BLOCKING AND TACKLING
The ubiquitous sideline reporter has collared the losing football coach on his way to the locker room to address his team.
“What she asks, is happening with your team? What do you need to do to turn the game around and win?”
Every single coach has the same response:
“We need to get back to the fundamentals! We need to get back to blocking and tackling!”
Here are a few fundamentals that we all need to be reminded of because religion, our flesh, and the evil one have caused us not to know them or to forget them:
Jesus’ work is not just complete; it is perfect. His last words, “IT IS FINISHED,” resound through time, assuring us that He has done everything, leaving nothing more to be done. (John 19:30)
Order the Holy Spirit written book: “WHY JESUS AIN’T GONNA DO NOTHIN!” Which explains in detail everything that Jesus has already done.
Jesus already gave us all things related to life and godliness, so asking Him for anything is redundant and unnecessary. Instead, we should THANK HIM for already giving us our needs and desires.
(2Peter1:1-4)
When Jesus needed to feed thousands of hungry people twice, He did not ask God for the food; He gave thanks, and the food appeared. The food appeared because of Jesus’s belief. (Matthew 15:29-39, John 6:1-14)
Yes, He told the people to ask many times, but that was before He completed His work on the cross.
IT IS NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU DO; IT’S ABOUT WHAT HE HAS DONE AND WHETHER YOU DECIDE TO BELIEVE HIM.
The late great theologian Professor Loyd Skidmore coined this perfect summation of the Gospel of Jesus:
“BELIEVE AND RECEIVE, DOUBT AND DO WITHOUT.”
JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY, THE ONLY TRUTH, AND THE ONLY LIFE!
Contrary to the universalist philosophy and the Neo-Christian dogma, there are not many ways to heaven. There is only one way to heaven, and that is through belief in Jesus!
(John 14:7)
GOD IS NOT IN CONTROL!!! God gave humans FREE WILL. We can choose to do good or evil, to walk with God, or to reject Him. Free will is the cause of the world’s problems, not God.
(Deuteronomy 30:19, John 1:12, John 3:18)
GOD DOES NOT TAKE AWAY, KILL STEAL OR DESTROY. GOD DOES NOT DO EVIL.
(John 10:10)
Job, in the depths of despair and unbelief and judgment of God, made this false condemning statement:
“The good Lord gives, and the good Lord takes away” It is a lie Job later recanted by telling the truth when he said, “The things that I feared the most have come upon me.”
God did not say it; Job did.
(Job 1:21, Job 3:25)
SO, STOP BLAMING GOD, IT IS NOT HIS FAULT!
JESUS IS LOVE! (John 3:16, Romans 5:8)
Jesus loves you infinitely, regardless of your behavior or lack thereof. He loves you without thinking about your sins; He does not care about them because He paid for all of them once and for all, past, present, and future, on the cross. We try not to sin because He suffered the horrible price for our sins, and we Love Him back, not out of fear of punishment. We try to do what is right because Jesus wants us to.
(Isaiah 53:4-5, Psalm 103:1-3 and 12, Zephaniah 3:17, Revelation 1:5, John 1:29, 1Peter 2:24)
STOP ASKING GOD TO FORGIVE YOU. It doesn’t matter what religion has ingrained in you. Jesus has already forgiven you with His pain, suffering, humiliation, and blood. It is insulting to Him to ask Him to forgive you. It says that you do not believe that He already has. If you must assuage your guilt, apologize to Him for the sin you committed and try not to do it again.
I know it does not make sense in our finite flesh minds, but trying to figure out God is an exercise in futility. It is enough for us to know that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts because His ways are above our ways, and His thoughts are above ours. Our flesh minds are huge but limited. His mind is infinite and knows things that we can only begin to comprehend when we join Him.
(Isaiah 55:7-9)
JESUS GAVE US HIS POWER
Jesus has given us His power. He said that it was because He was leaving. He did not want us powerless in this world. We have the same power working within us that raised Jesus from the dead—the power of belief.
He gave us the power to speak things into and out of existence through belief, just as He did.
(John 14:12, Ephesians 1:19-21, Mark 11:22)
JESUS GAVE US THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT.
Many “believers” are ignorant of or confused about Holy Spirit. I do not place the word the, in front of Holy Spirit because I don’t place it in front of God or Jesus.
Holy Spirit is Jesus in Spirit form. It is that simple. Jesus did not want to leave us alone. He promised He would be with us until the end of the age. His body was sacrificed to pay for our sins, so when He left it, He became Spirit again.
Jesus told us that He was a Spirit and seeks such to worship Him. Many wrongly think that when the Triune God said, “Let us create them in our image, ” God has a body and looks like us. That is incorrect. God is a Spirit, as we are. We are a Spirit that has a body that has a soul.
(Genesis 1:26-27, John 4:23-24)
HOLY SPIRIT GUIDES US INTO ALL TRUTH!
Jesus told us that it was a good thing that He was going back to His throne because the Holy Spirit would come and guide us into all truth and show us the things that are to come. He told us that Holy Spirt was The Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby. Jesus promised us that Holy Spirit would teach us all things and remind us of everything Jesus taught us. Holy Spirit is always available to us, we must only tune out our flesh and listen to Him.
(John 14:17, John 14:26, John 16:7-14)
JESUS HAS OVERCOME YOUR PROBLEM SO THAT YOU MAY HAVE PERFECT PEACE!
Jesus gave us His peace! ( A state of total undisturbedness) (John 14:27)
Jesus speaking to His disciples and to us:
“I have told you these things so you may have perfect peace and confidence through Me. In the world, you will have tribulation, trials, and distress, but BE OF GOOD CHEER; take courage; be confident, certain, and undaunted! BECAUSE I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.”
(John 16:33)
JESUS CAME TO GIVE US HIS JOY AND GLADNESS SO THAT OUR JOY AND GLADNESS WOULD BE FULL AND OVERFLOWING.
(John 17:13)
There is no reason not to have joy and gladness overflowing when we believe Jesus.
JESUS HEALED US BY TAKING AWAY ALL OF OUR SICKNESSES, DISEASES, ILLNESSES, MALADIES, AND INFIRMITIES.
(Psalm 103:1-3, Isaiah 53:4-5, Matthew 8:16-17)
WE ARE NOT POWERLESS VICTIMS OF THE EVIL ONE!
Jesus defeated the evil one and made an open show of him. He threw him from heaven at the speed of light and gave us dominion over snakes and scorpions (the evil one and his minion) and their powers. The only power the evil one has left is to lie. He is the Father of all lies; the truth is not in him. His voice is negative and mean. We have free will to listen to and believe or rebuke his lies. Destruction and death come from listening to and agreeing with the evil one and using free will to obey him.
(Colossians 2:15, Luke 10:18)
End of Teaching
