Author: Tracy Eldridge

This my witness for my Lord and Savior on the web. I pray that you find these posts useful in your search for Jesus. http://thelivingmessage.com

How was your day?


Each of us has at least one day which doesn’t go quite like we hoped it would. Some of us wake up to joint pain and fever, some of us have to live with cancer or arthritis on a daily basis. Some of us in this world wake up hungry with no food and sometimes no water. So…how was your day today?

Does it compare to a day in which you have a breathing tube in your throat to help you breathe? Maybe you are paralyzed in some way and have to have help with nearly every part of your life. Life does go on after disease and problems like paralysis have caused you to “rethink your life”, and its goals. Many of us don’t want to keep going in these instances, but it is best if we do. Why?

Because, you are made in God’s image and God doesn’t make junk! Your life and everything that seems to be wrong is just a part of your life. God can use that “wrong” part to bring glory and honor to Him if you will follow Him! He knows how you got the disease or problem in the first place and He has a plan. It may not be the plan that you had in the beginning, but He can and will work all things, good or bad, out for your good and His Glory!

God doesn’t leave you alone, especially when He has plans which He wants you to complete. They may not get started today or tomorrow, but when He feels the time is right, those plans will become crystal clear. You will know Who placed them there and that you are the only one who can do this, so…do it!

If you are wondering why I bring this up, it is because of the unique position which all of the followers of Christ are in. We have the Truth which everyone else is looking for, although in today’s world it is best if we live it out so that people can see it in us from day-to-day. I am not saying that we shouldn’t tell people about Jesus, particularly if they ask us about our faith. What I am saying is that in today’s world people tend to get offended if you say that you know the way and others don’t.

It doesn’t take much to upset someone’s “safe place” these days, even if you didn’t intend to do so.

Safe places are what we are supposed to have at church and at home, although many people, children and grown-ups too, don’t have a safe place in many areas of the world..even in America. We all need to concentrate on prayer today because of the world and our place in it and in history too. Regardless of your belief in God or lack of belief, we are on the verge of a time of change. One that has been foretold for a couple of thousand years, yet many people are ignoring the signs or they just aren’t looking for them.

Don’t ignore the signs or the part of the Bible which almost reads like a newscast today, the book of Revelation is important to all people. Read it, pray about it and seek Him while there is time.

 

So much…


We, at least those of us who live in America, have so much that we take for granted. People don’t look around them and see the little things that they do have, the things and the people who would be so much appreciated in other areas of the world. Sometimes people don’t even visit places of surreal beauty in their own states, they want to go to other places and see the sights but the ones in their own backyard are neglected and forgotten.

It is the same way with religion and Jesus too. In America, we have heard about Jesus and seen the movie, “The Ten Commandments”, so many times in our lives until we are going to be shocked when Moses doesn’t look like Charlton Heston! We have been on the receiving end of so much “movie propaganda” until much of the Bible and its stories play in some way when we read Scripture. I wonder…what does God think about our “video feeds” in Scripture?

Some of it may cause Him to laugh a bit. Some of it very likely causes a bit of concern, with the liberties  that have been taken with some of His stories. Some of them are actually lies made up to make money and have very little to show as being truthful in the telling of Scripture. In the past fifteen years or so, Christian films have done a bit better because people other than those in Hollywood were doing the filming.

You may be wondering why I am writing about this today? Mainly it is because of all of the so-called pundits who tell Christians that our faith is wrong! Some say we are too judgmental, some say we are not inclusive of others, we are too narrow-minded. Something that I have noticed in my eight years of Bible study, reading it from cover to cover, is that God doesn’t change! His rules and His ways are the same today as they were when He gave the Ten Commandments to Moses over four thousand years ago!

He is not politically correct and He doesn’t change to suit us! We either repent and humbly ask Him to change us into the image of Jesus or we are lost, it’s just that simple. Believe in Jesus and His redemption of you by His blood which was shed for your sins, no matter what those sins may be, then repent or turn away from those sins and don’t go back to them!

God’s redemption of you doesn’t take any work on your part except that of walking close to Jesus in repentance toward being more like Him before your life here is over. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “take up your cross daily and follow Me.” Determine to follow Him and not your old ways or the ways of your “friends”. When you feel the call in your heart from the Spirit, then choose to follow Him and leave the world and its ways behind!

Think about it this way: if you are on a path toward a destination and you take the first step, don’t stop and turn to go the other way, back where you came from. You will never get to that eternal destination if you do! Getting off of the path or turning back doesn’t take you in the right direction unless you are following Jesus.

Will you come back?


