He is Risen, No Matter What People Say

He is Risen, No Matter What People Say 

by David Brenneman 

‭"I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:1-5.

I serve a risen Savior

  He’s in the world today.

I know that He is living,

  Whatever men may say.

I see His hand of mercy;

  I hear His voice of cheer;

And just the time I need Him

  He’s always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

    He lives within my heart.

In all the world around me

  I see His loving care,

And though my heart grows weary,

  I never will despair;

I know that He is leading,

  Through all the stormy blast;

The day of His appearing

  Will come at last.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

    He lives within my heart.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,

  Lift up your voice and sing

Eternal hallelujahs

  To Jesus Christ the King!

The Hope of all who seek Him,

  The Help of all who find,

None other is so loving,

  So good and kind.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

    He lives within my heart.

- Alfred Henry Ackley 1933.

"I Serve A Risen Savior"

The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones- William Shakespeare. 

In the case of the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...all His good came after His death and resurrection.  

Evil men in our world today are trying to hijack the tenants of the Christian faith. Renaming sacred days to fulfill their evil desires. 

One such evil is trying to rename today to 'honor' transgenders in place of the holy day Christians reserved for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That would be the President of the United States. 

To all: Jesus Christ is RISEN. 

There is this: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:2.

Jesus Christ was born, lived a sinless life, walking this Earth at His Father's behest in a life lived in full obedience to Him. Was turned over by the Jewish Leaders to the Gentiles of the Roman Government to be brutally beaten, scourged, mocked, ridiculed, nailed to a cross to die. That death was unlike any other in human history that the stars of the Heavens have ever seen or would see. The sins of all humanity were heaped upon Jesus as He hung there. The first and only time He was separated from His Father. His Father couldn't look at Him. 

Because of our sins He stayed on that cross.

Because of our need to be reconciled to God, He uttered not a word.

Because of the love with which He loved us He stayed there.

With the words of His mouth He brought creation into being. 

With His silence He made the way to save humanity. 

This evil seen in our world against Christians and Jews is only going to get worse.  

The digital world is a fantastic way to deliver information and to receive joyous news as well as bad.

My thoughts today my Dear Reader are for you to know this day to obtain a physical copy of the Bible. 

Days are coming of full censorship of the things of God. Get yourself a Bible before you won't be able to. 

Am I exaggerating? My Dear Friends...my calling is to write what I am told to write. That's the purpose of this blog. Faithfully I do my part, Faithfully Jesus meets me and shows me what to write. 

Jesus Christ is Lord of all. 

Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

Jesus Christ is the RISEN Savior. 

Do not be surprised that there is a day coming that to utter such words in public or even digitally will get you arrested, cause you to lose your job, lose your home. 

This is the reason for opening up today with that exhortation by Paul to Timothy. It's for all who are to preach the Word. Leave nothing out. Leave room for the Spirit of God to work. He saves, we don't. 

He protects the Word of God. He is the Helper, the Teacher, the guide to all that's good that transforms our lowly estate into the likeness of our Savior through sanctification. 

Pray for your leaders and ours. Country after country are giving way to more and more evils that are not new. These were seen before the global disaster as written in the book of Genesis called the Genesis Flood. Jesus said that the days would be like this when He comes back. 

Go and listen to what Jesus said. He desires obedience not sacrifice. 

He desires a man and woman after His own heart.

We are all commissioned to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that He commanded you. 

Celebrate today as the day celebrated to remember the rising of the Son of God to life again. Paving the way for the salvation of mankind to all who believe.  

Celebrate today as God intended, not as mankind is trying to rewrite it to be. 

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation. 

Warnings and Instructions

Warnings and Instructions

by David Brenneman 

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." ‭2 Timothy 3:1-7

"Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." ‭2 Timothy 3:10-17.

Really...unless your head is in the sand...you see all that the warnings of Paul to Timothy are about. Ignorance is no excuse. Willfully ignoring what we are being fully warned about is of no excuse. Choosing to only focus on what we define as good is only going to get you steamrolled. You are going to find yourself in the fights of your life. 

We certainly live in these days my Dear Reader. Jesus said that we're to be the salt of the Earth. Salt is used as a preservative. Salt irritates wounds as well. 

To grow in Christ takes on the connotation of a physical, spiritual, mental training in order to be prepared for what lies ahead. 

If you're driving along, see warning signs and ignore them, you will find yourself in trouble. Either the inconvenience of figuring out how to reverse direction or possibly getting a citation because you didn't heed the warnings. 

In living life in a Godly way the Spirit posts warnings of who and what to avoid and who and what to expect. 

Are you staying on the alert as Jesus said? He said it years before the Apostle Paul. 

The instructions to Timothy aren't just for Timothy. The instructions are some of the training that we've been given to live a life in Godliness. 

We are going to face obstacles in living life for our Savior.  

Guess what...for Believers...we will face obstacles in life by trying to avoid what the Spirit is trying to teach us. Those lessons will be revealed and they will be repeated. 

