Life Class Day 30

*Proverbs 28:13

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

King Solomon speaks to us about 2 requirements for receiving divine mercy: confessing our sins & turning away from them.

Repentance - change in attitude toward sin & God.

It is not simply about saying a nice prayer or crying in the presence of God, there needs to be a change in the way we think & act.

We need to recognize our mistakes before God & confess them as sins.

Trying to hide & conceal them is useless because God knows all things, & trying to justify them is equally foolish.

We need to recognize our sins for what it is & not try to make it seem less serious.

However, as well as confessing our sins, we also need to turn away from them. Sadly, many people only get to the confession part & never go any further.

They acknowledge in prayer that they sinned but they are not willing to abandon their sin. As soon as they have the opportunities, they return to committing the same sins they just confessed.

The Jews hated people like Zacchaeus because not only were they working for the Romans (taking money from their Jewish brothers to give to the oppressive government), they also collected more than was needed so that they could keep the surplus for themselves.

On many occasions, they used force to take money from the people.

Yet, when Jesus went to this man's house, he repented of his sins.

He had been a greedy person & had stolen a lot of money, but when he repented, he stopped loving money: he gave half of all he owned to the poor & used the rest to repay those from whom he had stolen.

He completely changed his way of thinking & behaving - he truly repented.

*Luke 19:8-9

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham."

His repentance was more than just words or tears; he turned his whole life around.

He did not go out into the streets shouting, "I repent" but when those who had previously seen him stealing now saw how he returned what he had taken, all the people knew that he had repented.

It was not what he said that demonstrated his repentance - it was his actions.

You will remember that one morning I mentioned the case of an infidel who had been a scorner & scoffer, but who, through reading one of my printed sermons, had been brought to God's house & then to God's feet. Well, last Christmas day, the same infidel gathered together all his books, & went into the market-place at Norwich, & there made a public recantation of all his errors, & a profession of Christ, & then taking up all his books which he had written, & had in his house, on evil subjects, burned them in the sight of the people. I have blessed God for such a wonder of grace as that, & pray that there may be many more such, who, though they be born prodigal will yet return home, saying, "I have sinned."

-Charles Spurgeon

*Matthew 3:8

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

It should be evident to others that we have repented & that we have changed.

REMEMBER:

MY REPENTANCE SHOULD BE EVIDENT TO ALL.

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Life Class Day 29

By June 1944, the allied forces of the 2nd World War had made such great advances that the defeat of the 3rd Reich was simply a matter of time. With no real hope of victory, in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of his defeat, Adolf Hitler ordered heavy bombings on the city of London, hoping to cause so much destruction that the allied forces would change their position toward Germany. Their attempts proved useless & they were unable to avoid the inevitable. In May 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally, marking the end of the war.

Your enemy, the devil, is infuriated with you because your life no longer belongs to him; he will attempt a counterattack to try & regain control over your life.

Satan has no real hope of victory, because Jesus has already overcome him with an overwhelming victory on the cross of Calvary.

Although he knows he cannot recover from his defeat, he will try through every means possible to be a stumbling block in your relationship with God to hinder you from serving God fully, because he knows that just 1 Christian can wreak havoc on his dominion.

Be on your guard because, from now on, you will be under attack, perhaps like never before.

The enemy will use all his resources, including the people closest to you, to try & discourage you & separate you from the path you have started to walk.

*John 16:33

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

*Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

It is not a sprint, in which we burn all our energy in a short space of time: it is a long distance race that lasts our entire lives & that must be run with great patience.

You have now crossed the starting line. We know that the true reward is not received by those who start the race, but those who finish it.

So be prepared to finish the race well.

Remember the things you learned at the Encounter & go back over the teachings that mot impacted to you.

Above all, make the decision to never return to your old way of living & determine to go deeper in your personal relationship with God everyday.

The difference between those who finish the race & those who fail trying is that the former run with God's help while the latter try to run in their own strength & in their own way.

Take some time every morning to ask God to help you with the challenges you are facing.

During the 40 years the people of Israel were in the desert, they could neither sow nor harvest, yet God rained down manna from heaven every day to feed them.

Not one day went by when they were in need. In the same way, God will daily give you all that you need so that you can reach the end goal, regardless of the trials or problems you may currently be facing.

God has all the provision you need so that you will never lack any good thing.

*Philippians 4:13

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

*Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

*Ephesians 6:13

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

REMEMBER:

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS LIKE A MARATHON - WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS NOT HOW WE START BUT HOW WE FINISH.

