For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Himin this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5 NASB)

I’m sitting at the airport in Auckland…

My plane has been delayed…

I’ve just finished a conference (a work conference) and been to see a friend in Auckland and now back to the Airport…

I discussed some verses out of this chapter with my friend…

He’d previously mentioned to me a verse out of this chapter…

I felt to look it up again (the whole chapter) as I’m sitting here now…

What an amazing chapter…

There is so much in this chapter…

When Jesus died on the cross you died with Him…

Do you know that?

Even if you are not a believer you died with Him…

Did you know that?

That’s what this scripture says…

That’s why Jesus is “the Saviour of all men especially of those who believe”…

Do you know what it means that you died?

What that means is that all you have to do is believe this and it is yours…

If you died then you are not under the Law…

Did you know this?

If you believe that you died with Christ then it will become a reality for you…

You are on His Heart…

He died specifically for you…

He died specifically for each and every one of us…

And each and every one of us died with Him on that cross…

Thus the way is open for you to believe and receive the Gift of Eternal Life…

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them,”…

Wow…

Do you know what that means?

It’s like a covering has been created by the Lord it’s like the whole world is under God’s Grace – in a temporal sort of way – waiting for them to repent and believe what He has already accomplished for them…

If you are no longer under Law but under Grace it means that you are no longer striving to please God – or find your peace with God – under your own self efforts…

If you believe that the Lord has made this provision for you then this provision will become yours and never be taken away from you…

The Lord doesn’t want it to be taken away from you – He wants you to receive it…

That’s what He’s begging, He’s appealing for you to do…

Take it freely, it is yours…

No matter how bad a person you’ve been He is asking you to take it freely – He is offering it to you freely…

Praise His Holy Name…

Do you see how close you have been brought to the Lord…

He’s done all the work…

Cry out to Him for faith to believe in the free gift He has offered you…

We know from scripture what a great salvation we have been offered…

Too good to be true…

But it is true…

God blessing us who believe in His Provision with His heaven…

With His forgiveness…

With His acceptance…

With being heirs to His Throne…

Joint-heirs with Jesus…

All sins forgiven…

Remembered no more…

Amazing…

Imagine not having to strive anymore…

Imagine being free to do what you really know in your heart you should be doing…

Imagine doing something which has real purpose…

Imagine spending the rest of your life telling others about this message – this “too good to be true” message…

You don’t often hear “good news” stories…

This is a good news story…

It truly is…

The true gospel is a good news story…

God has said that all who sin will die and suffer an eternity of torment and punishment in a lake of fire and brimestone where they can’t die but can experience the guilt of their decisions which they made during their lives forever “over and over” – bad news…

God has also said that when He – in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ – died on the cross and His Blood (Jesus’ Blood) was shed that He became the substitute for our sin and was punished on our behalf, “One died for all, therefore all died”…

We all died…

Wow…

That’s good news…

But, we must receive this gift…

It does us no good if we don’t redeem our voucher (so to speak)…

We must redeem it before we die otherwise it is no longer valid…

That’s a choice which we need to make…

To be forgiven for our sins we need to admit that we are guilty of committing them…

We need to admit that we were not capable of paying for them ourselves…

The Lord was the only One who could deal with them…

As we receive His free gift we know that we are surrendering to Him…

He gave up His Life for us and we are now giving up our lives for Him…

They no longer belong to us…

We are not promising the Lord to try harder and try to change ourselves or try to become better people…

We are surrendering the control of our lives over to the Lord for Him to do whatever He likes with them…

It is an unconditional surrender…

The “white flags” are up…

We are coming in to be apprehended by our Lord…

He is now our Master…

Is He a hard task master?

No He is not…

He enables us to change and He doesn’t put any guilt on us to threaten us to change…

We are forever selected for His team and we’re not dropped due to form issues…

We are never dropped…

He keeps coaching us until we reach His heaven…

Every mistake and failure is a learning experience and He always causes it to work together for good…

He never demeans us or makes us feel “that small”…

He tells us the truth about ourselves but He tells us in a loving way and in a way which empowers us to change and become more like Him so we can understand Him better and walk with Him all the days of our lives…

He is not conditional…

He is unconditional…

That’s good news…

I just feel to say that if you read this and you feel that you would like to give yourself to the Lord and believe in your heart that you died with Him and so you are now no longer under the Law but a “new you” now has commenced living – a new you which is “young” and needs lots of impartation of truth to grow but is perfect in the sight of God and always will be – cannot be corrupted – then I encourage you to give yourself to the Lord…

As you receive His free gift He will come and dwell in you in the Person of His Holy Spirit…

He may put on your heart to be baptised in water (He may not do this right away but then on the other hand He may) He may also put it in your heart to be baptised in the Holy Spirit (again He may not do this right away but then again He may), He may place it on your heart to read His word (the scriptures), He may place it on your heart to meet with others who believe in Him – basically whatever He places on your heart – follow this peace – wherever His Peace is follow this – He has a specific plan for your life – He knows exactly what you need and He knows how He is going to achieve this…

Whatever happens know that He loves you and once you give yourself to Him and receive His free gift of Eternal Life He will never leave you or forsake you…

You will go through hardship, you will go through rejection…

You will be hated for receiving this free gift…

It will hurt, it will not be easy…

You may lose all your friends…

You may even lose your wife or your husband or your children or grandchildren – not everyone will appeciate this decision which you have made…

But the Lord will and He will reward you richly with His Presence and His Peace…

Even if sometimes He seems to hide His Face from you (there are reasons for this experience – He is strengthening your faith in Him) – He is always with you and He will never forsake you even when you can’t “feel” Him with you…

You may even be called to physically lay down your life for the Lord, i.e. die for Him, but He will enable you to do this…

He doesn’t promise you a kingdom or vindication (or even to be appeciated or understood by others) in this life but He does promise you both (and a family who understand you and love you) in the life hereafter (and that is forever) and after He returns to earth to reign we will reign with Him for a thousand years (following which He will create a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (we will be there with Him)… 🙂

Love you in the Lord, I wish you well with your life in Him, You will be blessed and you will behold His Salvation…

Feel free to contact me on andrewjameshorton555@gmail.com if you have any queries or questions you’d like to discuss or if you just want someone to chat to about these (or any other related) issues before the Lord…

Love in the Lord,

Andrew