). The Bible states:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and
forever." (Heb. 13: 8).
That
means that Jesus Christ is Omnipotent (almighty),
Omniscient (all wise), Omnipresent (everywhere present),
Eternal (without beginning or ending) and Immutable (His
Word and character are unchangeable)!
And
He calls to you, my sinner friend! Will you answer,
"Yes, Lord"? I pray that you will! Here is His
offer to you: "Come unto Me all ye who labour
and are heavy laden and I will give you
rest." (Matt. 11:
28).
Amen.
Afflictions
Can Help MOLD CHARACTER
By
Pastor Max Solbrekken,
D.D.
“Who
in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up
prayers
and supplications with strong
crying and tears
unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was
heard in that He feared; Though
He were a Son, yet
learned He obedience by the things which He suffered;
And
being made perfect, He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that fear.”
(Hebrews
5: 7-9)
Although Jesus Christ was true God, He was also
true man through His incarnation. When He came to redeem
us - even though He was God the Son - He
became a servant and had to be tempted as we are, and
suffer pain and adversity, yet without sin or sickness! (Phil.
2:5-8)
The Bible says: “For we have not an High Priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. Who His own Self bare our sins
in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to
sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes
ye were healed” (Hebrews 4:14, 15; 1 Pet. 2:24).
The amazing thing is that although Jesus was born
without sin, He nevertheless had to be tried and tested
as a perfect
human being, and “learned obedience by the
things which He suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)
Although Jesus was perfect in His divinity,
He also had to be perfect in His humanity so that He could be the perfect
Saviour, able to atone for our sins as the perfect Sacrifice –
without spot or blemish – and rise again in power to
be the perfect
Judge over men, angels and (demons) fallen
angels!
WHY
DID JESUS HAVE TO SUFFER?
The Bible gives us the answer: “…because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that we should follow His steps: Who did no sin,
neither was guile found in His mouth: When He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened
not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth
righteously.” (1 Peter 2:21-23)
HE IS
OUR GREAT EXAMPLE!
He showed us how to live in the Spirit, making a total
commitment to God our Father, and to die victoriously ‘in
the faith’! “For if we be dead
with Him, we shall also live
with Him: If we suffer,
we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He
will also deny us.” (2 Timothy 2:11, 12)
The Bible says: “Yea, and all that will
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (2
Timothy 3:12) “The Spirit Himself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with
Him, that wr
may be also glorified together.”
(Rom.
8:
16
,
17)
THIS
IS REAL CHRISTIANITY:
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or
free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. And
whether one member suffer, all the members suffer
with it; or one member be honoured, all the members
rejoice with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:
13,26)
The Holy Spirit urges: “Remember them that
are in bonds, as bound with them;
and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body. Here is good news: “There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to
man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to
be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the
temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be
able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10: 13)
GO
D CAN TURN OUR
PROBLEMS INTO VICTORIES
1.
TO
DIRECT US ~
Joseph
(a type of Christ) was rejected by his brothers and sold
as a slave. He did not give up, however, but by God’s
grace he rose above his troubles and made a new life in
Egypt.
When
his brothers discovered his identity, they were afraid.
Joseph assured them: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it for
good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save much
people alive.” (Gen.50: 20)
The
afflictions that Joseph suffered at the hands of his brothers
as well as Potipher’s wife (who lied and falsely accused him), were used by
God to give him direction and to eventually place him on
the throne next to the Pharaoh!
2.
TO INSPECT US ~
Abraham
went through a severe process of testing when the
Almighty asked him to sacrifice his only son Isaac (a
type of Jesus) with the belief that God would
raise him from the dead, to fulfill His earlier promise
of a great and lasting posterity to the patriarch!
While
obeying God’s command, the angel of the Lord stopped
Abraham, saying: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him: for
now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”
(Gen. 22: 12)
Abraham
had passed the ultimate test by being willing to obey
God, even in such a drastic matter. He inadvertently
became the only historical and theological type of God Himself giving His only
Son, to die on
Calvary
which is situated on
Mount
Moriah
, as the only vicarious Saviour for
all sinners – past, present and future!
Abraham
called that place Jehovah
Jireh meaning ‘the
Lord sees, will provide for Himself a sacrifice’! Jesus was the sacrifice that God provided in the place of Isaac!
And what was the outcome for Abraham?
Here it is: “And the
angel of the Lord called unto Abraham the second time,
and said, By
Myself
have I sworn, saith the Lord, for
because thou hast done this thing , and hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son; That in
blessing I
will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the
sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies.
“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
thou hast obeyed My voice.” (Gen.22: 16-18)
3.
TO CORRECT US
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