Do you believe that your life and your sins are too much for God to love or to forgive? No, there is no sin which God can’t or won’t forgive. The only sin which God won’t forgive us for is our sin of neglecting our salvation by refusing to accept Jesus as our salvation. It is OUR decision to refuse this gift of God and by refusing to accept His gift of salvation we are condemned already. It is not God or even Jesus who condemns you to hell but it is your own action and your own decision to refuse God’s gift to each of us through the sacrifice of Jesus to take the punishment for your sins. He paid the price so you would not have to, but by refusing to accept and believe this you condemn yourself to hell.
There are more sins and heinous actions which have been done in all of the time which mankind has been on Earth and yet Jesus’ sacrifice covered them all, if the people would accept Him as their Savior.
Truthfully, there is no pathway to Heaven except through belief in the work and the person of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. Repent therefore and turn away from your sins, even if they are many, and you shall be saved. In Jesus’ name I pray for all who read this. Amen
As we trudge through this pain-filled life we can see all sorts of contrasts on TV and in the news and sometimes in books too. Here is a quote from a book that I bought and have been reading and it sums up the ending of our lives or the beginning because it is all a matter of perspective.
“There were two friends who had lived long lives. One was a rich man, by the world’s standards, and the other didn’t have much. The rich man was not a Christian but the other man was a strong believer in Jesus. The rich man told one of his visitors one day: I will soon have to leave all of my riches but when he dies, he will gain his.” (quoted from “Where I am” by Billy Graham)
I did paraphrase it a bit but the meaning is clear. The rich man knew that his reward had been granted to him while he was living but the poor man had stored his riches and wealth in Jesus. So the one that the world considered poor was actually rich into eternity. Why do we live like this? Because we want things in this life and many of us don’t look much further than our bank account. But, if you find someone living on Social Security as their “pension”, you will find someone who usually depends on God for their existence. They know that the money will run out most of the time before the month.
Why are there more Christians in China and Africa than there are in America? Because the vast majority of people in those countries live on a fraction of what Americans have, that’s why! Those Christians depend upon their Savior not only because He has given them eternity but because they know that He will meet their needs every day. Some days they will have just enough to make it and maybe tomorrow they might have a little surplus but they will share that with their friends and family. If the church in every country could teach that principle to all believers what a wonderful world we would have.
Jesus told His disciples that “you will have trials in this world, but I have overcome the world“. God never told us in His Word that we would have it easy if we would give our lives to serving Him. Actually, He said just the opposite. Many who are looking for a better life would jump at the chance of an easy life if being a Christian meant that it would be granted to them but that has never been part of the “blessing” since Jesus returned to the Father. God does give us the strength to endure those trials through faith in Jesus but we must seek Him in our good times as well as when things aren’t going so good.
Living the life of a faithful Christian is like a toddler holding your hand while walking on a trail which has some rough areas to cross. The “toddler” Christian will hold “God’s” hand until the trail gets a bit easier to handle then want to run ahead but that is where we need to hold His hand to keep us on the right path even more. Because sometimes when we find a smooth path we also find other “paths” which are even better and easier to navigate and it is tempting to follow those easier paths rather than staying on the pathway that we were following God on. That’s when we get into trouble and have to be led through some bushes and thorns to get back where we should’ve stayed.
Have you ever thought of what will happen if you decide to walk out on God? To go your own way or do things your way instead of God’s way is the worst decision that you can make. If you are a Christian and you have given your heart to Him you should work for God’s Kingdom even in your own vocation, no matter what it may be. God can work through you in so many ways and it doesn’t matter what your job is, He can use your life and witness to let someone know about Jesus.
Sampson didn’t live his life fully in God’s will until he was captured by the Philistines and blinded. While he was being humiliated, his hair began to grow back. When they wanted to make fun of God and Sampson in their celebration, he prayed and asked God to fill him with the strength to avenge Israel in his death and God did that.
