Category: Abide in Him

Bondservant of Jesus


For Jude, the family was not everything. He was the brother of James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem and the son of Joseph and Mary. Being the half-brother of our Lord Jesus he had occasions to watch Him as He grew to manhood, but Jude didn’t come to a saving knowledge of our Lord until after the resurrection. His epistle is meant for the early church but much of it pertains to today. There were false teachers appearing in the church, just as they are today, telling people one thing which would bring them salvation. But, those “false teachers” were not bold in their speech, they were very subtle by their false teaching, containing just enough truth so as not to be recognized.

Jude calls himself “a bondservant of Jesus Christ”, and the brother of James. He doesn’t emphasize that he is the Lord’s half-brother since that would play on the early Church’s devotion to Jesus.

Jude 1-8

1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

God’s Judgment on the Ungodly (Genesis 4:1-7; Romans 2:1-16)

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 I will, therefore, put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Jude is exhorting the church to stand firm in their faith which they have believed unto salvation and to stand in that faith even when they hear a doctrine which doesn’t go along with what they have been taught before. Stay true to the faith in Jesus Christ whom you have believed!

Don’t turn away from the teachings which you have heard and read from God’s Word during your life as a Christian.

Is this little book relevant today? By all means, it is! People don’t want to know the Truth of Scripture because they reject much of the Truth contained in it, not because it isn’t true but because it convicts them of their sins and they don’t want to hear it.

The rest of the letter of Jude speaks toward the church standing firm in their faith, just as the first few verses did. It talks of those who were apostates to the faith in Jesus and who were trying to subvert the teachings in the young church at the time. Jude was telling the believers to rebuke those who were bringing false teachings into the church and leading people off the path of Light and into teachings which would contradict those which Jesus and His disciples were teaching.

It matters to the church today because there are many who are rejecting the Bible outright, not only the teachings found in the New Testament but they are ridiculing the Scripture of the Old Testament, claiming that it has no meaning for today’s church. Yet, every book of the Bible teaches about Jesus in some way. He is spoken of as the Seed of the woman, the Rock, the pillar of Fire and Smoke, the Angel of the Lord, the Good Shepherd, the Son of Man and so on. He is mentioned in some form or type in all of Scripture which means that the entire Bible is relevant and useful for instruction and teaching in our modern world today.

Take the message of Jude to heart and make sure that you are ready to defend your faith if it is ever called into question or if you see or hear someone speaking of a doctrine which is not in the Bible or which sounds like it came from God’s Word but it didn’t.

What has got you down?


OurGodisAbleMany people need to hear from someone today. Friends, family, pastors, spouses all need to hear from those that they care for. But what about those people that you don’t know? The people who are hurting but if you see them or talk to them they will tell you that they are doing fine. How can we touch their lives in a positive way? This is a hard question because most people who feel depressed don’t want to tell others. They consider this to be a burden that they alone can or should carry alone.

Depression is one of the weapons which Satan uses to discourage us before we become a believer, possibly enough to cause someone to take their own life. He also uses it to bring a Christian down so that their life gets out of control and feels hopeless. This is when we should be proactive about reading and meditating on God’s Word. Although, when depression hits you so hard that you feel overwhelmed its hard to think about much of anything except how you feel at the time.

Rest assured in the knowledge that God cares for you, even if you don’t know Him yet.

Psalm 42:11
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Being depressed seems to be normal for prophets and preachers as well as any other Christians. Charles Spurgeon was depressed for much of his life and he was one of the most successful preachers of 19th century England. God gives each of us the strength to make it through our troubles although sometimes we may not feel that strong. Lean on God and seek His wisdom in helping you to get through your trials no matter what they might be!

Many things get people down in their spirit or just plain depressed and sometimes it gets to the point of darkness when you feel that nobody cares…but God cares more about your trials and your life than you could possibly know. He came down to Earth as a baby to be the Perfect Lamb for our sins but He knew the sorrows of humanity and all of the problems which go along with being human. He knew the pain, the heartache and the loneliness of humanity, which is why He can give you the strength to get through all of your troubles.

God loves you so deeply until we can’t understand it! We may be able to feel it when we are in Heaven with Him but while we are yet alive here, our understanding doesn’t go deep enough to comprehend the depth of God’s love for us. Seek Him in your good days so that He will be with you on those days when life doesn’t feel very good. Especially when it gets to the point of feeling like it is out of your control and it won’t get better.

4-ways-to-turn-weaknesses-into-strengthDon’t give up on yourself or on His Presence in your life. Seek Him through the Psalms and Proverbs when your life feels out of your control. He will come near to comfort you in the time of need that you have regardless of the depth of need or the darkness that it feels like.

Empty space


There is a longing in every heart that only Jesus can satisfy. We should be seeking Him to fill that place because nothing else will fit in it except Him. So why do we go through life troubled about an empty feeling inside when it is easy to find Him as the solution?