Many people seem to be leaving the church today, for one reason or another. They are either too busy or tired of the same old sermons being taught over and over, or at least that is what they think it is being done. The message of the Bible, from the Genesis to Revelation, is salvation through Jesus the Messiah. So, yes it does sound a bit like the same message over and over again but that is what God had to do in the Old Testament to get Israel’s attention. He still has to do it today, even with grace and mercy and Jesus’ atonement for our sins. If the message weren’t repeated then many people wouldn’t hear it.

God loves each of you and He has made salvation easy but it seems that it is too easy. It seems that many look at something which is free and easy isn’t worth much, but that kind of thinking is wrong. Jesus did all of the work necessary to accomplish your salvation and mine, the only thing we have to do is realize that we need it then ask Him to come into our lives and change each of us from the heart outward!

Why should you come back to church?

Because, God’s Word is being preached there and because your home church needs you! We want you back because when Jesus comes back we want to all go up there together! This isn’t something which is dependent upon your location though. If you belong to Jesus, you will be caught up in the air to be with Him forever. The alternative destination is not one that you want to look forward to at all.

Why is that? Because, being in “outer darkness” and away from the love of God is the place you will be in. It is hell because the Presence of God is not there and your loved ones who know Jesus will be elsewhere. At the end, at the White Throne judgement you will be cast into the lake of fire with the other angels and humans who have decided to follow their own path and not the one of following Jesus.

God doesn’t put you into hell or the lake of fire, your decisions in this life do that all by themselves. It is your decision to walk and live one way or another. The end results are very different but eternity still lingers in front of you, make sure of your eternity before it is too late to change your mind.

Next


Weird title, huh? Mostly, to get attention but there is a good reason. Time itself is winding down according to prophecy…so what is next?

Read the Book! I am not saying this lightly because of the prophecies contained in God’s Word, the times which we are living in are there. It doesn’t say names or places exactly but the descriptions of the happenings in it sound very much like all of the troubles in the news today.

onebreathawayIt seems that many people are ignoring this today, mainly because there are many who don’t believe in God or His Word and the Truth contained within it. So much is told of this time until when you read parts of Daniel and Ezekiel and the book of Revelation, when you think about what you have read it sounds very much like the news that we hear weekly.

Yet, the churches and the news and the Pope don’t mention any of these things in their media clips talking about this time. Why? I believe that it is because of the amount of time which has transpired since the ascension of Jesus. Even though He said that He was returning, so much time has transpired until no one believes that it will happen in their lifetime.

Every day, week, months and years are going on just as it always has been, so why should anyone be expecting the end time prophecies to take place? As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes “there is nothing new under the sun“; so why should anyone worry that it will be different tomorrow or next week? God has given the whole world a grace period of almost two thousand years to learn of Him and to turn to Him in repentance and humility, yet they have not!

In those two millennia, mankind has seen fit to create for himself idols and ideas of “god” which do not fit Him as He is in the Bible. We have made Him into our own “gods”, even if we don’t have carved images of Him or our idea of what He is like. We worship those “ideas” of “god” which are not God. We have placed Him into a box which we like with things like, “my god wouldn’t send people to hell for this or that because he loves everyone” or “my god doesn’t condemn people because of their sexual orientation, he includes everyone in his church”!

Many churches and pastors today teach on these very topics and this is WRONG!! It is not Biblical at all! God hasn’t changed to allow sins and sinful people into His Presence and He will not change because God said that “I am the Lord and I change not“. Just because it is your opinion or idea that God is this way or that doesn’t make it so. God is god and His timing will bring about the end of the age whether you think it is coming or not!

Be ready in that day because when the trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ rise, then those who remain will be caught up with them to be with the Lord forever.

 

Romans 8


Romans chapter 8 has been called the most wonderful chapter in the Bible, mainly because it begins with a sentence saying “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’. Why does this make a difference? Because by belonging to Christ, we are not condemned under the Law, and this applies to Gentiles and Jews.

Romans is a letter of Paul’s to the church in Rome to give them encouragement and to strengthen their faith in the One that they have believed in, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God and our Savior. A believers freedom from the Law comes from Jesus’ incarnation and His sacrifice for sin and by the Holy Spirit’s operation in providing life. Jesus, being the Second of the Trinity and the Son, took on humanity. He did not cease to be God but took on human form without sin and became the perfect offering in order to fulfill the law’s demands in His life and death which broke sin’s power in the flesh on the cross.