Jonah did not want to take God’s message of forgiveness to Nineveh. He didn’t like them. He wanted the fire of God to fall on that city. You know the story but when he did go and preach to them they repented in sackcloth and ashes and God did not bring any fire or punishment on them. Then, Jonah went outside the city and pouted. He had run from the calling of God and he didn’t want his mission to work. He wanted God to destroy them. But…what a revival!
Sometimes the consequences of your walking away from God can be really bad, for you. Because if you have walked away from His calling on your life, leaving behind the option of salvation and doing what you want, the consequences may not be bad in this life. God may allow you to have the world’s riches but as Jesus said, “Whatwill it profita manifhe gainsthewholeworld,yetforfeitshissoul? “. What does that mean? It means that you have enjoyed the riches of this life but you will be in hell in the next life. Please don’t turn away from His call on your life and ask Him to come into your heart and change you into His child.
How many people in
our world seem to be lost in their ways and in their way of thinking?
If you go by the uproar and tumult on the news it seems that there
are more of those who are lost than those who are at least trying to
do the will of God. Why do I bring this matter up in this writing?
Because it seems necessary during this time that we are living in.
Many need to know that there is a way to be useful and make a
difference in this world without wars and guns and lots of money!
Life is not supposed to be lived in the moment just for today and
then seeking more satisfaction for tomorrow! If you are living in
this manner then you are living only for yourself and not for the
benefit of mankind. Although, today most people, it seems, are only
in their respective professions or businesses for themselves and no
one else. Selfishness or “looking out for number one” seems to be
the very slogan by which the world lives and breathes today.
We are supposed to
be different. Christians are supposed to live as Jesus did. Not
living as a beggar with no money but living a life of service to our
fellow man or woman. Although in the age in which we are living many
people would look at someone doing this and wonder “What’s their
problem?”. Christians who are trying to be “salt and light” to
a world living in darkness and hopelessness tend to move against the
grain because most people around them are moving in the other
direction regardless of those that they are stepping on or over to
get there. It is sad but it is true in our world. You’ve seen
people on the news with their phones taking videos of someone after a
wreck or a shooting. They aren’t trying to help them. They are
trying to get more likes on Facebook or Instagram by posting their
pictures or their videos of someone who has been injured or killed.
Are you one of those who would help someone in trouble or danger or would you take pictures and video their plight? Jesus said that we, as His followers, should make a difference in the world. But taking pictures and videos doesn’t really make a difference it just brings you notoriety and a little bit of fame. What good is that? Where is “make a difference in the world” in God’s Word? It isn’t there. But…He did tell His disciples to go into the world and take the gospel to the world! Did it make a difference? It still is making a difference today. God can and does change lives when we tell others about His Son and the salvation which comes through believing in Him! Don’t discount your importance in His Kingdom. Telling one or two people about your experience in Jesus and His love for you and for them and then they can tell five or ten. If you take that idea and make it go exponential, it wouldn’t take long to reach one hundred thousand or even one million.
This sounds hard doesn’t it? Not for God! God can use you in any place, anywhere so don’t discount your influence for God’s Kingdom because with the Holy Spirit impacting your life as a Christian and you following His leading go tell somebody!
Actually most of us have been at one time in our life. Just as it says in Corinthians: ‘a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.’ (1 Corinthians 2:14). People who don’t know the grace of God or the mercy of God through the sacrifice and acceptance of Jesus as their Savior are foolish until that time when God, by the Holy Spirit, touches their heart and breaks it so that they realize their sinfulness. Every Christian has gone through some foolish times before they realized that Jesus was their Salvation.
God can and does get His message out into the world even without our help, but He calls us to be His voice in places where we can make a difference. Even if it is only to touch one person or maybe two. Some of us can reach more people by doing things like this. Some of us can do evangelism on a scale above what we can reach here but not in the league of some ministers. Sometimes we may only reach one person but you don’t know how many people that person will reach before their time is finished.
