Yesterday ended is a podcast dedicated to the healing words of Jesus Christ and his story of redemption. Each podcast contains an original poem so that I can portray a confession of our faith of scripture in unique and succinct ways. Come with me on a journey to become a new creation and to declare old things dead and our life anew in Christ. What we meditate on will determine the direction and fruit of our lives. Let's live today speaking the words of life.
The victory we have in Christ can be felt in our everyday life. We can overcome depression. We can overcome fear. We can be confident. We can be free from worry. We can be free from anxiety. We can have emotional healing. We can have hope. We can be set free from our past. The Bible declares the goodness of God. The Bible is more than Christian psychology it is truth. The truth of God brings mental health, spiritual health and physical health. We can walk in peace. We can overcome the traumas of life.
Are you afraid that you don't measure up? Are you afraid you won't pass the entry process? Do you worry about not being good enough? Are you afraid you'll be left behind? Welcome to yesterday ended, healing the traumas of life. Do you know you stand approved before God? Do you know without doubt you're saved by Grace? I'm your host Dennis Dobbin and I'm here to teach you that you're already accepted. Give a listen.
Are you afraid that you don't measure up? Are you afraid you won't pass the entry process? Do you worry about not being good enough? Are you afraid you'll be left behind? Welcome to Yesterday Ended, Healing the Traumas of Life. Do you know you stand approved before God? Do you know without a doubt you're saved by grace? I'm your host, Dennis Dobbin, and I'm here to teach you that you're already accepted. Give a listen. For those of you that are new to the podcast, I have a secondary career as a woodworker making fine art wall hangings and also small craft items. I carve and shape and assemble different species of wood in various ways. I've been doing this for many years now. It is one thing to make artwork, and it's a totally different thing to be able to market and sell it. For a long time now, I've been endeavoring to find different art shows and venues where I can show and sell my artwork. Many years ago I discovered a very large art show in Beverly Hills. I attended it a number of times, dreaming of what it would be like to show my artwork in a place where tens of thousands of people come for a weekend to look at art. There was an amazing array of artwork throughout this show. My first attempt to participate in the show was in 2015. I was not accepted. It took me another seven years to apply again and get accepted. In the last four years, I have been accepted into the Beverly Hills Fall Art Show. They have one in the spring also. I've applied for it twice in the past, but was not accepted. To be able to be accepted into the show, one must send in eight photographs of work that they have done in the last four years. A jury of judges looks at your artwork and reads your artist statement and decides whether or not you will be one of the approximately 225 artists accepted for that show. In so many ways in everyday life, there is some sort of judgment that we must face. And speaking of faces, sometimes we look into a mirror and we don't even accept ourselves. We think of our failures and identify with the lies of our enemy that we're not good enough to be blessed by God. And unfortunately, the Christian religion, I call churchianity, emphasizes the wrath of God instead of the goodness of God. They still emphasize the requirements of the Old Testament and ignore or downright deny the blessings of the New Testament in Christ. A simple word to describe the requirements of the Old Testament is due. A simple word to describe the blessings of the New Testament is done. In the Old Testament it was all about what the individual had to do to stand right before God. Now in the New Testament, due to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the work is done. Jesus' last words on the cross were, it is finished. The price for humanity's salvation had been paid for by the blood of Jesus. Now we stand right before God because of the gift of righteousness from Jesus. We are now already accepted. The price for new life has been paid. Nothing from me would render any aid. By Christ's blood my righteousness was made, his work, not mine, has made me accepted. Once I was an outsider all alone, none of my works could ever atone. By Christ's blood God made me his own. His perfect love has made me accepted. Once an enemy of God to him hostile, by Christ's blood, God on me now smiles. Through the gift of his son, I'm fully reconciled. His endless grace has made me accepted. At times I am cautious when I write not to be repetitious, but in this poem I mention Christ's blood three times. The reason being it is by his blood that we are already accepted. As I have studied the word throughout the years, I came to see the significance of the sacrifices. In Leviticus 17, 11, we are taught something very important about why the shedding of blood forgives sin. