Runaway from Religion: Running in the right direction ... into the loving arms of Jesus (God)!

[Philippians 3:7-9]

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law (doing good), but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith"

Do you know God? Do you know Christ Jesus as Lord and Friend?
There's a difference between "knowing about God" and "knowing God".
Knowing "about" God is relatively factual, a spectators view none the less. It places God in a bubble that seems impossible to touch, understand, or ever experience beyond knowing black from white. Knowing "about" God is perhaps just as destructive as not "knowing" God at all, because both roads lead to the same hopeless end. No Jesus, No Peace, No Salvation!

In contrast, "Knowing God" goes beyond knowing factual characteristics, promises, and purposes of God to a scope that is personally experiential and powerfully transformational. Knowing God, is in essence, to know ones identity and purpose beyond a humans ability to determine, let alone comprehend.

God reveals himself for one purpose and only one purpose:

For Us To "Know Him"!

Anyone can "know about God", but only a chosen lot of people ever really get to "know God" through an intimate, personal and loving relationship with Him. Having many friends come and gone through the days of our lives, we realize that some stay and most go but all friends eventually "fail" us at some point-in-time or in some way. The truth is people fail yet there is only One Love that never fails, a Friend who remains faithfully by our side to the very end: God; He is an exception to the 'rule of Friend'!

Everyone "knows about God"! Heck, Even the darkest, most evil forces know about (of) God, yet knowing God is the only way for our lives to ever have true peace, true direction, and true redemption. Many will tell you that many roads lead to the same ends, but Jesus Christ contradicts the "ways of the wise" that is World Religions. Jesus Christ is not a religion. Jesus Christ is the Way. Not one way among many, but the only way. He is not "a means" to the ends but rather He is The Means and The Ends ...

Knowing God is not possible without knowing Jesus Christ ... (The Jesus Factor...)!!

Either Jesus is (1). the Truth or (2). A liar ... No gray area. As for me He remains my hope for existence, my love and life, and most importantly ... The Lord of My Life ...

I. The Jesus Factor:

(a). Jesus is the Only Way to "Know God" --

• "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Mt 11:27)
• "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him ... (Jn 6:44)
• "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, No one comes to the Father (God) except through me (Jesus)" (Jn 14:6)

(b). Jesus is God, God the Son, God in Flesh; To Know Jesus is to know God -

• "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him" (Jn 14:7)
• "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. WE have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:1-3,14)
• " I tell you the truth before Abraham was born, I AM!" - (Jn 8:58)
• "I and the Father are one." - (Jn 10:30)

(c). To Know God - is only by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, to have Life in his name -

• "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (Jn 20:30-31)
• "Yet to all who receive him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name (Jesus), he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God!" (Jn 1:12-13).

(d). The Bible = Supernatural book whose ultimate author is God working through men.

The Bible is about God and You; It's all about Jesus!

The Bible is the means by which we "know" existentially how God's story is now our story. It is the mirror that reflects who we are In Christ and the Life we have in his name.

• "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets he (Jesus) explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Luke 24:27)
• "All of scripture is God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16)
• "For the Word of God is living and active ... penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13).

II. Bringing it Home:

How does what I'm saying and what God is doing meet you where you need to be met?

Here's the truth: All have sinned and fall short of the perfection that God requires of anyone who desires to live in him and with him. God is perfect, in Him there is no sin, no evil, only perfection. Sin has created death and death is what awaits all of us. Everyone needs victory from their own sin, from their inevitable death, and really from themselves. Although, we cannot achieve, earn, and reconcile this level of perfection by our own doing ... God has made a way! The way that all sinners can be considered perfect is through a sacrifice and a atonement for sin that fulfills the perfection that I could not (that we could not). This sacrifice was God's life for my own . He came down to earth, fully God yet fully me (man), to live his life sinless unto death so that by taking the punishment for my sins and all his children (which is through the shedding of God's blood - the blood of Christ - unto death), that all wrong would be made right, that Good would "once and for all" overcome Evil, and that The Way shall be forever paved into the history of time ... so that God could reconcile all sinners unto himself through Jesus Christ -- that whoever shall believe, shall be redeemed and born again ... dying physically (yes) but being reborn spiritually, forever being counted as righteous and as God's Children!! :)

This is Your Story ... It's either you place your faith in Jesus Christ ... Or You Don't ... either way you must make a choice...

As for me ... Praise Jesus Christ forever that He drew me to himself and showed me this Love that is better than life!! I placed my faith in him 3 years ago on Easter 07'! I know that my sins are forgiven and I will forever live with Him and in Him (in Heaven). Driven by this faith in Christ, comforted by his love and walking on this path that shines an endless hope... I travel onward to my home in heaven.

Friends, I know who I am and I know why I am here ... I belong to Jesus Christ ... I'm one of God's Children ... and my purpose is to Love Like Jesus knowing that by sharing the Love of Christ that God is bringing to himself a family that once was broken by Evil, but now has been forever Redeemed and Reconciled by His Love....

This Love Is For You ... A Love gifted by the Redeemer of Your Soul ... By Faith in Jesus Christ!

Are you his Child? Do you want to know Jesus Christ as Lord?

I count everything else in my life as loss, for in Christ I have everything and through His love I can do all things!!

He can meet you wherever you are at in your life. He is the Hope for the helpless, the Rest for the weary, the Love for the broken heart ... He is Grace and Forgiveness, Mercy and Healing ... and He'll meet you wherever you are ... just cry out to Jesus!

I'm going to heaven because of Jesus Christ (100% certainty) and I pray that I will see you there ;)