All of us are useful to God in telling others about our Savior…so why don’t we do more? Being foolish and following the world around us rather than following Jesus is spiritual suicide, maybe not in this life but in eternity. Unless you change and learn that your only eternal Savior is Jesus you will end up in the same place that Satan and his demons will be. Think about that and consider Who has given you the opportunity to make an eternal choice which will benefit you and give God the glory!
Exponential growth works like this: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024.
So why does a garden or a farm never produce like this? Is it because of our lack of faith in the One Who created everything? Do we look at our pitiful little plot of ground that we have and think that it will never produce for me like it did for my grandfather? Sometimes, we create our own “self-fulfilling prophecies” when we think that way.
Do you ever wonder why some farmers aren’t very successful and some are? Consider that the very idea of farming is based on faith. Cattle are born, pigs are born, chickens are born (from an egg), vegetables grow from seeds. All of these processes are miracles in one way or another. The success of any farm depends upon the faith of the person or persons who are involved in it. If you don’t have faith in God and the processes which He put in the world for our good and for the good of others, how will your business actually be successful? This applies to any business but especially to the life of a farmer of whatever kind of produce because He ordained “seedtime and harvest” in His Word.
He ordained it very early in His Word but His Word does not fall to the ground without accomplishing what He intended for it to accomplish. Farmers have faith in their farming practice because they are following the procedures that other farmers have done and it worked in the past. They should also have faith in the Creator of all because He created all of the animals and the seeds which are farmed and planted all over the world. Do I believe that all farmers have faith in God? I would say that most of them do. Some may have more faith in Roundup than they do in God, but God is still in control of every seed and every patch of ground. If your garden or your ranch is small or if it covers many thousands of acres, your faith in the One Who controls every aspect of growth regardless of the type of growth should be in proportion to how much you are placing in His hands.
If you are living according to His Ways, then your faith in Him will carry you through the problems and the blessings, whatever they may be, because He loves you and He will do that for you. Your farming will pay off and it will be successful in proportion to the amount of faith that you have in Him that He will do these things for you and for His glory. If we intentionally plant a garden to honor God with the produce of it and give Him the honor and the glory for its success then He has an interest in our garden and its success. But if we just throw some seed down and hope that He will bless us with enough rain and pray that the seed which we planted was good seed do you think it will be blessed? He might bless our efforts but He might not. We should seek to do His will in all of our endeavors whether it is farming, raising a family, or working in our business or for someone else. The only way to know His will for us is to read and study His Word and ask Him to show us His will for our life.
God brings the growth when we act on our faith in Him.
Jesus came to bring His message to His people. He chose men who weren’t preachers or priests but He did choose men who had the ability to tell other people in a way that they will hear and understand His message. The command which was given to the apostles before Jesus was taken up into Heaven was to go and tell everyone who would listen about this risen Savior that loves them and would like to see them accept Him as their Savior too.
Here’s a small graphic which illustrates what this kind of growth would look like if every person went out and told at least one other person and then that person told one more, then they went out and told two each until the whole world would hear.
1
1+1
1+1+1+1
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1
1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1
1
2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
1024
I know it isn’t very persuasive in its meaning, but if each of us would tell someone about what Jesus did for us and for them, God can cause that seed of faith to grow. Then when they tell someone it will bloom into two more people. Do you see where this is going? It only takes one believer to truly believe and then tell someone else about Jesus Christ and then do it again, and they will tell someone and they will tell someone, etc. Will everyone you tell go and tell someone else? Not likely, but if they only tell one person and then that person changes their life and maybe tells someone else, even if it is just one person, the message is spreading.
Why is this important? Because that is our job as believers, as Christians! We are supposed to tell others what Jesus did for us and for them…but don’t stop with just one other person. Tell anyone who will listen because it is urgent! We don’t know when Jesus will call His church home. It could be tonight or in the morning but we should be telling people right up until the time when the trumpet sounds. Maybe we will be telling someone about our Savior when we are called home. If they didn’t want to believe before we said anything, when we vanish before their very eyes they will believe! It may be a little late for them to come to Jesus but they will likely come to know Him better from that day on.
