Here I Am, Lord – – tqministries.com

He suffered All He Did For Us

“…Who His own self bore our sins in His Own Body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto Righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:21).

As we approach Christmas this year; it is important for us to remember why the Lord came to live among us, and the suffering He endured on our behalf. The Lord submitted Himself to the terrible sufferings that culminated in His sacrificial death on the Cross. By His stripes we were healed. The following is commentary from Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest as he graphically describes what “by His stripes” entailed in the suffering the Lord endured, all for us.

” The Greek presents a picture of our Lord’s lacerated back after the scourging He endured at the hands of the Roman soldiers. The Romans used a scourge of cords, or thongs, to which were attached pieces of lead, brass, or small sharp-pointed bones. Criminals condemned to crucifixion were ordinarily scourged before being executed. The victim was stripped to the waist and bound in a stooping position, with his hands behind the back, to a post or pillar. The suffering under the lash was intense. The body was frightfully lacerated. The Christian martyrs at Smyrna about A.D. 155 were so torn by the scourges that there veins were laid bare, and the inner muscles and sinews, even the bowels, were exposed.

“The Greek word translated ‘stripes’ refers to a bloody wale trickling  with blood that arises under the blow. The word is singular, not plural. Peter remembered the Body of our Lord after the scouring, the flesh so dreadfully mangled that the disfigured form appeared in his eyes as one single bruise.

“Thus we have the portrait of the suffering Servant of Jehovah, His Blessed Face so pummeled by the hard fists of the mob that it did not look like a human face any more, His back lacerated by the Roman scourge so that it was one mass of open, raw, quivering flesh trickling with blood, His heart torn with anguish because of the bitter, caustic, malevolent words hurled at Him. On the bleeding, lacerated back was laid the Cross.

“Unsaved reader, this was for you, just as if you were the only person in the universe. The Lord Jesus died for you, in your stead, took your place on the Cross, paid your penalty, so that God could offer a Salvation from sin based upon justice satisfied.

“Will you not right now appropriate the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior, trust Him to save you.

“And Saint, does not all this make you love the Lord Jesus more, soften and make more tender your heart? The Blood of Christ heals our sin in that He, by One Offering, put away sin forever,” (Kenneth Wuest)

I know this has been a very graphic depiction of all the Lord suffered, by I think it important that we remember, at this time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Lord, just why he came and how much He suffered – all for us. He came to sacrifice His Life on the Cross that we might be forgiven of our sins and be given “Newness of Life” in Him.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement  of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2024

The Answer Is in the Bible and May Surprise Many!

A man was asked if he thought that he would go to Heaven. He answered, “If there is a Heaven; I believe I will go there.” When pressed on why he believed he would go, he said that he would go to Heaven because he was good. That is the belief and hope of many when the subject of Heaven comes up. Many believe that the way they live their lives and the good things they accomplish during their life determine their final destination. While living a good life and doing good things are admirable goals and something we should all strive after; these things, in themselves, will not result in our going to Heaven.

What must be understood is that we have a fallen nature. If we were to be honest with ourselves, we know that we have failed to live a perfect life. Perfection is what the Lord requires to gain Heaven. So, even if we seek to live a morally good life, we will fall short of God’s standard for fellowship with Him and not gain access to Heaven when we die.

So, what are we to do? If we cannot live a life pleasing to the Lord; How can we gain Heaven? The answer is that we must realize the helpless condition that we are in and seek the Lord for His Mercy and Grace. We cannot, in ourselves, please the Lord and gain Heaven.

The Lord saw our lost condition and provided a way for us to have fellowship with Him. Jesus spoke of this way in John chapter 3 when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (spiritual birth), he cannot see the kingdom of Heaven.” What the Lord was saying was that just as a person is physically born and at that moment has life; we must be born again to have spiritual life, and see, or understand, the Kingdom of God.

The Bible says, before being born again, that we are dead in our sins. Once we understand our desperate condition, we can seek the Lord for His solution. His Mercy and Grace is the answer to our need. We are born again or quickened by faith in the Lord and the way He has provided.