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. In the law, God states that blood makes an atonement, a payment for our souls, more specifically for the sin that our souls commit. In the book of Genesis we see the very first sacrifice. It was for Adam and Eve. Genesis 3, 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. To make coats of skins, something has to bleed and die. As you trace the sacrifices through the Old Testament, you will see that these coats of skins most likely came from a lamb. As you look at the record of Abraham, God provided a ram for a sacrifice in the place of Isaac. When God gave the law to Moses, he instituted a number of different sacrifices that, when properly offered, brought Israel back into a relationship with him. The problem was these sacrifices were temporary. The Day of Atonement had to happen every year, year after year, therefore, because they didn't have the proper sacrifice. Once Jesus offered himself as the perfect sacrifice, everything changed. Now, because of the cross of Christ, we are already accepted. The next section of Scripture I want to talk about speaks of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Colossians chapter 1, verses 19 through 22. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. God made peace with the descendants of Adam and Eve, that's us, through the blood of the cross of Christ. And by Christ's sacrifice, he reconciled us to himself. All of humanity is reconciled to God right now. There's no separation anymore. The problem is not that many people have accepted the invitation to be reconciled. And those of us who have accepted the invitation don't realize at times the completeness of that reconciliation, that we are already accepted. Let's continue. Verse 21. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Not once, but twice it says that we're reconciled. Tear a piece of paper in half, and it's two pieces. But God, being a miracle worker that he is, can put the two back together, they can be reconciled. And he's done that in Christ to the point that he can present us to himself holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Being reconciled, you've been made holy. Being reconciled means you are now unblamable. The Greek word translated unblamable is also translated without blemish, referring to Jesus. Can't get much more accepted than that. And then there's unreprovable. I taught on this recently in another podcast, but it bears repeating. To get an arrest warrant against an alleged criminal, the police have to be able to show evidence that a possible crime has been committed. We are unreprovable. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing against us. Like I said, we are already accepted. There's a couple verses in the Old Testament that show us something about acceptance. Leviticus chapter 1, verse 4. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. If an Israelite had to bring a sacrifice for himself, he would show up at the tabernacle or temple with, let's say, a lamb. The priest already knows the person has sinned. That's why he's there with the sacrifice. The priest doesn't look at the person. The priest looks at the sacrifice, in this case, a lamb, to see if it is without blemish or spot. When the priest says the sacrifice is acceptable, then we see what happens in this verse where the sinner puts his hand on the head of the lamb. This is to indicate a transfer of his sin to the lamb. Then the person bringing the offering had the responsibility to actually cut the throat of the lamb, at which point the innocent blood of the lamb would spill out onto their hand. A transfer has been made. The guilt of the sinner placed on the lamb, and the innocence of the lamb transferred to the now reconciled, forgiven, and cleansed person. We see this echoed in the sacrifice of Jesus. This is the transfer. Christ has taken on our sin, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away our sin. Can I get a hallelujah? But wait, there's more. Romans chapter 5, verses 10 and 11. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. As I mentioned in my poem, we were enemies of God. We were hostile towards God at one point in our lives, running around sinning. But we finally got smart and turned to God and accepted the invitation to be reconciled. So if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, aka being accepted and connected, not rejected, now united and related as children, we shall be saved by his life. And if that wasn't enough, we can now joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement, the reconciliation. Now we go back to Leviticus 17, 11. By the blood of Jesus, by the life, the pure life that is in his blood, we've been reconciled. We are at one with God. Anytime you feel separated or alienated from God, reading chapters 1 and 2 of Ephesians can pretty much cure that. There are so many great promises and realities that are revealed in those two chapters. Man, they're great. But we're just gonna cherry pick one that pertains to this podcast. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. You are accepted in Christ. God has made you accepted in Christ. Again, it's not about what we do, but what God and His Son Jesus has done for us. You really are already accepted. The price for new life has been paid. Nothing from me would render any aid. By Christ's blood my righteousness was made. His work, not mine, has made me accepted. Once I was an outsider all alone, none of my works could ever atone. By Christ's blood God made me his own. His perfect love has made me accepted. Once an enemy of God to him hostile, by Christ's blood, God on me now smiles. Through the gift of his son I'm fully reconciled. His endless grace has made me accepted. One of the purposes or reasons why I include a poem in each episode is that it is a very succinct summary of what I'm teaching. Hopefully it's like lyrics of a song that can get stuck in your head. Knowing that He's made me accepted by His work is good to have on repeat in your head. Knowing God's perfect love has made me accepted, it is good to have on repeat in your head. Knowing that His endless grace has made me accepted is good to have on repeat in your head. So for the last time I'm gonna tell you you're already accepted.