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Life Class Day 28

*Hebrews 13:12

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

In 2009, The Blind Side brought the story of Michael Oher to cinema screens everywhere. The movie tells the story of an African American boy who spent his childhood moving from foster home to foster home due to his father's absence & the inattention of his mother, who struggled with drug addiction. Although he had grown up in one of the poorest & most dangerous parts of the city, various circumstances standing in his favor meant that he was accepted into a Christian school far away from the neighborhood he had grown up in. That was where he met the family who would later become his own. Without any self-interest, they adopted him & gave him the opportunity to study at an incredibly prestigious college in the United States, where he became one of the best American football players in the country. The life of this young man would have been so different had he never left the adverse circumstances that surrounded him to become part of a family where he could develop, both as a person & professionally.

Just as this young man found favor in the eyes of this family & they adopted him as their son, each & every one of us who has believed in the Lord Jesus has also found favor in the eyes of our heavenly Father. He has made us His children & enabled us to become all that we were created to be in intimate & perfect communion with Him. God fixed His eyes on us to separate us from evil, to cleanse us & to sanctify us according to His kindness. He delivered us from the power of the evil one & gave us life in abundance through the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus. That is also what the Jewish people experienced on the night the last plague came upon Egypt.

It was a night like no other. Jews & Egyptians alike knew that something was about to happen.

Rumors ran through all of Egypt: death would come in the night.

All the Israelites had seen the power of God demonstrated through the plagues the Lord had sent upon the entire nation. Everyone wondered what the next judgment would be.

When they received confirmation that it would be the death of all firstborn, the atmosphere became tense among the Egyptians.

Some asked the Hebrews how they could protect their children. The only answer they could give was, "You must celebrate the Passover."

But there was peace among the people of Israel as entire families gathered together to celebrate the Passover.

The father of every household, along with his wife, called his children together & told them, "Nobody is to leave the house today. Tonight the angel of death will strike the firstborn of every Egyptian, but it will be unable to enter our homes."

He then poured the blood of the lamb he had just sacrificed into a bowl & as he painted onto the lintel & doorposts of the house, he told them that this would be the sign of God's protection on their lives.

Most of the Israelites families stayed awake that night. Just after midnight they began to hear cries coming from the homes of the Egyptians as the terror of death swept through the nations.

The events of the Passover night came to represent the most important celebration for the people of Israel.

Although no father of the children of Israel dared to leave their house that night, the Scriptures teach us that there was one who "suffered outside the city gate": Jesus.

Although death wounded Him, it did not defeat Him & His blood became for us our greatest protection.

As well as redeeming us, His blood has sanctified us - this means we have been set apart for God.

Remember if you confess with faith the benefits of His blood, the atmosphere & the circumstances will immediately change, the heavens will open & hell will pull back.

Demons cannot stand it when we remember the redemptive work of the blood of Jesus.

If you confess what the blood of Jesus has done for your life, it will speak in your favor.

When faced with any kind of attack from the enemy, use the powerful weapons you have at your disposal: the blood of the Lamb & the confession of the Word.

By the blood of Jesus, I have been redeemed from the power of the enemy. Satan has no power over my life because I have been brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

By the blood of Jesus, all my sins have been forgiven.

Because I walk in the light & have fellowship with other Christians, the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses me now & continually from all sins.

By the blood of Jesus, I have been justified & God sees me as if I have never sinned.

By the blood of Jesus, I have been sanctified & set apart for God.

REMEMBER:

I HAVE BEEN SET APART TO SERVE JESUS.

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Life Class Day 27

*Romans 5:8-9

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

In 1964, in a small city in the state of Massachusetts, there was a family with 9 children. Sadly, the family's situation was not ideal. Their fathers were varied & absent, while their mother was chaotic & neglectful. As a result, the children lacked discipline & ran around the neighborhood unsupervised, getting up to mischief.

Betty Ann Waters & her brother, Kenny Waters, were part of this family. With just a year between them, they were inseparable & did everything together. Before they were teenagers, they found themselves in the hands of the police on numerous occasions for petty crimes, such as stealing candy or leaving school without permission, but as time passed, Kenny got rougher & his crimes increased dramatically.

Not long after, Betty dropped out of school & got a job as a waitress in a restaurant. One day, the police came to Kenny's house to arrest him, saying that he was guilty of murder. Kenny provided evidence to prove that he had been working all night, which meant that it was impossible for him to be a culprit. Nevertheless, the courts insisted that he was guilty & his record did not help his credibility. Betty immediately began to work on her brother's defense. When she saw how difficult the situation was & that they were condemning him to life in prison without parole, she left her job & went back to school.