“And you has He quickened (made alive spiritually), who were dead in trespasses and sins (totally lost).” (Ephesians 2:1)

The way the Lord provided for us was to send His Son, the Lord Jesus, to pay the price for our sin and to offer us “newness of life” by faith in Him and His great sacrifice at Calvary. We are “born again” into a new life (spiritually) when we come His way by faith. The Lord offers us this through His mercy and grace. It is a gift and noypt eaned. Jesus said the following regarding this way:

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

In this one verse, Jesus tells us that He is the only way to the Father. There is no other. We are born spiritually when we place our faith in Him and His great sacrifice at the cross. This is the way to Heaven and the way to have fellowship with the Lord. It is the only way. Our sins are forgiven and the Lord sees us “in Christ”. His righteousness becomes ours. We become children of God by our faith in Jesus and His sacrifice on the Cross that paid for our sins.

“But as many, as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those that believe in His Name (Christ and Him crucified).” (John 1:12)

In summary, we are unable to please God and live a life that will result in us going to Heaven when we die. We must be born spiritually. We do this by placing our faith in Christ and Him crucified. It is at Calvary that the Lord paid the price for our sin. He offers us forgiveness and newness of life when we place our faith in Him. And we can know that we are going to Heaven, not by our goodness, but by the Lord’s mercy and grace. He saw our need and our helpless condition and provided a way for us to be saved; We are forgiven and will spend eternity with Him in glory. The Lord’s Word says it best:

“For by grace (unmerited favor) you have been saved through faith (in Christ crucified); and that not of ourselves (not earned): it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

We are saved by faith and we are kept by our faith in the Lord and the Lord’s sacrifice at Calvary. And through faith, we can know that we have eternal life and will be with our Lord in Heaven. We can know this by faith as the Apostle John tells us in the following verse of Scripture:

“These things have I written unto you who believe on the Name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

The Lord loves us and has reached down in His mercy and provided for us in our fallen state. Psalm 118:23 says it best: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

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Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com

Taking Up the Cross

“And He (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

The Cross is an offence to most because it reveals our utter lost state without the Lord. Most do not want to admit that, so our walk with the Lord in this world can be a lonely road. It is lonely only in the sense of people walking that road with us. There can be persecution. Families and friends may turn against us, but the Lord stands with us. Fellowship with the Lord is sweet. He will lead us down the road less traveled and bring us into His very Presence for Eternity.

We are the children of God, joint heirs with Christ, the People of God, and a friend of God. What could be better than this. So how do we walk this road aright fellowshipping with the Lord? We do it by denying ourselves. We are not talking about asceticism, which is the denial of all earthly pleasures, but a denial of our own ability to walk out a life of obedience to the Lord. We must walk out this life by faith in what He accomplished at Calvary. We must come to the realization that this journey cannot be made in our own strength, nor by our own efforts. Our way to victory is by trusting Him in every aspect of our lives.

In our introductory verse, the Lord is telling us that we must make the Cross (what He accomplished there) the object of our faith daily and live our lives by walking after the Spirit. We walk after the Spirit by placing our faith in Christ crucified daily. The Holy Spirit then will work mightily in our lives bringing us the victory we seek to walk out a life pleasing to the Lord.

The road can be lonely even within the church. Many believe that our sanctification comes about by what we do – meaning our works – in other words, faith plus works. This is not true. We cannot save ourselves and we cannot walk before the Lord in our own strength. The Christian disciples such as prayer, church attendance, reading the Bible, and fasting are important, but trusting in these for victory will result in failure.

The Holy Spirit will help us. Calvary made it possible for Him to come and indwell all believers. If we choose to not go the way of faith in the provision the Lord has provided, then we will not find victory and will live a defeated life. Not walking in the Spirit is the ultimate lonely road that we need not walk. Jesus said, “Follow Me.” His way is the Cross. Our way is by the Cross. We may experience the lonely road due to few being on it, but it is a road of, “joy unspeakable and full of Glory” as we walk it out in the presence and power of the Lord. He will guide us and be our ever present help on this road that leads to an eternity in the Presence of the Lord.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go, I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:8).

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2024

For a Love That Reached Down to a Lost and Dying World

“This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).