Don’t waste your time looking around on Facebook! Tell someone that you know about Jesus and about what He has done for you, because God wants as many of His children in Heaven as He can get. Amen
In many ways, our lives are kinda like farming. We cultivate relationships and friendships and sometimes those turn into life-long, close relationships. It takes patience and effort though and occasionally we don’t take care of these very well. Many times in our lives, a lot of time will go by before we see each other or even speak to each other. It causes hurt feelings and bruised pride and can really damage a friendship…sometimes.
We really should try to put the effort into our relationships, whether they are friends or our spouse or even our family. But, sometimes we neglect to honor those with our time and our effort and when we do that, things change. Weeds will grow in our “garden of friends”. Sometimes we will see them and get rid of them before they cause problems. Sometimes they are aggressive and they have roots that go deep into our past and it is possible that we have forgotten what caused them in the first place.
Why do I speak about friendships and relationships like a garden? Because we should work on them like we would a garden. Make sure that the “soil” of our life is ready for a newly planted “friend” and then take care of them in whatever way is needed. Don’t neglect them because when you neglect a garden or a friendship, problems begin to appear. Weeds in a garden and hurt feelings in a relationship, whether it is between friends or in a closer relationship, they will grow and cause more problems.
That is the wonderful thing about your relationship with God and His Son, Jesus. They already know what is going on in your life. They aren’t surprised or hurt by what you say or don’t say. They can see the “problems” before they come up but they want us to recognize them and seek their help with those problems. Because they are better at fixing problems than we are. They know the cause and the fix before you or me. But just because they aren’t surprised by our problems doesn’t mean that they will try to force us to listen to their advice. We have to seek them out and ask for their help with our problems.
Sometimes it takes a problem coming into our lives to force us to seek God’s answer and His wisdom for this situation. We don’t like it when these problems show up and they usually are very inconvenient because of their timing but if we will seek God’s wisdom to get us through them one at a time, we will learn from them and be able to move forward. God always has better advice for us in His Word than we could ever find in a library or even from a friend if we will listen to the advice and take it to heart.
Your life and mine are populated with many friends. Some we know only at work and some we’ve known since grammar school. Some are just acquaintances and some are very close friends. Sometimes the friendship might have become stale because of time or distance and that can happen to family relationships too. Make sure that your relationship with Jesus is not stale. Keep in touch with Him at all times and in all things, good or bad, because He will never leave you or forsake you regardless of the circumstances.
O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You. Psalm 69:5 Do you realize that all of the wisdom that we have is completely foolish in God’s sight? All of the learning and the degrees in the world are simply “man’s wisdom” and learning which we may believe is the best, but without God’s wisdom and His guidance, it means nothing. God’s Word is the best book to read in times of heartache and trouble and it is the best book to read for your healing when you are sick. There is so much wise advice in God’s Word until the best education that you could have would be to read it every day!
Our ideas and wisdom can carry us only so far but His Wisdom and advice can carry us all the way to eternity! Doesn’t that sound wonderful? God loves each of us and has loved each of us from before the Earth and everything else was created. Not just because we were a thought in His mind but because He lives outside of time. He can see the beginning and the ending of the universe and He knows when you were born and when you will die. He also knows everything that you can and will do in your life, and that applies to everyone! Not just Christians living now but those who will become Christians before the end of the world!
Remember in the Psalm where David wrote “I am fearfully and wonderfully made“? He was speaking of God’s involvement in stitching each of us together before we are born. But, even before God’s hand does this He could look down through time itself and see each of us and know what manner of person we would be and how useful we would be in His Kingdom. We serve God, our Creator and Redeemer, Who lives and has lived forever. We do not serve a man with his wisdom and his “sayings”! God’s Spirit moved the prophets and scribes of ages past and He still moves those who will listen to Him to write His words and remind people about His Love for them.
God has never failed to keep His promises to us and He won’t fail to do so in the years to come. I ask that anyone who reads this please seek out Jesus and His salvation for your life because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Make sure of your eternity and your salvation today while you can.
The Living Message of Christ 