Through the Spirit, a believer’s life can now be lived in a new way of life by loving as Christ did, through Christ, which fulfills the Law. Paul describes our struggle with “the old man”, which is our old nature and the “new man”, which is two different mindsets which we struggle with daily, sometimes with different outcomes. Depending upon which mindset you choose to follow on any given day.

Unregenerate people, those who haven’t accepted Christ, being hostile toward God and unable to submit to His law because they lack God’s Spirit, which makes submission possible. Christians live in a new realm because they have God’s Spirit dwelling within them. His Presence is the mark of Christ’s ownership. Your physical body will die because of the effects of sin, unless the Lord returns before your death. The pledge and promise of the Spirit is that He will raise us as He did Jesus, providing everlasting Life and righteousness.

Our freedom in Christ brings with it an obligation to subdue the sinfulness that is in the flesh because we have been changed by the Holy Spirit, decisively submitting the flesh to God as a living sacrifice to live daily in the spirit.

The leading of the Spirit of God is His providential sanctification. It is common to all adopted sons and it is constant. It will bring a believer to glory.The leading of the Spirit is not some mystical direction or ecstasy. It is the Spirit’s empowerment for mortification of our fleshly desires.

The Holy Spirit does not act as a spirit of bondage, but it is the means of our adoption into God’s family. By the Spirit we have a consciousness that God is our Father. It is a mark of a Christian to cry out to our Father in our prayer. The Spirit also gives us assurance of our salvation and our status in the family of God. We are joined to Christ in suffering by also in future blessing and destiny in Heaven. As He is in glory so will we be glorified with Him.

In verse 18, Paul wrote that our “light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

All of creation groans and has since the fall, but all will be restored in the regeneration. When we receive our freedom, the entire world will be changed. Christians only have a pledge of what is to come. We groan because of our fallen nature which is at war with our regenerate nature in Christ, which we have to conquer daily through Christ. One day our resurrected bodies will conform to the same glorification as Jesus’ glorified body.

In our weakness, we have the strength of the Holy Spirit and His intercession for us when we can’t say the words. Our Spirit agrees with the Holy Spirit and with groanings which are above words agrees with the Father on our behalf, saying things and asking for those things that we need even before we need them. The Spirit is also in agreement with the will of God for us and those prayers are always answered.

Who are those who love God? Those who have been called according to His purpose, the called are all Christians. The promise of this verse is that God orders everything for us so that all of life’s experiences work together for our ultimate good. Whether it may be good in and of itself, but God uses all of our circumstances for our good. Jesus taught that God’s sovereign care for and guidance of creation covers even the death of a sparrow and the hairs on our heads.

If God looks on even those minute details in our lives, don’t you think that He is interested in the things which many of us deny Him access to in our everyday lives because “we don’t think He needs to be part of it”?

Remember, we are more than conquerors through Christ! Once you have given your heart and life to Jesus and asked the Holy Spirit to take up residence in your life and your heart, there is NOTHING which can separate you from His love or from Him. Believe in Him and you shall be saved! Not maybe, not sometimes, but every time and for all time! Amen!

This is my sermon for tomorrow morning, I pray that it touches your heart and draws you closer to Jesus.

Miracles


MiraclesIn everyday life we see them but we may not recognize them for what they are. Some of them are little miracles that don’t seem like God had anything to do with them at the time. Some that we hear about are easy to recognize as a miracle because the healing or the shrinking of a tumor just doesn’t happen on its own. God works like this, in the background doing little things which will accomplish His Work and His purposes even when it seems that things aren’t going very well.

Our lives are like that too. Some days they are very good and some are, well not so much. Do miracles happen in your life? Occasionally you may notice something that couldn’t happen that way otherwise, but I would bet that many of our miracles happen when we don’t know about it. A guardian angel slips between you and someone intent on robbing you or maybe they redirect a car or truck from slamming into you. If you don’t think that God uses angels to do this kind of work, I imagine we will be surprised when we do get to Heaven.

We are His adopted children after all and if you have not given your heart to Jesus and asked Him to forgive you for waiting so long, then you need to get it done! Whether the world believes it or not, this age of grace which we have lived under for almost two thousand years is nearly over. A lot is going to happen in the next decade or two, maybe less, who knows? God does. He knows the day and the hour of your death as well as the time when He will send for all of His Church to be brought to Heaven.

The signs are in the heavens but many people are just saying that this is just astronomical signs and nothing more. The Bible clearly states that God intends to use the heavens to declare seasons and times and we are coming up on one of those times, the end of days or the Tribulation. Whatever you want to call it, it will be a time of war and disease and death as well as the judgement of God, all of it spelled out in prophecy.

Choose today who will be your Savior because your tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.

