Chaplain's Corner Podcast

Unlocking Divine Power: Faith, Works, and Redemption

• Chaplain Terry Warner • Season 4 • Episode 28

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What if the words you speak could unlock or bind the power of God in your life? In our latest episode, we embark on a profound journey through Genesis 1 and the Hebrew Torah, shedding light on the foundational truths of God's creation and blessings. We delve into the spiritual fall of Adam and Eve, the ensuing curse, and the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ that restores humanity to righteousness. Through the lens of James 2:14-26, we emphasize the indispensable link between faith and actions, demonstrating that true faith is evident through works. Witness the transformative power of accepting Jesus as we explore what it means to become a new creation in God's spiritual image, with tangible evidence of this change in one's life.

In a poignant narrative, we recount a gripping near-death experience in Vietnam in 1966, which led to a profound spiritual awakening and a life devoted to faith and family. Hear how divine intervention was perceived in this life-changing moment and how it redirected a life towards meeting a spouse, raising a Christian family, and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Reflecting on these events, we underline the urgency of accepting Jesus, based on Romans 10:9-10, and the imminent return of Christ. Join us for an inspiring episode that underscores the importance of faith, the power of divine protection, and the call to trust in Jesus for salvation and eternal life.

"He has shown you, O Man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8)

Speaker 1:

Hello friends, jeffplain, terry Warner, here. This will be entitled If Only you Understood it's Season 4, episode 28. It will air on July the 8th, 2024. Your foundation scriptures are Genesis 1, the Hebrew Torah. Before reading and Genesis 1. The Torah is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The word Torah literally means teaching, guiding and instruction. It is misleading to think it means law. Before reading the Torah, the Jews have a blessing before reading, during the reading and after the reading. Before reading, the blessing is and I'm not going to try to read it to you in Hebrew, you wouldn't understand it and I'd make an idiot of myself. But I'll tell you what it says Blessed are you Eternal One, our God Sovereign of the world, who has given us a Torah of truth and planted in our midst eternal life. Blessed are you Eternal One who gives the Torah In Genesis 1, god created everything and when he finished that particular creation, god said it was good.

Speaker 1:

Then, after God created Adam and Eve, god said it was very good. Or God blessed his acts of creation and in doing so, god in essence said he had blessed or said something good about his creation. Notice, he didn't say anything about the devil, only his goodness, his love, his mercy, his kindness. Since God is a spirit and we must worship him in spirit and in truth, then our physical actions or our words may separate us from God's blessing and promises. Still, we, as human beings created in God's image, remain in the blessing and favor of God, but we are prevented from exercising our rights and privileges by our choice or by our words. Once our words are stout against God, god cannot act in our lives. He is bound or hindered by our words. He is loosed and set free by our words.

Speaker 1:

Once Adam and Eve sinned or missed God's opportunity to remain inside and function in his spiritual world, that's God's world, we became incapable of fellowshipping, worshiping and blessing God. In other words, we were transformed by believing the lie, or Satan's lie. We were transferred into the spiritual kingdom of darkness and incapable of redeeming ourselves back into God's favor and kingdom. We could repent, we could cry, we could beg, we could plead, but we did not have the power to change our spirit man back into a saved man or a man of christ or a family of god. We were doomed into everlasting darkness and separation from god. Jesus came and died for our sins, was was dead, buried, resurrected and resurrected, born again, and we're resurrected with him when we put our faith and trust in him. So God, in his wisdom and knowledge, created a system of sacrifices and used the blood of animals to pardon our sins and to an ultimate sacrifice, mainly God becoming sin and paying the penalty of redemption by sending his Son into the complete redemption of man and bought back and restored his original creation of spiritual and spirit blessing.

Speaker 1:

When we consider Adam before the fall, there was no sin, no curse, no discontent of anything. They lived and walked and operated in the glory of God. However, when Adam sinned, then the curse in Deuteronomy 28 had a legal right to come upon God's creation. Adam and followers of God could exercise their rights and avoid a lot of the curses that the devil had put on man, but could not totally defeat the devil until Jesus came and completed the ultimate sacrifice that would restore man to a position of righteousness just like he had never sinned. Blessed be the Lord. But if man would bless God, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, total victory over the devil would be possible only after the complete and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But what happens to man if he confesses Jesus as his Lord and Savior but then sits on his church pew for the next 40 years.

