From Alien To Citizen

From Alien To Citizen

 

Ephesians 2:19-22

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21. In whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into the holy temple in the Lord. 22. In him you are also are being built together in to a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

 

As I was listening again to the message from Sunday, 8/8/2021 I am being reminded how before I knew Christ as my personal Savior, I was an alien in this world without hope, meaning I was a sinner that was not yet saved by God’s grace alone. Listening this morning I am reminded that for people that are not citizens of the United States, there is a process that one can go through to become a citizen of America. Now I don’t profess to know what that’s like because I am a natural born citizen, but I expect there are classes you would have to go through to learn history, language amongst other things to become a citizen of the United States.

 

Well, if you are without Jesus and therefore without hope you are an alien and stranger to the family of God. What I mean by this is you are a sinner and therefore belong to this world. Well unlike the process of having to go through to become a citizen of some nation, there are no classes that one would have to go through to become citizens of God. All’s one would have to do is believe in the all sufficient, all saving name and the power of Jesus Christ.

Romans 10: 9-10 says, 9. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

That’s right all you have to do is believe in Jesus. You can’t earn it or do anything to get it, just believe and confess as Romans 10:9 says. Jesus did all the work, there’s no more sacrifices to be made no more priests having to atone for the sins of the people, Jesus literally went to the cross, took on his back all our sin and shame, basically accepting the wrath of God for us, me and you, so that we can be citizens in the family of God. We are co-heirs with Jesus, what a way to live.

 

All my life, because of my upbringing,  felt as though I never belonged to anything. I tired football, baseball, rodeo, work, you name it I tried any and everything to belong. I even thought for a long time that I’ve sinned too much, done to much damage to ever be able to have the grace of God. What God spoke to my heart is only Jesus can save me and that I need to confess my brokenness to Christ and believe in him to be saved. Today Jesus is my Savior and Lord base on what Jesus did on the cross and only what Jesus did, as again what Roman’s 10:9-10 says.

 

If you are without hope, and an alien in this world, and would like to be a citizen in the family of God, you would like to belong to something more loving and powerful that anything in this world, put your trust in Jesus Christ, who is all sufficient and all powerful to save, and you then will gain an inheritance that no one or nothing in all creation, this world can take away from you. I love you and hope you trust Jesus today.

In His Service

Bart

 

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When Jesus Died

When Jesus Died

 

When Jesus died

He saved my soul

He gave me life

He made me whole

 

I walk with Him

It’s Him I please

It’s Him I trust

To walk in peace

 

When Jesus Died

He freed my soul

To make a choice

His Word to know

 

Now His Spirit

Lives in my heart

He changed my life

With a new start

 

When Jesus died

He freed me from

A life on drugs

Now I’m no longer numb

 

He changed my heart

Now it’s Him I serve

I obey His Word

So, I never swerve

 

When Jesus died

He paid the debt

For my sin

Now my ransoms met

 

I’m no longer guilty

Nor do I live in shame

I put my faith in Christ

Who will never change

 

 

When Jesus died

On that cursed tree

He gave me rest

He set me free

 

I don’t doubt His love

He loved me first

For His love

I hunger and I thirst

 

 

 

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved 2019

Love Came To Set Me Free

I see freedom coming through

For I know God’s Word is always true

 

When I stand on the Word of God

It’s how He keeps me in awe

 

It’s love that drew me in

Now I have freedom from my sin

 

Now I carry my burdens to the cross

It’s how I keep from being lost

 

It was love that found me first

For His Word I hunger, and I thirst

 

Now His Commands are what I keep

It’s His face that I want to seek

 

I’m free, I’m free at last

To never be a slave to my past

 

It’s His love that breaks my chains

Even when my tears flow like rain

 

My scars are being healed

With His Spirit is how I’m sealed

 

Christs’ Spirit is now my guide

He’ll never leave my side

 

This is how live came to set me free

When He died on that cursed tree

 

 

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved 2018

With Arms Spread Open

With arms spread open, open wide

On that cursed tree He died

As a ransom for you and me

His blood was spilled to set us free

He was beaten, bloodied, black and blue

Not a word was said, for this is true

He set us free from sin and shame

There’s resurrection power in His name

He conquered death and the grave

For mankind He came to save

His Spirit was sent to be our guide

He said come to Me with arms spread wide

I got all this from His Word

Not just something I have heard

Forgiveness came with a price

He came and died to give us life

We are now an heir to His Throne

For we believe earth is not our home

Do you believe that Jesus is the only way

For me and you He came to save

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved 2018

Oh, What A Glorious Day

It was on a hill that You died for me

A blessed place called Calvary

I remember how I was blind and lost

You never fretted at the cost

You called me out of sin and shame

It was from Your voice I heard my name

I was broken, beaten, black and blue

What a day to be called by You

What a day, a glorious day

I’m free at last, to walk Your way

I obey Your Word, I obey Your voice

You calm my mind caused by noise

I have voices living in my head

You cast them out, now their dead

It was out of hell that I’ve been called

You broke my chains, You, crashed my walls

From out of the darkness, into the light

My trust is in You thru this fight

You are my strength in this war

It was my sin that You bore

I’ve been made new, the old is done

I’m living in victory cause the war’s been won

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved 2018

 