Come as a child


The obvious reason that Jesus told His disciples not to hinder the children from coming to Him was and is that they understand His message better than any adult can. As soon as a child is old enough to know that He can’t earn salvation, they know that they have to ask Jesus into their heart and their life. It doesn’t take a lot of sermons or education for a child to just “get it”, they do.

madewholeinHeavenAnd they get it far better than we do. After we become adults, if we haven’t truly accepted Jesus as our Savior, we are so covered in education and pride and all sorts of other “filters” until we can barely see the message of the cross, let alone the real message of salvation. The world itself places those filters on us and our hearts and we allow it to happen. Most of the time we don’t even realize that it is happening, just as when we were sinners.

We didn’t know that we needed Jesus at that time and we didn’t really feel the need for Him. Until the Spirit of God touched our hearts and we noticed all of the sins we had committed and that they were separating us from God, most of us didn’t even know that we needed Him. We were comfortable with our lives and the sin that we lived in.

Don’t think that your life and your righteousness is good enough because it isn’t! If Moses couldn’t get into the Promised land because of his sin, then we are not close to being able to get into Heaven without Jesus! Regardless of which religion you follow or have been raised in, your goodness, your righteousness is as filthy rags next to the grace, mercy and forgiveness which comes from your belief in Jesus!

Have you been…crucified?


lamb-of-god-passoverI don’t mean in the physical, torturous sense. I mean spiritually crucified to your old way of life and actually living a risen life with Christ every day! It is not a life for the faint of heart and it isn’t a life for someone who only goes to church when they feel like it. It is living a life wholly given over to the Lord in humility and obedience, sacrificing your old ways and thoughts, a “sacrifice pleasing unto the Lord”.

This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said that you would have to take up your cross daily and follow Him. It isn’t a sometimes Bible study, sometimes on Sunday, occasionally on Wednesday, maybe during a revival kind of attendance. It is a life that is following Jesus no matter when or where in all of your life’s decisions and in everyday living!

If you have not given your heart and your daily living to Jesus, then you may want to check out this site and make sure of your salvation. If you are absolutely sure of your salvation, then ignore it, but if you have any doubts about what Jesus would say to you at your home, then you may want to truly seek Him and repent of your idea of salvation so you can ask for the REAL thing!

Playing or acting like a Christian doesn’t get you in the gates of Heaven. Praying and occasionally reading the Bible doesn’t do it either. Your life should be an example of discipleship such that Jesus could come into your home and not be offended at anything in your house. I know that none of us are holy or righteous, our righteousness comes from Him and Him alone. But, we should strive toward that goal of righteousness, read God’s Word and pray about it daily, seek Him in all that you do daily. It isn’t a hard life to live, but you have to live it with the purpose of striving to be more like Jesus!

If you are trying to be like the “idea” of Jesus that you have in your mind, then you are doing it wrong. Our idea of God or Jesus is not the same as the REAL Person of God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit, yet humanity will place God in a box of their ideas which fit their comfortable view of Him and all of us have done this at one point or another. This has happened for thousands of years, even before Jesus came! People were claiming that God wouldn’t do this or that, even though it may not be written down in the Bible that way you can bet that many were thinking it!

God knew their thoughts and their ideas of how He was and how He was supposed to be, at least in their minds. We have made up ideas and images of “the Man upstairs” or “a Higher Power” for centuries, it is nothing new at all. But…it is something that is about to change soon. As I have said before, I don’t have a clue about the return of Jesus or about the church being taken up but the signs are too numerous to ignore! It will not be long before the entire world sees Him or the results of His Trumpet’s sounding, but at that point many of you will say that it was just a weird sound or something.
People will be looking for all kinds of explanations for why so many people vanished and what caused all of the cars and planes to fall or wreck with no pilot or driver in them! The answer has always been in God’s Word, most people just ignored it or called it a fable or a fairy tale. What will you call it then?

What do you choose to be like?


A.W. Tozer once said this:

“We can choose to be like the Old Testament Israelites and look upon the pagan world with admiration and even envy, or we can choose to examine Christ and place all our admiration on Him. Either way, that which we admire most reveals who we are and who we want to be.”

Most of us don’t know most of the time what we would choose to follow or admire in today’s world. Many of us seem to follow the most talked about celebrity or sports figure or some other person or whatever that may be catching everyone’s attention today or maybe this week. It doesn’t seem to matter whether they are shallow, egotistical, or even in their right mind!