Speaker 1:

Well, the Bible says that faith in God without corresponding action is dead. James 2, 14-26. What does it profit my brothers, though a man may say he has faith and have not works, can faith save him If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food? And when you say unto them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit? Even so, faith if it has not works is dead, being alone. Yes, a man may say you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God you do. Well, the devils also believe and tremble. But will you know, o vain man, that faith without works is dead? Faith acts. Now, that's my insertion. That's my insertion.

Speaker 1:

Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? See how faith wrought with his works. And by works was faith made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled, which said Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You want to be the friend of God. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how Right. There you see, then, how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Likewise, also not Rahab the harlot, justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. In other words, if you become a follower of Jesus Christ, there should be fruit in your life showing that you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1:

People should not have to guess. People should not have to guess, people should not have to wonder. When a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they are reborn or become a new species, that is, the spiritual image and likeness of God. They are created anew and the Holy Spirit that resides in them is the Holy Spirit of God. Well, what did God or Jesus do when he came to earth? Acts 10.38 how God or the Father anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God, the Father, was with him. So we have seen that faith in Christ will bring about Christian work. I think we understand that being a follower and even a part of the body of Christ will bring about the works of God.

Speaker 1:

I remember back when I first got serious about believing the Lord. It would have been, oh, sometime in the fall of 1972 or 73 and I got serious and it finally, so off I went. It finally connected is what I'm trying to say. So I went off trying to preach and teach and not knowing a whole lot and being ignorant, and made a lot of mistakes and everything else. And the more I tried, the harder I tried, the worse it got, and trials and tribulations and just problems and everything. Finally I gave up and listened to the teaching of the Holy Spirit and had the Holy Spirit teach me. Well, while he was teaching me, you know, I thought I'm going to be just like Moses 40 years in the desert learning before I get to go preach and teach like I'm supposed to be doing. Well, 40 years would have been a blessing.

Speaker 1:

It actually took me 52 years to connect the dots. I mean really connect the dots. God is real, jesus is real and he will be real to you and to others when you let him and make him real in your life, when you start or quit hiding your Christianity and start coming out boldly and speaking words in love and kindness and humility and helping people out and loving them and caring for them and praying for them and straightening up your mouth, your conversation. You can't do that on your own. It doesn't work. I tried it For 52 years. I tried it For 52 years. I tried it. Did I make progress in the 52 years? Sure I did. Did I connect some dots? Sure I did. But I really connected the dots lately, when I realized that Jesus Christ is returning to earth soon for his church that's you, that's me. I sure hope it is. Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ? I'm going to give you an example.

Speaker 1:

I was in Vietnam in 1966, and we were in a firefight and this particular incident not one of the more dramatic ones, but it really got my attention I heard the bullet go by my ear and then I heard a second one go by my ear. I heard it, I actually heard it. I never saw it, I never felt it, it didn't hit me, but I heard it Some years later, two or three years later, after I got back and had some time to reflect. That was an angel of God deflecting that bullet. Now he didn't deflect it enough that I couldn't hear it. He deflected it enough that I could hear it, because if I hadn't have heard it I would not have changed my ways. But I heard the devil trying to kill me when that bullet went by my ear and God had a plan for me and a plan for my life, and that plan was to meet the lady of my dreams which I had just done Raise her family and children in a loving Christian home, give them inspiration and insight and show them that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and connect all the dots for us all together. Jesus is Lord.

Speaker 1:

And just lately, just lately when I started all these podcasts, I started another learning curve. I started another learning curve. I started another learning curve and this time I connected the dots. The trumpet's going to sound, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after, but rest assured, the trumpet of God is going to sound and we who are alive and in Christ get to go up. We get to go be with Jesus. The rest of the world is getting ready to go through seven years of hell, the tribulation period. You don't have to go through that. All you have to do is put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ and he will do the rest. Give your heart to Him today. Read Romans 10, verses 9 and 10. Do what it says and welcome to the family of God. You have a blessed day In Jesus' name, amen.