Our Salvation is all of the Lord. Our part is to come by faith and believe in what the Lord has already provided. Our Father, out of His great love for us, sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to rescue us from the sure destruction that would come upon us if left to our own ways. We were dead spiritually and could not climb out of the fallen condition we found ourselves in.

The Lord not only paid the price for our sins, but He draws us to Himself by His Holy Spirit. Left on our own we would not come to the Lord. We are in a fallen condition and unable to come His way on our own. Jesus said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” The Lord finds us; not the other way around. He finds us by the convicting and drawing power of the Holy Spirit. We have a free will and can turn away from the Lord’s drawing, but Jesus’ point was that the call of God on an individual is initiated by the Lord.

Many say that they came to the Lord, or they found or accepted the Lord, which is true in part, but the Lord is the One Who showed them the way to come to Him in repentance and faith. When we do come into the Salvation He so graciously provides, 1 Corinthians tells us all the changes that take place when we are born again or born of the spiritual: “But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the Name of Jesus.” Incredibly, we are washed by the Blood of Jesus cleansing us from our sins. We are sanctified which refers to our being set apart for the Lord. We are justified which means we are declared not guilty of sin. And having been born again, washed, sanctified, and justified; the Lord is not through blessing us.

O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him” (Psalm 34:8).

We are so blessed to know the Lord. We are children of God and joint heirs with Christ. The Apostle Paul explains this in his Epistle to the Romans. He says “The Spirit itself (Himself) bears witness with our spirit that we are the Children of God, and joint heirs with Christ..” The Apostle John explains it further when he writes, ” Beloved, what manner of love the Father has for us that we shall be called the sons of God….. Beloved now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

We have much to give thanks to the Lord for. He has done it all and it is “marvelous in our eyes.” We know that the Earth is not our home, we are just passing through. We await our home in Heaven where we will see the One Who died for us so that we might live in eternity with Him with all the glorious blessings the Lord has prepared for us.

Yes, we have much to be thankful for. The Lord’s love for us is like a brightly shining beacon showing us the way into His very presence. How can we not hearken to the call of the Lord and fall on our knees in thanksgiving to our great God? He is calling out today in His great love for all those who are so in need of His Salvation.

Those of us who know the Lord are blessed beyond all that we could ever imagine. Our future is bright as the Lord has great blessings in store for those who love Him and have come His Way. The following words from the song* express every child of God’s desire to see Jesus which is the greatest blessing awaiting us: “What a day that will be when my Jesus I will see. When I look upon His face the One Who saved me by His Grace.” As we walk out our lives, the Holy Spirit will lead us and bring us to an eternity in the Presence of the One who loves us with an everlasting love.

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations” (Psalm 100:4,5).

*What a Day That Will Be – Composed by Jim Hill

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

Find podcasts of this article, and all the articles on this website on the “Here I Am Lord” podcast on Spotify for Podcasters, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, and Apple Podcasts.

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2023

A Thanksgiving Message for All!

A Call to Worship The Lord For His Goodness

Thanksgiving is upon us and we have much to be grateful for. Chief of which is that we have a God that watches over us for our good. He has blessed us with our very lives and has blessed us with all the beauty around us. But above all, He has rescued us from our fallen condition and has done so in a most incredible way.

We were lost to our own fallen natures due to original sin and unable to help ourselves. Without the Lord’s intervention, we were headed for judgment for our sins, and eternal separation from God in Hell. These are strong words but accurate according to the Bible.

Satan has done all He can to turn people away from the Salvation that the Lord has lovingly provided for all those that will come to Him in repentance and faith in the Salvation He has provided.

The dictionary’s definition of salvation is preservation from harm, ruin, or loss. We are certainly in harm’s way if we do not know the Biblical Salvation offered by the Lord. Ruin is assured for those that do not turn to the Lord during the lifetime the Lord has blessed us with. And loss is not a strong enough word for what will be suffered by those that reject God and His way. The result will be complete separation from God and His blessings and an eternity of suffering in Hell.

Well, some might say that this is to strong a message for Thanksgiving, but I disagree. Many will go through the day celebrating with family and enjoying a turkey dinner with barely a thought of just how grateful we should be for all the Lord has done for us.

