Hebrews Lesson 58: Living to Please God :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles, Sean Gooding

Chapter 13: 18-25

18 “Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. 19 But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

22 And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words. 23 Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly. 24 Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. 25 Grace be with you all. Amen.”

Many of us have a hard time with having a purpose in our lives. We live in a sense of ambiguity, and we are unable to settle on a life goal and purpose. However, our Lord God has a way of distilling things down to their simplest forms and making it so that we have no excuses as to why we do not obey Him.  Over the almost 40 years that I have been in ministry, one of the things that I have tried to learn myself and to help others to learn is that God does not ask us to do things that cannot be done. The Christian life is a practical life that can be lived in obedience to the Lord, and in this passage, the apostle Paul gives us some insights as to how to live to please the Lord.

  • Remember what Jesus did for you, verse 20

This may sound too simple to be true, but it is that simple. Each and every day, our motivation to live pleasing to God is that we recall how we were saved. We were not saved by our own power, by our own accomplishments, by our own ability, and certainly not by our own righteousness. Jesus did it for us. We were lost, damned to Hell, the flames licking at our feet, and then Jesus joyfully came and redeemed us. He paid my price for my sin; He and He alone satisfied the righteous judgment of God, and I am now a child of God according to 1 John 3:1. This should motivate us to live to please God.

Not only did He redeem us, but it is an ‘everlasting’ redemption; no one can take it from us. We are preserved and protected by God. Jesus is our High Priest who never stops pleading on our behalf in Heaven, our Advocate and our best friend. Take the time each day to remember what Jesus did. Read about the payment that is made and begin every day in awe that you are a child of God and no longer under His wrath because of Jesus and what He did and is doing for us. As a thankful people, we should, out of rabid gratitude, live to please God in any and all ways that we can. When we fail, when we sin, and we will, we have forgiveness (1 John 1:8-9) promised to us from God.

  • Complete to do His will, verse 21

God makes us able to do His work and His will. We are not able to please God in and of ourselves, even when we are saved. We still need His help every second of the day, and this is why He sent us the Holy Spirit to live in us and to empower our churches. This is so we have the leadership and the power to obey Him. He has left us without excuse. This is not about legalism and following rituals. Ours is a relationship that is as individual as any other relationship. God will lead you in ways that He will not lead another. There are fundamental things like being baptized, being a faithful member of a local church, and making a deliberate regiment of Bible study and prayer (we explored this last week).

But being religious is not a part of the walk we have with Jesus. Ours is a walk of relationship where we trust in the goodness of God and not in our accomplishments. We trust that God always has our best at heart even when it hurts and when we don’t understand, and we trust that God is our Friend and One in whom we can trust our darkest and deepest fears; God is good.

In Jesus, and only in Jesus, we have the power to ‘do His will’ and to live ‘pleasing in His sight.’ What will our life look like if we are to live pleasing to the Lord and in His will? The prophet Micah laid this out for us hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (NKJV)

These things seem too easy to read, but they are lifestyles based on desiring to please God. They are lifestyles that we can only have if Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is moving us to live. The whole complaint of God in Micah 6:1-7 was that the people were ‘serving’ God ritually but did not truly form a loving devotion to Him. They were going through religious motions and not living out in relationships. Notice that living to please God has a lot to do with how we treat others: live justly, walk humbly, and love mercy. This is all about others and how we treat them.

If we remember each day, recall as often as possible what it took to redeem us and save us, we will walk humbly, we will love to extend to others the mercy that we receive from the Lord each day, and we will live with personal integrity and live justly. These things please God, these things are His will, and these things show a true gratitude for the salvation that was so expensive to God but that is freely offered to us. May we never forget how great a salvation we have in Jesus.

1 Peter 1:18-21 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:18-21 NIV).

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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What Are We to Make of This Craziness? :: By Jim Towers

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

I don’t know what to make of this, but there is much to be considered when making decisions on what to believe these days. Were it not for the Bible, we would be groping in the darkness of the insanity that has taken over the world. It is the only thing that can keep people sane. It is God’s instruction manual for life. The following are but a few examples of what I’m talking about.