I know, I’m exaggerating a bit on some of that, but you get the point. We tend to be distracted by tweets and posts on FB and all sorts of other media these days, especially youtube, but real life is not part of these media outlets agenda! Your life is meant to be so much more than media consumption and tweets! This is not the type of life we were meant to have, particularly at the end of the age which we are coming upon.

What you choose to follow or be is your choice of course, but God made us to be more than what we are ready to do for Him. Today, we see and hear all sorts of things which get our attention and cause us to focus our attention on something or someone other than Jesus. When this happens we admire “those people”, whoever they may be or whoever they may be following, for their dedication.

Why can’t we be dedicated to Christ? There are so many who are fanatically following someone or some religion but Jesus is our Savior and He is worthy of our praise and our worship and we should be dedicated to Him! The number of truly dedicated Christians in America is far less than it should be. Many people claim to be His, claim to be Christians, but from the answers they have given on questionnaires they prove themselves to be “head-knowledge” Christians rather than changed heart Christians!

Knowledge of Jesus, even knowledge of God’s Word is great but if you haven’t repented of your sins and asked Him to come into your life and change you from the heart outward, then without a real change in your life, I don’t know if Jesus knows you or not. A repentant heart, one that is truly sorry for the life and the sins that they have been part of, will seek out the only One Who can cleanse it and make it completely new.

All of the stuff which we try to put into our lives and our heart in order to feel right on the inside just doesn’t work because it doesn’t fit! The only person that fits in that part of you is Jesus! No amount of work or money or sex or drugs or anything of this world will do, only Jesus fills that space and when He does then you will feel it and you will know it for sure.

Think on this…


Shoes in Church
I showered and shaved……………. I adjusted my tie.

I got there and sat……………. In a pew just in time.

Bowing my head in prayer………… As I closed my eyes.

I saw the shoe of the man next to me……. Touching my own. I sighed.

With plenty of room on either side……… I thought, ‘Why must our soles touch?’

It bothered me, his shoe touching mine.. But it didn’t bother him much.

A prayer began: ‘Our Father’…………. I thought,
‘This man with the shoes, has no pride. They’re dusty, worn, and scratched.
Even worse, there are holes on the side!’

‘Thank You for blessings,’ the prayer went on.

The shoe man said…………….. A quiet ‘Amen.’

I tried to focus on the prayer……. But my thoughts were on his shoes again..

Aren’t we supposed to look our best. When walking through that door?

‘Well, this certainly isn’t it,’ I thought, glancing toward the floor.

Then the prayer was ended………… And the songs of praise began .

The shoe man was certainly loud….. Sounding proud as he sang.

His voice lifted the rafters…….. His hands were raised high.

The Lord could surely hear.. The shoe man’s voice from the sky.

It was time for the offering…….. And what I threw in was steep.

I watched as the shoe man reached…. Into his pockets so deep.

I saw what was pulled out………. What the shoe man put in.

Then I heard a soft ‘clink’ as when silver hits tin.

The sermon really bored me………. To tears, and that’s no lie.

It was the same for the shoe man… For tears fell from his eyes.

At the end of the service…….. As is the custom here.

We must greet new visitors, And show them all good cheer.

But I felt moved somehow……….. And wanted to meet the shoe man.

So after the closing prayer…….. I reached over and shook his hand.

He was old and his skin was dark….. And his hair was truly a mess…..

But I thanked him for coming………. For being our guest…

He said, ‘My name’s Charlie………… I’m glad to meet you, my friend.’

There were tears in his eyes……… But he had a large, wide grin..

‘Let me explain,’ he said…………. Wiping tears from his eyes.

‘I’ve been coming here for months…… And you’re the first to say ‘Hi.”

‘I know that my appearance………..Is not like all the rest.

‘But I really do try………………..To always look my best.’

‘I always clean and polish my shoes…Before my very long walk.’

‘But by the time I get here……..They’re dirty and dusty, like chalk.’

My heart filled with pain………… And I swallowed to hide my tears.

As he continued to apologize………. For daring to sit so near

He said, ‘When I get here………… I know I must look a sight.’

‘But I thought if I could touch you….Then maybe our souls might unite.’

I was silent for a moment…………. Knowing whatever was said

Would pale in comparison…. I spoke from my heart, not my head.

‘Oh, you’ve touched me,’ I said…….’And taught me, in part’

‘That the best of any man…………..Is what is found in his heart.’

The rest, I thought,…………… This shoe man will never know.

Like just how thankful I really am…. That his dirty old shoe touched my soul

Live each day as your last, for we never know our time here on earth. Love and Peace My Friends and remember that it is not how we look on the outside but how we look within .

I saw this on Facebook and just wanted to share it with you.