The Lord sent His Son to die on a cruel Cross so that we might be saved. If there ever was an extreme measure taken to accomplish something, then this act of the Lord in sending His Son to die for us must top the list. We are saved by His Mercy and Grace alone. And we should be thankful every day of our lives.

What many do not realize is that the Gospel is not only an invitation, but also an ultimatum from the Lord. The Gospel of John shows us the heart of God in the following verse: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whomsoever believes in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life.” So there it is: Except the loving gift of Eternal Life through Christ, or perish.”

This article may seem hard-hitting but the Bible tells us that the judgment of God is soon coming on the world and we can only be in one of two camps. We can be saved by the Blood Jesus shed for us at the Cross, or we can reject the Lord’s loving offer and face the judgment to come.

So, on this Thanksgiving Day, it is my prayer that everyone reading this would realize the Grace that has been offered to us by our loving God, and thank Him for the “gift” that cost Him so much to provide. “We give thanks with a grateful heart! We give thanks to the Holy One.” The following verse says it well:

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations” (Psalm 100:4,5).

Prayer Changes Things

The Lord wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Prayer requests can be left on the comments page of this website.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Lord hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

Find podcasts of this article, and all the articles on this website on the “Here I Am Lord” podcast on Spotify for Creators, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic.

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com  2022

Called Out of Darkness

“Which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:10).

For those of us who have been called out of darkness; we are the people of God. What could be better than to be known by God as His people? We are blessed by the Mercy and Grace of our Heavenly Father Who loved us and sent His Son to make that possible. We were dead in sin and living in darkness. We were without hope before the Lord reached down in His Mercy and saved us from our fallen nature.

The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself on the Cross so that the way could be opened for forgiveness and fellowship with God. We are the people of God due to Calvary alone. All blessings come through the Lord’s sacrificial death on the Cross. Our faith must be in His great work there for our Salvation and for power to live a holy life as His people – the people of God.

The Bible tells us that we, as the people of God, are a chosen generation, or race. We are a royal Priesthood and “kings and Priests” (Rev 1:6). We are a Holy Nation set apart for God. We are a peculiar people speaking of the uniqueness of each member of the family of God. It also means that God surrounds His people as with a circle. This speaks of the Lord’s protection and great care for all He calls His own.

We, as His people, should worship and praise the One Who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are so blessed to be called the people of God in a world that neither knows Him nor honors Him as the one true God. Many look back on there lives and see all the failures and things that they have done that they are now ashamed of. If we have experienced the Mercy and Grace of God in our lives and are now children of God, then we have chosen rightly the only path that will lead us to Eternal Life with the God that loves us. We have found the way, which is, inspite of all our failures, the most important decision we can ever make! We, of course do not condone sin, but our failures made us realize our sinful state and our great need for a savior. We now know it is impossible to live a right or Righteous life without being born spiritually into the Kingdom of God. The Lord said the following to Israel but it applies to all those who walk out their lives as the people of God:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6)

The Lord is our, “Shield and our exceeding great reward.” As David said in Psalm 3, ” He is a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. The Lord watches over us as we pass through this darkened and lost world. David saw the Lord as protecting and guiding him at all times, and so should we.

We are so privileged to know the Creator of all things and to walk in the fellowship He graciously offers to all those who come His way. We don’t know all that awaits us as we pass from this life into His very Presence, but His Word tells us that it will be glorious. He is our reward. We must seek to draw near to Him and His ways as David prayed in Psalm 25.

“Show me Your Ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your Truth and teach me: for you are the God of my Salvation; on You do I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:4,5).

In closing this article I can’t help but feel that I have not given the subject the justice it deserves. We are so blessed!  Being known as the people of God is a great honor beyond compare. But knowing our wonderful God and His ways is the true reward. Imagine, you and I can say that the God of all creation is “my God.” It’s personal – a personal relationship with the Lord. Nothing can compare with that. Praise His Holy Name for the mercy and Grace He has shown us.

Surely Mercy and Grace will follow me all the days of my life: and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Psalm 23:6).

