JESUS IS MY LORD, 

SAVIOUR & FRIEND

                                   By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

     The God of the Universe is my personal saviour, Lord and Friend! He is my Advocate, Physician, and Counsellor. His Name means, ‘The God who saves, the God who heals, the God who protects and the God who delivers from all EVIL’!

    He is Yeshua ha Mashiach - the Salvation of God and King Messiah - Jesus the Christ of God! Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father! (Phil. 2: 10)

    He is nearer than the breath I  breathe and the blood that flows through my veins, because He is in me and I am in Him and we are hid with Christ in God!(John 6: 48-63; 14:16-23; 15:7; 2 Cor.5:17;   )

   I am His doulos (gr. love slave) because He owns me, having purchased my eternal salvation at the cost of His own precious blood. And I will be eternally grateful to Him for His compassion, love and mercy toward me, a lost and condemned sinner afloat on the sea of life, filled only with plans for material wealth and worldly ambition!

    In His great mercy, He waited for me to realize that I needed Him. It took a miracle to recruit me into His Army. When my father was instantly healed in his gall bladder through the Radio Ministry of Oral Roberts and baptized in the Holy Spirit a few days later, I saw for the first time in my life the reality of God working in people’s lives.  (1 John 1: 1-7)

                                    NO LONGER ONLY A THEORY!

It was no longer only a theory, but Jesus Christ became a living reality whom I could no longer resist. By following Him, I was offered eternal life instead of having my own way which would end in eternal death! (1 John 5: 10-13)        

    When He called me I said, “Yes! I want this. This is real, not just a figment of  the imagination or a set of rules and regulations, but LIFE in its highest form. I humbled myself to embrace the Life Giver Himself, the God of Creation, the Lord of lords  and the King of all kings and Ruler Divine, Jesus Christ the Great Physician!

     St. Paul stated that he was not worthy to be an apostle because in his ignorance, he had persecuted the followers of Christ! (Eph.3: 7, 8; 1 Cor. 15: 9) In that respect, we are all guilty if we do not give God the praise, honour and glory that He deserves and demands.

    Praise be to the matchless name of Jesus Christ, my Faithful High Priest, who pleads my cause before our Heavenly Father (Heb.7: 24, 25) and my Deliverer who keeps the Evil One at bay and fleeing in terror! (James 4: 7)

                                            JESUS IS MY FRIEND!                     

    Speaking to His disciples, Jesus said: “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15: 14,15)

      He shared with them His innermost feelings just before going to the Cross. He had prior knowledge. He knew His mission and He shared with His disciples what His Father had told Him; That He had come to earth to die for the sins of the world and rise again in power and great glory in order to redeem Adam’s fallen race!

     He divulged that He had come to do His Father’s Will. He spoke with them of His love and compassion for the lost, sick and dying, and He proved His great love and grace by forgiving the sinful, healing the sick and showing mercy to the outcasts.

    Jesus healed all who came seeking His merciful touch. He  had great compassion for the weak and struggling  souls who reached out in their desperation for His holy touch!

THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S GRACE, MERCY & LOVE; 

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT & NEVER WILL BE!

   In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus unburdened His heart to His Father as He cried out: “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; Nevertheless, not as I will, BUT AS THOU WILT.” (Matt. 26:39)

      Angels came to minister unto Him in his hour of temptation and we have come to understand that they are also messengers sent to minister to us in the time of need. (Psalm 34: 7 ; Heb.1: 14) )

     As Jesus prayed on the Rock of the Agony in Gethsemane, His sweat became like drops of Blood, knowing that He was entering the final phase of His Redemptive plan that had been formulated before the creation of the world!(Luke 22: 43, 44)

     The Gospel of God’s grace and mercy! WOW.!!! There is nothing like it anywhere. No love story as tender, no message as powerful, no News as far reaching and enduring as the Gospel and no Name as great as the name of Jesus Christ the WORLD’S ONLY SAVIOUR!!!

  St. Paul speaks of  “the unsearchable RICHES in Christ.” And the  “eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus.”

    He prayed: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3: 17-21)

                                    GREAT MEN BELIEVE IN GOD!

     No wonder King David said: “The fool (idiot) has said in his heart there is no God.” (Psalms 14: 1)  An idiot can say that there is no God. He is an idiot and does not know any better!

      After more than fifty years of study, research and travel meeting people from all walks of life, I can certainly ascertain that infidels, atheists and New Age advocates are spiritually retarded, proud and ignorant about the real issues of life.

       By the same token, I can safely say that most of the great men I have studied or met, believed in the God of Creation and His wondrous works! The brutish man has the characteristics of a stupid and irrational person and a fool knows nothing!

     King David was a prophet of God. He stated: “For Thou, Lord hast made me glad through Thy work: I will triumph in the works of Thy hands. O Lord, how great are Thy works! And Thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not: neither does a fool understand this.” (Psalm 92: 5, 6)

      ALBERT CAMUS said: “ I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out that there isn't, than to live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.”

       JOB, the oldest patriarch of the Bible stated: “For I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter Day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19: 25-27)

     ST. PAUL, the brilliant theologian, who met Jesus in a blinding light that charred his eyes, and was tutored by Him and even carried into Heaven and saw such things that he was forbidden to reveal, stated: “I believe God.” (Acts 27: 25).

      All Glory, Praise and Majesty be unto to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost forever and ever, for He has redeemed us unto Himself for His good pleasure and our eternal blessedness and joy!

                                      ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED!

     The Bible says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath CHOSEN US in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:

      “Having predestinated us unto the ADOPTION of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us ACCEPTED in the Beloved.

      “In Whom we have REDEMPTION through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace. Wherein He hath abounded unto us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the Mystery of His Will, according to His Good Pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself:

     “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in ONE all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him: In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” (Eph. 1: 3-11).

     The call of God still goes out to the lost, sick and suffering: “Come unto Me all ye who labour and are heavy laden and I will give your REST.” (Matt. 11: 28). Amen.