The last time I was in the hospital for an overnight observation due to angina, a female nurse who looked to be about fifty was sent to my room to run some tests and the like. Noticing her slight accent, I asked where she was from. She replied that she was from Kiev, Russia.

I then asked how long she had been here since she hadn’t yet lost her accent. “Twelve years,” she replied.

“How do you like our country?”

“I miss my country and wish to be back home,” she replied.

I had just finished reading all about Putin’s upbringing, his induction into the KGB, and finally, his ascension to the presidency of Russia. During his climb to power, there was a lot of intrigue, corruption, and mysterious deaths. So, I asked, “But aren’t you afraid of the war that’s going on right now and Putin?”

“I don’t like this crazy corrupt country; I feel more safe at home. Putin is a good man!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Well, why don’t you go back?”

“Because of my children; they like it here.”

In retrospect, I must agree our country is getting crazier by the day. Who would have thought that loonies and outright criminals would someday take over the governmental agencies of our great country, telling others what to believe, what to eat (bugs and worms), and how to live? First, they demanded we topple the statues of our founding fathers, then they insisted on mutilating our children to make them what gender they think they want to be. That is, until they grow up and have the capacity to make wise decisions. Now, the far left wants to teach their evil Woke doctrine in public schools as well, where students will learn to hate themselves for being white and become suicidal in the process.

If I had the money, I would buy these delusional people a one-way ticket to wherever it is that they would be happier, be it China, Haiti, or some other Godless totalitarian state.

For the first time in our country’s history, we are being asked to vote for a Hindu who endorses abortion as well. Ramaswami seems to think that because he is a billionaire, he can run a Christian country, but can we trust a nan who worships a blue female deity with six arms like a spider, a person who will one day become a cow?

Speaking of God, AI puppet masters are rewriting the Bible for AIs to interpret, and their handlers are making it possible to have discourse with Jesus and Moses as if they were real, live human beings! (Are these the precursor to the False image people will be forced to worship in the final days – during the Tribulation period?)

I just read all I could of Glen Becks’ latest book, titled Dark Future (a title that can mean anything. But alas, it veered off very quickly into the quagmire of finance (something I detest.) I expected he would be saying something about the human condition, or about revelations concerning the human race, or even about exposing corrupt politicians. I should have known better. The long-winded, all-knowing Glen Beck is, after all, a Morman, and Mormons are some of the most deluded people on the planet. I mean, who in their right mind is willing to believe that an angel named Moroney appeared to the young and glory-seeking foolish young man?

If that doesn’t stretch the imagination, then chew on this: he says he found two golden plates and new revelations written on them that no one can decipher except the one young man who found them in his back yard. (Didn’t he know that the Bible clearly says in the book of Revelation that this is absolutely wrong?)

Thank God for people like Jordan Peterson (the clinical psychiatrist), Tucker Carlson, and even Elon Musk, who are beginning to make a difference in our society by calling out the many errors of the Godless extremists and their foolish and hypocritical agenda, one of which is to do away with any social restraints put in place by the God they so feverishly hate and deny.

Jordan Peterson is going where even angels and preachers alike fear to tread, destroying the radical left’s agenda with good old-fashioned common sense. The only problem is that he feels he’s not good enough to fulfill this God-given mandate. In fact, nobody is. The Holy Spirit is the one who empowers us to speak boldly of the things of God. I (a nobody) am actively seeking an audience with him to set him straight on this issue.

Tucker Carlson has recently begun to expose and deride the Woke mob with his quick wit and common sense, too. This man is unpretentious, straightforward, and honest about his assessment of the state of the nation and society as a whole.

Far Left Liberals have run amuck with their woke agenda, continual lies, corruption, sexual deviancy, treason, and criminality.

Even Donald Trump is mellowing out a bit and sometimes thinks before he speaks. I can’t help but like the man for standing up for what he believes is right and true. We need more leaders like the aforementioned few, who have the intestinal fortitude to tell it like it is.

Truth be told, anybody who doesn’t abide by Christ’s teachings and Holy Scripture is in danger of judgment in the life to come.

YBIC

Jim Towers

Write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com or visit me at www.propheticsignsandwonders.com and www.dropzonedelta.com. My book Visions, Miracles, Peace, and Power can be found on Amazon and Kindle.