Prayer Changes Things

The Lord wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Prayer requests can be left on the comments page of this website.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Lord hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

Find podcasts of this article, and all the articles on this website on the “Here I Am Lord” podcast on Spotify for Creators, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic.

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2024

Even as Your Father in Heaven Is Perfect

“Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Jesus said these words as part of the Sermon on the Mount. But what did He mean by telling us to be perfect like the Father. Was He advocating sinless perfection? No, that is not what Jesus was saying. 

We are saved by Grace. We come to the Lord with nothing to offer toward our Salvation but repentance and faith in the Lord’s great sacrifice at Calvary. When we are born again we understand that our Salvation was totally given to us on the basis of Grace. Grace that was afforded us only by what Christ accomplished at Calvary. Our part was to accept the gift of salvation.

“For by Grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

What happened to us when we were born again? We were washed, we were sanctified, and we were justified. All of this by Grace and the work of God in our life. We were washed by the Blood of Jesus, we were sanctified meaning that we were set apart to God, and we were justified which means we were declared not guilty. Washed, sanctified, and justified all due to Calvary. All by Grace.

“….But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Romans Chapter 6 tells us that spiritually we were baptized into His death, we were buried with Him, and just as Christ was literally raised from the dead, we were raised spiritually to Newness of Life. Again, we did nothing to bring this about but come by faith. Christ accomplished it all on the Cross. His death paid the sin dead and opened the way that we might be born again into Newness of life.

“Know you not, that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ were banished into His Death? Therefore we are buried with Him by Baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in Newness of life” (Romans 6:3,4).

With Christ having paid the sin debt and having been Resurrected and seated on the Right Hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit now indwells all believers bringing Newness of life, that is, the Life of God to all those who come His way. And what is His way? Well, just as we came in by faith through Grace, we receive the life of God – The Newness of Life – the very same way. When we make Jesus Christ and Him Crucified the object of our faith, the Holy Spirit will work mightily in our lives. We could not bring about Salvation ourselves and we cannot bring about sanctification ourselves as well. The way to sanctification is a Law of God with the Holy Spirit working in our lives as we exhibit faith in Christ and Him Crucified as the following verse tells us:

“For the Law (Law of God) of the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) of Life (Newness of Life through the Holy Spirit) in Christ Jesus (Newness of Life is only made possible by what Christ accomplished at the Cross) has made me free (complete victory) from the Law of Sin and Death (the only way to defeat sin and live in Newness of Life)” (Romans 8:2 plus ESB and commentary mine).

What Jesus was saying in our opening verse about being perfect like our Heavenly Father is that we are to strive to be like Him by placing our faith in the Father’s gift of His Son. He sent the Lord Jesus to die on a cruel Cross that the way might be opened for whosover will to come by faith into a relationship with our Heavenly Father and experience Newness of Life which is the very Life of God. The object of our faith must be Christ and His sacrificial death on the Cross. The Holy Spirit will then make this Newness of life, or the Life of God a reality in our lives.

We are saved by Grace through faith and we are sanctified by faith through Grace. All made possible by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. He has done it all and He calls out to all those that have ears to come and receive of the goodness of our God. Our God is seeking those who will believe Him and seek to follow Him with all their heart. Let us seek to be perfect, that is, to live the life the Lord has provided for us which will make us more like Him.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9a).

Prayer Changes Things

The Lord wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Prayer requests can be left on the comments page of this website.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Lord hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

Find podcasts of this article, and all the articles on this website on the “Here I Am Lord” podcast on Spotify for Creators, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic.

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2024

Repeat After Me!

Finding the Knowledge Of God

“…The Word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the Word of Faith, which we preach” (Romans 10:8).

I remember playing a party game as a child. I don’t remember the name of this party game but it was popular back then. One person started it by whispering something to the person next to them. What the individual passed on was up to them and could be anything. It wasn’t an individual word but could be a phrase or even a story. There usually were at least a half dozen people attending the party and this phrase or story was passed from one person to the next until the last person would say it out loud. There was always a good laugh from this as the final attempt to repeat what was originally given was nothing like what the original person had passed on.

