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Remember in Judges 1 when the angel predicted that all those people the Israelites had NOT removed from the promised land were going to be “thorns in your sides” and “a snare for you?” Well that was exactly what happened. When the Israelites forgot about all the amazing things God had done for them, those surrounding peoples started looking might nice. They adopted their evil culture and started worshiping their gods (keep in mind, this means they began sacrificing their children and other atrocities as those foreign gods required).

Sanctification is one of the most important components of the Christian life. But many churches have forgotten or just stopped teaching about it. As a result, many church goers today have no concept of this most important process of sanctification. Our church has in many ways become just like the Israelites who did not drive out all of the inhabitants of the land. Instead they made covenants with the other peoples, adopted their practices and worshiped their gods. Much of the Christian church today has done exactly this. We have made covenants with the world and with our own sinful natures by overlooking, adopting, and practicing the world’s wickedness.

Loving God is a CHOICE. It isn’t natural and it doesn’t always come easy. It takes great care and determination. The world offers so many diversions to fill up our time. Most of them are meaningless vanities. But God implores us to choose you this day whom you will serve.

Some day, when we die or Jesus returns for us, we will finally completely take possession of our Promised Land, the LORD will hand all of our enemies over to us and we will have “rest on every side.” Hallelujah, thank You, Jesus!

The ability to come to Jesus or not all depends upon our starting position. If we begin from a position of pride, assuming we can figure it all out using our own human brains (as if our own human brains could be capable of figuring it all out)… if we begin from this position of pride, we will end up not believing Jesus is the only way to God. It just doesn’t make sense to our human brains. If pride is our starting point, then we will come up with all kinds of ways that we can discount Jesus and save ourselves. Pride cannot accept that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Jesus has always existed from the very beginning of time. Jesus is God’s living WORD. Jesus is God Himself. EVERYTHING was created THROUGH Jesus Christ. Jesus is our LIFE and our LIGHT, the one and ONLY true light that can enlighten every person. Jesus became flesh and lived on earth with us but we did not recognize who He was. But those of us who DO recognize His identity, those of us who believe and receive Jesus, become children born of God.

Imagine this amazing scene. Suddenly Jesus appeared in the midst of the disciples. They couldn’t believe their eyes. They had watched Him die just a few short days ago. Yet there He was… ALIVE!!! There He was showing them the crucifixion scars on His hands and feet, eating a piece of fish to prove He was indeed real in the flesh and not merely a spirit. How could this be? How marvelous! What a fantastic miracle!!

Can you imagine the confusion, the tiny glimmer of hope, the absolute astonishment the disciples must have felt when their eyes were opened and they suddenly realize they are sitting with Jesus?! How incredulous they must have been. They had witnessed Jesus’ body being irreparably damaged. They watched Him die. Yet there He was… ALIVE!!!

And so it is with ALL of humanity. Jesus hangs in the center between those who reject and mock Him, and those who recognize their desperate need for His salvation. We either understand that death is our just sentence for our crimes or we don’t. We either understand the importance of Jesus’ sacrifice or we think it was pointless. Christ is the only way to salvation or He is not. There is no standing on the fence.

Satan is STILL trying to crucify Jesus… in the courtyard of our current culture, in cyberspace, the news, from the pulpits of many of our churches, from our teachers and politicians. Still he is insistent, with loud voices, demanding that we abolish Christ from our midst. He will tell any old lie about Jesus that he thinks will work… He’s a fairytale, anti-science, misogynist, racist, just a good teacher… any old lie. And he will never ever shut up or give up. And we are watching as his voice is beginning to prevail.