Relational Bridges

  Christ Took Our Punishment Romans 3:21-25; 4:20-25 “But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.   We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.   For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.   Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.   For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood.  “ A relationship with God is not some kind of pagan-like “quid-pro-quo” religious arrangement where God becomes obligated to “bless” me because I’ve ticked all the boxes in moralistic rule-keeping. The truth is, there is only One huma...

 WE ARE AT WAR Ephesians 6:10-13 “ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.     Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.     For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”   We live on a planet that is at war. It is an unseen war, and it is going on around us all the time. Humanity has an adversary committed to deceiving, distracting and decimating humanity by any possible means. Satan, a fallen Arch Angel, and the angels he deceived into rebelling against God with him are the cosmic powers that St. Paul is describing in his Ep...

  WHAT WILL YOU DO Romans 1:18-20, 28-32 "But God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because He has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that ...

LIFE CHANGE P salm 50:16-21 “ But God says to the wicked: “Why bother reciting My decrees   and pretending to obey My covenant? For you refuse My discipline   and treat My words like trash.   When you see thieves, you approve of them,   and you spend your time with adulterers.   Your mouth is filled with wickedness,   and your tongue is full of lies.   You sit around and slander your brother—   your own mother’s son.   While you did all this, I remained silent,   and you thought I was exactly like you. But now I will rebuke you,   listing all my charges against you. ” There is a religious moralism practiced by some who claim to belong to God. They think that their worship and offerings are somehow doing God a favor. The idea held here is that by living a moral and ethical life, our religious observance puts God in our debt. The truth is, however, that what God gives us in Christ Jesus is a gift. It is all about grace and God’...

 No Weapon Formed Against You Will Prosper -- Isaiah 54:17  God never states that "no weapon will be formed against you." He just clearly declares that they will not prosper. So don't be dismayed when you see "weapons" being formed against you. You are clothed in Jesus Christ, God's armor. He is the Truth girding you, your Righteousness covering your heart, He is the Gospel giving you stability so you can run and not be weary, run and not faint. He is your Salvation, your helmet. The Holy Spirit is renewing your mind to conform it to Jesus' Mind. He is your shield for you live by His faith and He is the Sword of the Spirit, the Living Word. Saint, you are a soldier who never takes their armor off. You are clothed with Christ Jesus, a new DNA, a new "skin" never removed. The enemy only has flaming arrows of lies and deceit. He has no defensive weapons. When you resist him, all that Jesus is is brought to bear to drive him away and he has no reco...

 Listen and Take Heed Psalm 83 is a Psalm that spoke to its own timeframe, but prophetically is a living Word for this day in time. The world ignores this and other warnings from the Lord God at its peril, its eternal peril. Read and consider. Psalm 83 A song. A psalm of Asaph. 1 O God, do not be silent! Do not be deaf. Do not be quiet, O God. 2 Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies? Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up? 3 They devise crafty schemes against your people; they conspire against your precious ones. 4 “Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence.” 5 Yes, this was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you— 6 these Edomites and Ishmaelites; Moabites and Hagrites; 7 Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre. 8 Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. 9 Do to them as you...

  Security – Ephesians 2:14 There is a foundationary need in all humanity, a deep-seated hunger for security and peace. That essential part of being fully human was lost to all of us when Adam and Eve chose to believe the satanic lie that they could find wholeness and meaning in life apart from God. They were not told to deny the existence of God, to cease believing that God was there, but to simply believe that He did not matter. Humanity was plunged into a darkness so profound that we were deceived into believing that our “darkness” was actually “light”…enlightenment. People have, since then, measured security and peace by attempting to have everyone around them conform to how they believe others should think and act in order to be secure and peaceful. That demand that others be conformed into our image has been the ground of wars, racism, slaughters and atrocities beyond comprehension being perpetrated upon other humans. We have been deceived into thinking and acting as if w...