I thought of this party game the other day because it is similar to what has happened to the church down through the years. The partygoers only had their memories to go by in passing whatever was given to them. The church, however, has had God’s Word to reference and to make sure that they were following the Word God has given His church so that they may know His will and follow Him in all their ways. The Gospel message was entrusted to the church through God’s Word that it be passed down as the Lord intended, and not corrupted by the church substituting their own ways for God’s. When you leave the Word of God, you lose your way.

Good intentions will merit those disposed to such – nothing. Many have left God’s Word for their own thoughts and ways. The church, as a whole, has drifted away from the God Who offers forgiveness and Eternal Life to all those who go His way – His way is the Bible. The church must return to the infallible Word of God.

The Bible teaches us about God’s great God love for us in sending His Son to rescue us from our helpless and fallen condition. The Bible is the Lord’s love letter to a world lost and undone. Fortunately, there is a remnant of good churches that make the Bible the centerpiece of their teaching, but many professing Christians don’t know the way to Salvation when the Bible clearly shows us the way. The Bible is the story of Christ and His great redemptive work for mankind. For Salvation, our faith must be in Christ and Him Crucified alone – the Bible tells us so.

So, let’s for a moment, play the game that I played as a child. Here is the verse to be passed on: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life.” Pass this on to the next person you meet for if they believe it; it will save their soul. But unlike the game and our need to remember it as originally intended, we have the reference of the Bible that we can point them to. Everything we hear should be measured by it.

God Loves us and gave us His Word so that we will not err, or stray, away from the truth. God’s Word is truth. It is rudder we need to direct our life here in this world. He stands in the way of Eternity waiting to welcome us. We long to hear Him say “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Follow His Word and it will lead us into His very presence for all eternity. We find in His Word all His promises for those who remain faithful. He has done it all by paying the price for us on the Cross. We need only come His way.

“My son, if you will receive My Words, and hide My Commandments with you; so that you incline your heart unto wisdom and apply your heart to understanding….then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the Knowledge of God (which is the Bible)” (Proverbs 2:1,2,5).

Prayer Changes Things

The Lord wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Prayer requests can be left on the comments page of this website.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Lord hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2024

A Warning to All Believers! Be Ready!

“Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He comes shall find watching…. and if He shall come in the second watch (9 to midnight), or come in the third watch (midnight to 3 AM), and find them so (watching for His coming), blessed are those servants” (Luke 12:37a,38).

The Lord is coming for His church. These are the end times prophesied in the Bible; the times the Lord warned us about, and His coming could be at any time. As we look around us today we find lawlessness on a scale that we have not seen before. Also, the moral fiber of our nation and the world is unraveling. These are dangerous times. We, as Christians, must keep our faith strong in all the promises of the Lord. The Lord calls us to be faithful and wise as the following words of the Lord tell us:

“And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He comes shall find so doing” (Luke 12:42,43).

We are to occupy until He comes, meaning we are to be faithful and do the work of the Kingdom. The greatest work in the Kingdom is the work of sharing the Gospel in a fallen world. Those that we come across as we walk out this life should see a difference in us that they do not see in those of this world. We can walk out this life of faith and remain faithful as we make Christ and Him crucified the object of our faith daily. When we do this the Holy Spirit will work in us to not only bring us victory in our daily lives but lead us in reaching out to a lost and dying world.

The Lord goes on to warn believers about drifting away. We are kept by the Lord by faith in Christ’s finished work at Calvary. The following warning from the Lord should be considered and heeded by all:

“But if that servant say in his heart, my lord delays his coming; and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looks not for Him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will, appoint him his portion with the unbelievers” (Luke 12:45,46).

Romans Chapter 6 tells us that we are dead to sin and have “Newness of Life” when we come to the Lord in repentance and faith, The sin nature is not dead but we are dead to it. That means that as long as we walk in the Spirit by our faith in Christ and His finished work at Calvary, the sin nature will remain inactive. However, if we do not do this the sin nature will definitely become a problem for us. We can go back to doing some of the unrighteous things we did before coming to the Lord, and worse. If we continue down this path we can lose our faith altogether. The Lord in these verses is talking about a believer who ceases to believe. The result, as we see here is not good.

