Make your life count!   By James Lantz

       You, along with every human being, have been given an awesome invitation to come and sit down at the Father’s right hand and share in Jesus’ glory! With this extravagant grace that has been extended to fallen man comes great expectation from the Father. A great price should only be paid for something of great value. God paid the full price to redeem His fallen man. All of the silver, gold, diamonds, and precious metals in this world was not valuable enough to purchase our redemption. No angel or created being could pay the price for our sins, but only Jesus, through His blood, was found precious enough to buy us back from death and eternal separation from Father God.  John 14:6  NLT  Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me.  If there had been another way to redeem you and me from eternal damnation Father God would have used it; but there was and is no other way! The great price that God paid for us reveals our great value and worth and also is an indicator of His great expectation for us to make our life count.  Heb. 2:1  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.  Heb. 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.  It was important to our Heavenly Father that we be warned that this great salvation that was freely granted to us not be taken for granted but realize that it must be appropriated by faith. Jude tells us we must earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to us. This same faith in which we initially embraced salvation through repentance from our sins and faith towards God must be maintained and demonstrated through godly living. Jude issues a strong warning to reject the lies of ungodly people within the church that say that the grace of God allows you to live an unrestrained and loose lifestyle.   Jude 3  NLT  Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share.  But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.   Jude 4  NLT  I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. These people tell you that God’s grace covers our sins and that there is no responsibility on our 

Grace without faith is the same as no grace at all!

part to live in obedience to our Master’s words. The reality is that God accepts our faith in Christ Jesus and counts it as righteousness to us.  Rom. 4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.  Later on in the epistle to the Romans it is revealed that faith must be in our heart and in our mouth in order to access God’s salvation.  Rom. 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  When we speak out by faith what God has said, we activate the creative power of God! Long ago God preached the gospel to Abraham, saying, through you will every nation be blessed. The blessing is ours through faith in Jesus Christ! Our confession of faith that Jesus is the Lord of our life was our moment of rejecting the life of sin and receiving the life of God! Saul’s confession of faith on the road to Damascus was simply, “Lord, What would you have me do”?   Saul, when confronted with the reality of the risen Christ, chose to make his life count. Jesus said, if you had faith, you would say! The speaking of our faith is the primary way in which faith is released! Saul released his faith with one word, Lord, and understood immediately that actions of service must correspond with his words. Faith in God has always been released by words and actions and always will be!  2 Cor. 4:13  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak. There will never be an update on the word of God because perfection cannot be improved upon! Our acceptance of the call of God is our starting place to making our life count. Our life is but a vapor compared to eternity and yet God offers us rewards that will last throughout eternity for our service in His kingdom!  Luke 9:24  NLT  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

       Jesus made the outstanding statement that His sheep hear His voice. Not only do we need to hear His voice to be led through this life here on earth but we needed to hear His voice to become a child of His. This great salvation was first spoken unto us by the Lord himself and confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. We do not get to tell the Lord how to speak to us nor whom He will use to get His message through to us. Since Jesus has submittted himself to the will of the Father and the Heavenly Father rules over all, we are to be delighted in whatever manner He chooses to speak to us.  1 Cor. 15:27  NLT  For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)  You would think that everyone knows that since God is God, He is the one who gets to choose how He speaks to you. Many are refusing to recognize God’s voice because they want it some other way. God has raised Jesus up to be the head of the church which is His body. God does not speak to everyone in a spectacular form like the burning bush or with a personal visitation from Jesus but He does speak to everyone. Many people are missing the supernatural because they are looking for the spectacular! We know that Paul had to go before kings to take the message of salvation. Paul spoke of the of the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. He spoke of righteousness, self control, and the judgement to come. He told of how the Lord Jesus appeared to him and commissioned him to open peoples eyes that they might receive forgiveness of sins.  Acts 26:19&20 NLT  And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.  .  .  .  that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do.  God speaks to people through His preachers, through His word, through His people and by His Spirit. The number one way God leads His children is through the inward witness. This is not an audible speaking of the Spirit but just a gentle knowing. Dr. Luke wrote his gospel recognizing this leading of the Holy Spirit within because it just seemed good.  Luke 1:3  It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,  Instantly obeying the leadings and the voice of the Holy Spirit is critical to making our life count for eternity.

       Jesus instructs us to count the cost before we run our race!  Luke 14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Jesus is not suggesting that we don’t follow Him because the alternative is eternal death and destruction. Moses spoke of the prophet Jesus, who was to come, and how we must obey His every word.  Acts 3:23  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Jesus warns us that we must be aware that when we join His team and become His disciple the only way to finish with Him is to love Him above everything and everyone else. We must lay down our life and take up His cross and put His kingdom and His righteousness first place so that we do not allow the evil one to steal our victory!  Jesus warns us there is an enemy of our souls. Satan comes immediately to steal the word from our hearts! Satan brings trouble and persecution to endeavor to get us to let go of the word of God. If that doesn’t  stop us then he tries to get us caught up with worry, and chasing after money, and the lusts of other things. Jesus is telling us that serving Him requires our full attention, allegiance, and devotion.  Luke 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

       Make a full commitment! A less than full commitment to serve God and be a supplying joint in the body of Christ is just dishonest and unacceptable to the Lord. The intent of a half hearted commitment is to get full covenant privileges for half price. Loving the world is spoken of as spiritual adultery. Kind of like being married but having a boyfriend on the side. A full commitment to the Lord means that we let go of the former things that are contrary to God’s plan for our life and fully engage in the things pertaining to our assignment. This requires that we trust God because we do not see how we are going to get from where we are to where we are going.  Ps. 37:5  Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.  It pleases our Heavenly Father when we commit to the Lordship of Jesus and give ourselves wholly to His plan for our life, expecting to be rewarded both now in this life and in the one to come. God gets involved in helping us think right after we commit to obey Him.  Pro. 16:3  Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.  Jesus did the hard part in bringing us together in covenant with God by dying on the cross and paying the penalty for our sin by suffering in hell for three days and nights. Our part is to lay down our life and take up His life! Victory over Satan is guaranteed through Jesus’ shed blood, our confession of faith, and our full commitment to please the Father!  Rev. 12:11  NLT  And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.  Commit to making your life count today!