Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. Deuteronomy 10:20 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/deu.10.20.KJV
There is life everlasting in the name of Jesus, yet our world doesn’t want to hear this today. Mainly because those who are in the world and not a part of the church can’t see much difference between the people in the church and those outside it. Why aren’t we, as Christians, trying to live our lives as a reflection of Jesus instead of a reflection of the world around us? This is not the way that Jesus wanted His church to be.
We are supposed to live as a reflection of Him on a daily basis, not just on Sundays or holidays. We are supposed to take the example that He set for His disciples and be that example to those outside the church so that they will want to know Him as their Savior. If people know that you attend church regularly and then see or hear you acting outside the church like someone who doesn’t know Jesus as their Savior…why would they want what you say you have?
Your life as a Christian is not going to be a perfect reflection of Jesus but you should at least try to live your daily life as one of His disciples! This is why you hear so many people saying that they won’t attend that church because there are too many hypocrites in it. Some won’t come to church because someone said something to them in the wrong tone years ago or they criticized the way they were dressed. Jesus accepted anyone regardless of their status or their clothes and we should do the same.
In the parable of the banquet, this parable was spoken to the guests at the Pharisee’s banquet. Jesus had noticed them picking out the places of honor for themselves, and this prompted the parable.
Jesus presents to them an imaginary or hypothetical banquet scene in which they themselves figure. Suppose they presume to take the high place reserved for the guest of honor. Then they may be asked to move to a less honored place, and thus be disgraced and embarrassed. However, if they choose to sit in the lowest place, they will likely be asked to take a more honored position and this will reflect their credit.
Yes, He was crucified for your sins and mine but He lives today, seated at the right hand of God. He is coming back to take His church, His Bride home to be with Him and I believe it will be soon. How soon? I don’t know but we are living at the edge of the age of grace right now. Prophecies from Daniel and Ezekiel are coming true right now, we are at the very cusp before that trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise and those of us who are His will rise after them to meet Him in the air! Oh, what a glorious and wonderful day that will be.
For many people, that day will be a very different day. If you haven’t given your heart to Jesus yet, on that day you will surely know that your place was taken and it was offered but you refused to accept Him as your Savior. At that moment you can give your heart to Him but…the next seven years will be rough. The book of Revelation tells exactly what will happen during the next seven years and for those who claim Jesus as their Savior, it will be hell on Earth. It will be hell on Earth for anyone who refuses to worship the leader of the world at that time, the antichrist.
As the publican said in Jesus’ parable, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” When your heart knows and you will know that you are a sinner when you are convicted, don’t turn away. Give your heart and your life to Jesus and seek Him every day in the Bible. Even though all of the persecution and trials that will come during the Tribulation, God will recognize that you are His. Just because the whole world is going through the judgment of God doesn’t mean that He has turned His back on everyone. You can still be saved by doing the very same thing that would save you before all of this happened…just repent and ask Jesus into your life and your heart.
The simplicity of salvation is in the verse of John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but will have eternal life.
Your belief in Jesus’ atonement for your sins is all that is needed. Remember the theif on the cross? He only asked Jesus to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom, and Jesus told him that “Today you shall be with Me in paradise“. There are no works to perform, no ministry needed and no amount of money given that will gain your access to Heaven, only your belief in Jesus as your Savior will accomplish that.
We are all sinners when God touches our hearts and then we see the true nature of our sins. We are sinners and nothing more until we are changed by the Holy Spirit. It is the touch of God’s Holy Spirit that begins the change in our hearts and it is at this point that we realize how much we truly need Him as our Savior.
God’s love for us is so deep and so encompassing that we cannot understand it. Anyone who has been touched by Him can tell you that the depth of His love cannot be understood by mankind. But it was this love of His that sent Jesus to Bethlehem as a baby so He could truly understand our condition by experiencing all of our pains and sorrows Himself. It was this compassion that kept Jesus on the cross and, during His ministry, caused Him to be favorable to those who needed Him the most.
God’s love for Israel and the Jewish people has always been evident in how He saved them from Egypt and how He took care of them during their travels in the wilderness. Yet, He knew that they would stray from His commandments after entering their Promised land. He always kept a remnant who didn’t follow other gods or defile themselves in other ways and He brought them back to Himself. But when you read the Old Testament, you get the feeling that they didn’t appreciate His care for them. Sometimes it seemed that they didn’t recognize that He cared for them at all.
God created this universe for us to see Him in everything around us. From the smallest animals to the mighty Sequoia that stands high in the mountains. His creative fingerprint is everywhere but there are so many today who refuse to see it and acknowledge Him as the Creator. I pray that you will pick up a Bible soon, even if it is just the New Testament, read it and seek Him as your Savior.
I want to apologize for not publishing any posts yesterday. I got caught up in taking care of my home and I didn’t even have my own Bible study time.
Now…this is something that I read a little earlier this morning and I thought about sharing what the Bible actually says about that three-letter word…sin.
“I realized that if I, as a Christian, died living in active sins and came before God, I would be judged and condemned to Hell because after putting on the perfect garment of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, I had dirtied my robe and had refused to repent of active sins.” This belief is not Biblical at all even though it is taught and preached in many churches. The teaching that should be taught is that IF you have given your heart totally to Christ and you are saved by the Holy Spirit and changed from the person you were into a “new creation”, even that un-intentional sin is forgiven. IF however, you have not been saved as a new creation and you are living in a state of active sin, then you will go to hell.
There are many who believe that they are saved by their knowledge of Jesus and they’re “going through the motions” like going to church and prayer and occasional reading of the Bible. This is not salvation, it is knowledge of Jesus and that is all. This is a deception that has been placed into many sermons and misquoted by many so there are many who actually believe it. You are not a Christian by association and you don’t become one just because your grandmother said that she has been a Christian all of her life.
Being and becoming a Christian only comes to each of us when God touches our heart and breaks it spiritually so that we know that we need Jesus. At that point, we will seek Him in prayer whether we are driving our car or we are in a revival, or wherever we may be. We KNOW that we need Jesus and we need Him NOW! Don’t turn away from that knowledge when it comes to you. God touches you and me for a purpose and because He loves each of us.
The fact that we can come into God’s Presence and ask for anything is beyond awesome and humbling, yet many people don’t take advantage of it until something in their life is going sideways. The fact that we, as Christians, have the entire Trinity of the Godhead willing to hear our prayers even about dumb things is astounding! God loves all of humanity enough that He hears whenever someone begins to confess and come to Him for repentance and salvation. I can’t even imagine the depth of love that is required for Him to even be tuned into the human race in that way!
We have the honor of being able to go into the presence of God, the Creator of the Universe and everything in it. Have you ever considered our privilege, that we can do this? God is much more than any personality or leader on Earth. He is Holy and perfect and the Creator of all, yet we can even come to Him and ask about our lost keys or our glasses. It sounds crazy but He wants to be involved in your life and mine, even in the little things. All that we do and have has come to us because of His grace and blessing toward us because of Jesus.
We have so much simply because of the grace of God and yet we act as if we are spoiled children. We want more and we want it now! God loves us and He will only grant to us those things that He deems worthy for us to have. Degrees and education are great but have you considered that the apostles were not “learned men” yet they started His Church and their teaching, inspired by the Holy Spirit, has changed the world and it is still being changed until that day when the Church is taken up.
The Living Message of Christ 