A Message To My Heart

It was God who met me

in the middle of my sin

With a message to my heart

that was buried within

With all the pain and confusion

I wanted to die

I was lonely inside

no more tears could I cry

With cuts and bruises

all thru my dreary soul

To the depths of the earth

I thought I would go

Now I wanted to run

I wanted to hide

I thought I was alone

with no one by my side

The air got still

I heard a calm voice

All the chatter in my head

was nothing but noise

The noise got quiet

my heart began to race

With arms stretched wide

He extended me grace

He died on the cross

to save this dreary soul

To give me a new life

so my Savior I will know

A relationship with Christ

are what God desires

Obedience to His Word

I want to aspire

Forgiveness of sin

is the message I have heard

I get this message

from Studying His Word

Now if you are lost

can’t seem to find your way

Stop what you are doing

then begin to pray

Ask for Jesus

to come into your heart

To give you a new life

to give you a new start

Ask for His peace

to come rest in your soul

So, the depths of the earth

you never have to go

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved 2018

Forever He’ll Reign

Our Savior was hung on a criminals cross

Dying for all, forgiving who’s lost

He was born by the Spirit, yet walked as a man

Walking in obedience, He completed God’s plan

He is the reconciliation between man and God

He is our redemption since man has been flawed

Let’s rejoice in our sorrow and rejoice in our pain

He came as our Savior, Forever He’ll reign

He is Alpha, Omega, the Beginning and End

After the ascension, His Spirit He did send

I stand in amazement, I stand in awe

He takes me as I am, with all of my flaws

I rejoice in sadness, I rejoice when in fear

I know I can call out, He draws me in near

I submit to His Lordship, I submit to my God

I’ll forever be His, He’ll forever be awed

I stand in His mercy, I’m saved by His grace

He is my strength to persevere in this race

He called me out of darkness, into the light

I answered His call, I walked away from my plight

He offered me freedom, He set me apart

It’s a new life He gives right from the start

I’m sealed by His Spirit, forever His child

All because of Jesus I have been reconciled

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011-2018

It’s You Lord

Lord, when I’m weary and broken down

Can’t pick my frown up off the ground

It’s Your love that You alone provide

So in my shame I no longer hide

 

When the world has me breathing hard

My character has then been charred

It is Your mercy that provides me grace

So I then can continue in this race

 

When I break down and give in to sin

Then rebel against the Spirit within

I get stuck and lost in pride

But Lord You never leave my side

 

I’m amazed and awed by You

How Your Word is always true

Even tho I wander and stray

You still mold me just like clay

 

It’s Your character You want to perfect

My ideas I still try to inject

But You Lord prune my ways

So on Your path I’ll always stay

 

When my scars are shining thru

And my flaws stick like glue

You freed me from my chains

So I no longer have to strain

 

It’s Your love You hung on that tree

Then died and rose for me

To free me from this fight

Then be my guiding Light

 

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011-2018

God Is Sovereign, He Is In Control

God is Sovereign, He’s in

control

He sent Christ to save our

soul

He walked the earth as a

man

With a message to complete

Gods plan

Christ came to save all

who’s lost

By giving us grace thru

the cross

If it wasn’t for Christ, we’d

have no hope

There would be no way for

us to cope

Life would then just be a

waste

Living then dying in so

much haste

But there is a way to be

born again

We’ll then be free from a

life of sin

In Jesus’ name we must

believe

Cling to His Word is how

we cleave

His Word is Truth and life

it gives

To understand His Word is

how we live

If you believe all this to be

true

Christ Jesus is looking to save

you to

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011-2018

This Is God’s Story This Is God’s Song

A fool in his heart says there’s no God

We have to ask for grace because we are flawed

Sin entered the world thru rebellion of one man

Tho the redemption of one man God had a plan

In the likeness of man God sent His Son

Thru His death on the cross salvation was won

Forgiveness is what He extended to all

God’s grace is what covered the fall

If you believe in your heart not just your head

That Jesus is God and He was raised from the dead

Then you will be saved from death caused by sin

His Spirit will now come and live within

Have you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is God

Because His love on the cross covers over our flaws

This is fact, not fiction, not false, but True

It comes from the Word of God and He’s looking for you

If you have a question or burden deep down in your heart

Look to Jesus as Savior for He’ll give you a new start

This is God’s story, this is His song

It’s the Word I will preach all day the day long

Romans 10:9

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Amen!

© Copyright By Bart Hickey, All Rights Reserved, 2011-2018