When she finally graduated from high school, she decided to take up her assignment: becoming a lawyer to fight her brother's case. She went to college, where she spent 13 years working toward her law degree. While she was studying, she represented her brother in court & diligently studied any law that might possibly help to set him free. After 18 years, she found a group of lawyers who investigated DNA found in murder cases - something that was at the time a relatively new science. She sought their help & a DNA test proved that Kenny was innocent. He was released from prison & Betty stopped working as a lawyer. Her mission had simply been to see Kenny set free. She gave the best part of her life for her brother - because of her love for him.

While many say that they know what it is to love, true love comes with a price; it requires both dedication & sacrifice.

Jesus poured out His life unto death so that He could secure our freedom. & yet, we often do not protect that freedom with enough resolve & we end up becoming victims of our own carelessness.

Some Christians feel so confident about coexisting with their old nature that they do not realize that although they try to exercise control over their own desires & try to lead a good life, at the moment they least expect it, their fleshly nature can rise up & destroy them.

There is only 1 way to treat that nature & that is by putting it to death.

Jesus, in His infinite love, took the place we deserved & gave His life so that our sinful nature could be destroyed.

A divine exchange took place on the cross; God gave His Son, who had never sinned, & offered Him up to receive punishment we deserved.

Jesus carried all our sins upon Himself & gave us His righteousness in return.

Although He had never sinned, He was judged as if He had committed the worst of all atrocities & He received the sentence that was reserved for lawbreakers.

*2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The only thing the Lord now asks is that we believe, so that on account of our faith, all His blessings can become ours.

Jesus took all the evil we were & gave us all the good He is in return.

As a result, God no longer sees us as we were in our sinful condition - He now sees us as He sees His Son: pure & without sin.

When we confess what His blood has done for us, we rebuke the accusing spirit that brings guilt & condemnation.

DECLARE: By the blood of Jesus, I have been justified & God sees me as if I have never sinned.

REMEMBER:

THE BLOOD OF JESUS JUSTIFIES ME.

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Life Class Day 26

*Psalm 51:7

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Pure - purus & pyros - fire

To sacrifice made by fire, which were associated with the cleansing & renewal of the object or being to which it was referring.

With the passing of time, connotations of sacrifice connected to the term have been forgotten & the meaning that has continued refers to the cleansing & decontamination of something.

Just as each object in the natural has specific processes it needs to go through to become decontaminated, so in the spiritual God designed a process of purification for His children: the covering of the covenant of the blood that was shed by Jesus. We see that this process is directly related to a sacrifice - the sacrifice of the Son of God, who is perfect & pure.

God set the people of Israel free from slavery in Egypt by performing many signs & wonders through Moses. The last plague He sent was the most terrible of all: the death of all the firstborn sons in Egypt.

The Lord introduced the Passover to protect the lives of the children of the Israelites.

The Passover is a prototype for the sacrifice of Jesus (the lamb of God) on the cross of Calvary.

It was the blood that the father of every household applied to the doorframes of their house that sealed the deliverance of the people of Israel.

What happened at that time still holds true today. It is the blood of Jesus that sets us free from the slavery of sin & this freedom lasts forever.

John teaches us to continually apply the blood of Jesus over our lives.

*1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

The blood of Jesus cleanses me now & continually continues to cleanse me from all sins.

We live in a world where the evil of hell wants to taint our lives, but as we walk in the light & have fellowship with other Christians, the blood of Jesus continually carries out a process of purification & sanctification in us that stops the stain of sin from touching our hearts.

He will keep our clothes clean.

*Ecclesiastes 9:8

Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

God can keep us in perfect purity at all times - but this comes as the result of walking in the light & walking in obedience to His Word.

If we live in unity & have fellowship with each other as believers, the blood of Jesus will keep us in perfect purity.

DECLARE: Because I walk in the light & have fellowship with other Christians, the blood of Jesus cleanses me now & continually from all sins.

REMEMBER:

THE BLOOD OF JESUS CONTINUALLY CLEANSES ME FROM MY SINS.

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Life Class Day 25

*Ezekiel 36:26

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

*Mark 2:5,9

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?"

Most people primarily come to Jesus to see what what He can do to meet their needs.

But it is even more important that each one of us receives forgiveness for our sins, as this brings freedom in every area.

When we receive forgiveness from Jesus, everything else starts to fit into place because the argument that stood against us cease to exist.

Forgiveness is the final form of love, helping us understand that forgiveness is the maximum expression of love a person can give to another.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

There is only 1 way in which we can receive the forgiveness of our sins: by accepting the love of Jesus expressed through His blood.

*1 Corinthians 6:20

You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

When God created Adam, He created him with blood that was pure & uncontaminated. He placed him in the Garden of Eden to take care of it, & told him that he wa not to eat any of the fruit that came from the tree of knowledge of good & evil, which was in the center of the garden - because if he did,he would surely die.