The Lord warns us against losing faith and encourages us to walk out our lives as faithful and wise servants knowing that He could return for us at any time as our closing verse tells us. 

Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of Man (Jesus) comes at an hour you think not” (Luke 12:40).

Prayer Changes Things

The Lord wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Prayer requests can be left on the comments page of this website.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Lord hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

Find podcasts of this article, and all the articles on this website on the “Here I Am Lord” podcast on Spotify for Podcasters, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic. Watch on the “Here I Am, Lord – Our Journey of Faith” channel on YouTube. Also, Here I Am, Lord is on Telegram.

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2024

“For sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14).

“This then is the Message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie” (1 John 1:4,5).

The Apostle John is addressing this epistle to the church of his day. He is proclaiming to them, and to us, that there is no darkness in God. He is saying that God is light and cannot condone sin of any fashion. He will judge sin whether it be from an unsaved person or a believer. John was countering a teaching at the time known as “Antinomianism” which means “against law” which teaches that we can, as believers, live a sinful life and still have fellowship with the Lord. This teaching was widespread at the time. Bringing this teaching forward to today, there are whole denominations that believe that our faith in Christ covers their continual sinning. This goes completely against the fact that the Lord cannot, and will not, condone sin – no matter who sins. This also goes against the Apostle Paul’s teaching on how we are to walk out our Christian lives to have victory over the sin nature.

The way, and only way, to victory in our Christian walk, is by faith in Christ and Him crucified. The Apostle Paul, in Romans Chapter 6, tells us what takes place spiritually when we come to the Lord in faith. We are “baptized into his death,” “buried with Him by Baptism into death,” and “that like Christ we have been raised up from the dead.” this is a spiritual Baptism into Christ performed by the Holy Spirit who then comes to abide in us. Chapter 8 verse 2 tells us that the Holy Spirit gives us victory over our sin nature in only one way. That way is by faith in Christ and what He accomplished at the Cross. This is a Law of God and is the only way to victory over the Law of Sin and Death which is the law that rules over the unsaved and those within the church who do not know God’s way to victorious Christian living. Going any other way will bring us defeat.

We cannot have the victory we seek by our own efforts. When we talk about the ability to live holy lives before the Lord, we are not talking about sinless perfection, but a victorious walk of victory as we place our faith in Christ and His sacrificial death at Calvary. But what if we do sin? Paul addresses that in the following verses:

“If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8,9)

The Apostle John is acknowledging that the sin nature remains in us as believers and we are deceived if we do not understand that. He goes on to remind us that God is faithful to forgive us of any sin and “cleanse us of all unrighteousness” if we confess our sins to Him.

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and His Word is not in us” (1 John 1:10).

The Apostle John is here addressing those who believed in sinless perfection. This goes back to verse 8 where he was addressing this same group that believed that they now had no sin nature and could live a sinless life. This is against what God says in His Word and in effect makes Him a liar. John is saying that if this belief is held then whoever holds it does not know the Bible.

“My little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not. and if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2:1).

We are saved from sin. We are not to let it rule in our lives. John affirms all he has said previously by pointing to the answer for all sin and that is our Advocate Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. He is seated on the Right Hand of the Father and makes intercession for us. We are saved by our Faith in Christ and Him Crucified and we are to live our Christian lives in the same manner. It is by faith from first to last. Praise the Lord!

“I am Crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

[Note: There has been a teaching in the church that teaches that chapter 1 of this epistle was written to the unsaved and that beginning with chapter 2 John addresses the church. This is an error. There were no chapter headings when this epistle was written and it was written as one continuous letter. This whole epistle was written to the church. Those advocating that Chapter 1 was written for unbelievers do so to justify the teaching that we need not confess our sins. There is no truth in this. The Lord calls us to confess our sins as John makes clear in chapter 1 of this epistle.]

Prayer Changes Things

The Lord wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Prayer requests can be left on the comments page of this website.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Lord hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

Find podcasts of this article, and all the articles on this website on the “Here I Am Lord” podcast on Spotify for Podcasters, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic. Watch on the “Here I Am, Lord – Our Journey of Faith” channel on YouTube. Also, Here I Am, Lord is on Telegram.

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2024