James Arendt
Continued from part I
The Devil has really got the World brainwashed! He's even got them brainwashed to the point where what the World thinks is righteousness is just the opposite of God's ideas of righteousness! Isn't that sad! They don't realise what God's righteousness IS! Their ideas are so different from God's!
The Devil's idea of righteousness is totally the opposite of God's idea!--The Devil's idea is the self-righteous, holier-than-thou hypocrite--the supposedly sinless perfectionist!
Whereas God's idea of righteousness is the pitiful, hopeless, lost, humble, sinful sinner who knows he needs God!--Those He came to save! "He came not to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners!" (Mat.9:13) So God's idea of goodness is godliness -a sinner who knows he needs God and depends on Him for salvation--not the Devil's churchy self-righteous hypocritical Pharisees who think they can save themselves by their own goodness!
God's idea of saintliness is not sinless perfection, self-righteousness. It's a sinner saved by grace, a sinner who has no perfection, no righteousness of his own at all, but is totally dependent on the grace and the Love and the mercy of God by faith! Believe it or not, those are the only saints there are--there are no others!
God knows you're anything but perfect and can't be perfect and never will be perfect, and usually you're pretty much of a mess, like the rest of us! So the only question, the only standard is: Do you depend on the Lord totally, trust Him and His grace and His Love and His mercy and give HIM all the glory and all the credit? If there's anything good you ever do, do you give Him the glory? Do you say, "Thank Jesus, don't thank me! Thank the Lord, it's all the Lord!"
That's what the Lord looks to as saintliness, the person who knows he's a sinner and therefore gives God all the glory if anything good comes of what he's done. As Paul said, "I know that in me, my flesh, dwelleth no good thing!" (Rom.7:18) There's nothing good about me or my flesh, anything good is only the Lord!--That's sainthood! (Continued in Part III - David, a sinning saint.)
My name is James Arendt. I was raised in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, served in the USAF from 1970 to 1974, and became a full-time missionary for Christ living 40 years in Japan, 3.5 years in Russia, and a few months in other countries such as Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China where I also served the King of Kings, Jesus, as an Ambassador for His Kingdom. My full bio.
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On July 31, our pastor drove us 70 kilometers south from our home in the city of Allen to Caybayog City (Samar, Philippines) where there's an immigration office. There I successfully applied for and received a 6-month visa extension! But the cost was higher than expected, 12,450 Philippine pesos, roughly $235 USD. Thankfully, I received one gift so far that covered half of that. If any of the visitors to this website who are not regular contributors to my work would like to help us cover the other half, it would be greatly appreciated. I will immediately send you an email to thank you.
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• Recognize you have violated in some way the laws of God. Violation of legal law is called a crime. Violation of God’s moral law is called a sin. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; - Romans 3:23
As it is written (in the Bible), There is none righteous, no, not one: - Romans 3:10
• Recognize the penalty of sin: Death! For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: - Romans 5:12
• Recognize Jesus is the Saviour! Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 14:6
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. - Acts 4:12
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. - Acts 16:31
• Recognize our lives our sinful by nature. We can do nothing of our own to merit eternal life. Salvation is completely by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ! For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: - Ephesians 2:8
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. - Isaiah 64:6
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; - Titus 3:5
• Recognize Christ paid the sin debt we owe! But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. - Romans 5:8-9
• Recognize you must receive Christ as your personal Saviour! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. - Romans 10:13
• Ask Jesus to be your Saviour!
Dear Jesus:I know I am a sinner. I know if I were to die right now, I could not go to Heaven. I ask you, right now, to come into my heart, forgive me of my sin, and be my Saviour. Thank you for saving me and giving me eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer with all sincerity, you have passed from death to life and have been born again into the family of God!
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