But Adam disobeyed & ate the fruit anyway. Because of this, sin entered mankind & Adam's blood was contaminated, affecting all of his descendants.

A different kind of blood was now required - blood that has not been polluted by sin - so that the redemption of humanity could be fully carried out. Only the blood of Jesus would suffice.

Making us believe that our sins have not yet been forgiven is one of the strategies the enemy uses; he does this to try & keep control in our lives.

But if you declare that your sins really have been forgiven & believe it is true, you will be able to experience complete victory.

DECLARE: By the blood of Jesus, all my sins have been forgiven.

*Ephesians 1:7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.

REMEMBER:

THE BLOOD OF JESUS MEANS THERE IS NO SIN THAT GOD CANNOT FORGIVE.

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Life Class Day 24

*Revelation 12:11

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Between 1939-1945, the world waged one of the biggest & most violent wars in history. Around 60 million people lost their lives. Along with the Nazi party he had established, Adolf Hitler made it his goal to take possession of the countries surrounding Germany & to entirely wipe out the Jewish people.

Hitler set up concentration camps where he detained the Jews. He closed their businesses & burned all their books in an attempt to erase the Jewish people from human memory. At that time, an opportunist businessman named Oskar Schindler bought a Jewish-owned enamel manufacturing plant. But when he discovered what the Nazis were doing to the Jews, he resolved to save as many as possible.

As Schindler was the owner of a factory, he was able to offer many Jews employment. When he saw how his employees lost their homes & their families lost their lives in the camps, he decided to do whatever he could to help them. He saved more than 1000 Jews from death., hiding many of them in his factory. Using his own resources & putting both his life & freedom at risk on multiple occasions, he purchased the freedom of many.

Because of his efforts, many escaped the cruel end that had been prepared for them. To some extent, this industrialist became like a secret weapon of redemption that helped countless Jews survive the war. Similarly, we as God's children have the greatest secret weapon of redemption, which helps us overcome in every situation: the blood of Jesus.

There is a veil that falls from the minds of believers when they understand the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. The work of the cross is a complete work.

The blood of Jesus is the most powerful weapon a Christian has to overcome the enemy & obtain victory in every area of their lives.

When the people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt, God sent Moses to set His people free with a mighty hand.

The Egyptians hardened their hearts & did not want to let the people of Israel go, so God sent 10 plagues against that nation. Before the last plague, the Lord gave specific instructions to His people.

The Lord told them that the father of every family was to sacrifice a lamb & collect its blood in a basin. Having done this, the father was to take some hyssop (a kind of shrubs that grows in those regions) & place it in the basin to soak it in the blood of the lamb.

The father then had to sprinkle that blood onto the sides & top of the door frames of the house.

If the father had taken hold of the basin but had not used the hyssop to apply the blood, the entire act would have been pointless.

He needed the hyssop - he could not use any other material, because this was the specific instruction God had given them.

The blood of this sacrifice is a prototype for the blood of Jesus.

The hyssop represents the confessions or declarations we make as Christians about all that the blood of Jesus has done for us.

Every believer needs to understand how powerful it is when we speak out those declarations.

When God designed the plan of salvation for mankind, He included redemption, forgiveness of sins, renewal, justification & sanctification for His children, so that the work of the cross could be a complete & perfect work.

*Ephesians: 1:7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.

Redeem - to ransom, liberate, free from bondage, captivity or punishment; to save by paying a ransom.

Because of sin, humanity was enslaved by Satan; our redemption required the payment of an incredibly high price.

It could never be paid for with money or good deeds; the only price that could pay for the redemption of humanity was the blood of Jesus.

No one can redeem another's person's life, or give to God the price for their rescue & eternal forgiveness.

*Psalm 49:7-8

No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them— the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough.

God saw that it was necessary for His own Son, who is holy & blameless, to pour out His life on the cross to rescue us. The death of Jesus was our death to sin.

The punishment that Jesus received was the punishment we deserved & simply by believing in Him, we are set free from all condemnation & guilt.

*Romans 8:1

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

When we understand the power there is in His blood & proclaim what is has done for us, with all our heart, our declaration is heard by both God & angels, but also by the devil & his demons.

When we confess what the blood of Jesus has done for us, it become evident to all that we have accepted His goodness to us & we now belong to the kingdom of heaven.

DECLARE: By the blood of Jesus, I have been redeemed from the power of the enemy. Satan has no power over my life because I have been brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

REMEMBER:

THE BLOOD OF JESUS HAS REDEEMED US.

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