The work of the Spirit of God is manifold. Protect the Word of God. Seal those in Christ Jesus for salvation. Sanctification of all Believers. What God has said God will do.  

Willful obstinance will get you all the wrong kinds of attention from the Spirit of God.  

We don't come to Christ in order to get a paradise here on Earth until we die. 

‭1 Thessalonians 4:3a "For this is the will of God, your sanctification;"

My Dear Reader...in your praying...don't you expect the God and Savior Jesus Christ...to listen and address your concerns, thoughts and feelings?  

This same Savior is working all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. 

The "for good" part is this sanctification. 

A Biblical definition: Sanctification (or in its verb form, sanctify) literally means "to set apart for special use or purpose", that is, to make holy or sacred (compare Latin: sanctus). Therefore, sanctification refers to the state or process of being set apart, i.e. "made holy", as a vessel, full of the Holy Spirit of God.

In the world in which you live move and have your being...you who are in Christ Jesus are set apart for special use, for a special purpose...to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

We are set apart to do things in remembrance of Jesus. Also known as Three-Fold Communion. A love feast, a footwashing, the bread and cup.

Jesus said we are blessed when we do these things. 

Our world will never get better until after the Rapture of the Church, the 7 year Great Tribulation as written in the Bible. 

We actually prolong the wait for these events by willful disobedience in our sanctification.  

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. That mission was passed on to the first Believers and has been passed on to all future generations to this very day.  

As we just read..."and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He is with you and I when we are living in obedience and when we are not. 

Heed the warnings, engage in the training that the Spirit provides. Set your mind on the things that are above and not on the things that are of this world.  

You're not stepping out into anything but a sin cursed fallen world. A world where judgment awaits that starts when the Church of Jesus Christ is taken up in glory. 

You're stepping out into enemy occupied territory. It's not at all what the world wants you to believe. 

You're an enemy to this world. That's the hard truth. The world hated Jesus because He testified to the Truth. He said they hated Him they're going to hate you too.

Pray up before you head on out. 

Heed the warnings, hold tight to the promises of God. 

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.

Not a Christ of Our Own Creation

Not a Christ of Our Creation 

by David Brenneman 

‭"Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24.

‭“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:15-23.

And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:4-14.

"We cannot have a Christ of our own concoction. We cannot have a Christ of our own discovery. The only Jesus we have any validity in believing is the Jesus as He is presented to us in the Bible." Pastor Alistair Begg. 

That last quote from Pastor Begg tied in with where I was reading in Jeremiah today. That springboard went to Matthew that you just now read as well. That Jesus said "For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.".

Are you spiritually aware enough to discern God's own truth from the errors taught in the world today?

Are you even concerned that the world's errors are creeping into your day-to-day thinking?  

Read 2 Timothy 2:1-7 "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." 

How serious are you taking walking with Jesus? Are you taking it seriously at all?  

The admonition of Paul to his beloved Timothy wasn't just because he was a Pastor. The admonition goes for all of us. 

Jesus went to every soon to be Disciple and said "Follow Me." 

He certainly didn't say "When you find the time, fit me into your schedule. We'll do lunch or something. Call my secretary."

Have you created your own version of Jesus to follow that fits your life as you want your life to be?

That's not how a life in Christ is supposed to be.  

We absolutely do not want to be in that camp that Jesus Christ says "Depart from Me for I never knew you."

God indeed is the God of second chances. There's soon coming a day when the promised return will take place. Will you be ashamed or eager? Are you thinking about it now? I hope so. 

Jesus said that He is the Way.

Jesus said that He is the Truth. 

Jesus said that He is the Life. 

A life in Christ is going to be a life well lived. It will also be a life that has battles to overcome. Will be one that the world will not understand. 

Did you catch that last part of the first quote from Jeremiah? The part where Jesus says He delights in these things?  

Do you indeed want Jesus to be delighted? Do you want to hear "Well done!"?  

My Dear Reader please be careful of what you allow into your heart and mind. That is what Paul was telling Timothy. The world is full of opinions. The Bible is full of truth. Big difference.  

Make sure that the Jesus you follow is the Jesus of the Bible. 

In a world that still goes on with "WWJD?" What Would Jesus Do?", they have no clue at all. There are none that seek the God of the Bible who are crafting a Jesus to follow that doesn't offend anyone. 

Jesus will return...and sadly many MILLIONS of people will be left behind who thought they were saved. They will be among those who will cry out for Him to come back.  

Easter marks not some day to enjoy of brightly colored eggs and chocolate bunnies. It marks the history changing, life altering, world shaking, universe disrupting power of God through the obedience of Christ Jesus's death, burial and resurrection defeat of sin and death...the penalty paid in full. 

Easter is the single greatest defeat of Satan in all eternity.  

"Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,

waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave he arose;

with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;

he arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior, vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord! 

Up from the grave he arose;

with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;

he arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior;

he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord! 

Up from the grave he arose;

with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;

he arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit. Love your neighbor as yourself. 

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.