Usually, it’s because we don’t want to admit that we need Him in our lives. We don’t want to live according to His ways or enjoy the life that we would have by following Him. Even when we find that nothing that we try can satisfy our longing or our emptiness, we usually don’t want to give up our life! Why? Because if we become a Christian we think that we will lose all of our friends. When we will really gain more friends.

We will be joining a group of people who are following the Savior of the world! He will make us feel whole and new again in ways that no drug or person or any amount of money could possibly accomplish! The empty place in your heart and in your life is meant to be filled by the Holy Spirit which Jesus will send to you when you become a Christian.

themissingpieceSo, why do people seem to be against everything that God and the Bible stand for? Maybe its because they are afraid of a book which has the absolute Truth in it. Maybe it has something to do with the way people are taught to think that “everything is relative”. Meaning the truth that you believe is relative to your life is not relative to mine. God’s Truth is relative to everyone! The Savior, Jesus the Christ, is relevant to each person who will decide to receive Him into their heart and their life!

While it seems that many people want to go to Heaven they think that there are easier ways of getting there than becoming a Christian. There are no multiplicity of pathways for getting to Heaven. There is only One way and that is through belief in Jesus and by giving your heart to Him when you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit that you are truly in need of salvation!

God loves each person on this planet regardless of your location or country or the color of your skin or even what ethnic group you may belong to. We are all a part of His Creation and He is the One Who gave you your personality and your gifts and talents! He knows exactly what you can do in His Kingdom and how much you could contribute to it if you will only become a part of it.

Yet, there are many in the world who either don’t believe in God or they are too stubborn to move away from the way they have always believed before. Just because your family believes one way doesn’t mean that you can’t have faith in Jesus and believe in Him for your Salvation. He died and rose again to pay the penalty for your sins and mine and every person alive! So why not follow Him and learn more about Him while becoming the person that He knows you can be?

Is the path of being a follower of Jesus hard? Sometimes, but He will be with you every step of the way. He will be there in the good times and the bad, so don’t turn away from His call on your life and your heart. Eternity is waiting for you and you will enter into it one day. You can decide today which direction and in which place your soul spends that eternity by choosing to follow Jesus now while you are still alive. Because if you don’t make that choice now then you may not be here to make it tomorrow or next week.

What are you chasing?


Have you ever wondered exactly what you are doing in this life or why you are doing it? Many people seem to be attempting to buy anything and everything that they can afford as if they truly believe the saying “he who dies with the most wins the prize”. How do you figure that? When you die your children will inherit what you had and if there are no children then those “things” which you bought with your money will be sold or given to someone else.

Why do we use up our lives chasing after things which can’t possibly give us any fulfillment or joy in this life, other than bragging rights…maybe? The problem with this kind of living is that when your life is over, what will people say or think about you and who you were? Will they remember you as someone who tried to help those who were in need? Will they remember you as a businessman or woman who chased after as much wealth as you could possibly attain?

Have you ever considered the eternal consequences of your life? What will your life be worth in eternity? Did your wealth, regardless of the amount, do any spiritual good in this world? Was it used for the spreading of God’s Word and His message to those who didn’t know Him?

All of these questions should be answered while you are still living so that you can try to make good use of the time that you have left until you enter into eternity. The larger question and the one which will make the most difference to you is: Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? God placed each of us here for the sole purpose of truly getting to know Him and being useful to Him in this life. Regardless of the amount of money or influence you may have in your business or in your life and the lives around you.

Everyone seems to wonder, what is my purpose or the meaning of my life, and we think about it almost from the time that they are old enough to know what a purpose is. The reality of the question is this: your life’s meaning and purpose are found in Jesus and serving Him and His purpose in your life. Anything which is outside of that is fluff and nonsense. Although I am sure that many will wonder exactly how am I supposed to pay my bills or save up for retirement by doing that?

God did not say that we had to be preachers or evangelists. We are to use the gifts and talents which we have been given to serve the Lord in our lives and in our businesses, whatever they may be. God mentions many different craftsmen in the Old Testament from woodworkers and carvers to engravers and those who can make jewelry out of gold as well as shepherds and kings and priests.

Your life and mine can be useful to God in many ways and it doesn’t matter what your vocation may be. If you are a nurse then be the best one that you can be and use your talents to serve God while you are at it. If you are a police person, do that as if you were working for the Lord. Whatever occupation you are in, do it as if you were working for Jesus and make sure that your tithes go to charities which actually help people. If you can’t find a charity which does this in your town, then start one which will!

Pray about it, seek God’s wisdom for whatever you are considering and if you feel God leading you in that direction with your money and your time then do it! Saturate your charity or foundation with prayer and fasting if you have to but make sure that it is doing work which Jesus would be proud of. If your business isn’t one which He would be happy with then move to something else which can honor God.

Is there something missing…


Many times when I was much younger, I felt as if something was missing in my life. Since my parents were divorced I always thought it had to do with my Dad not being in my life much. Which was likely since I didn’t see him much except during summer visits and two weeks doesn’t help much when your Dad is working and out of the house even when you are there. Still…I felt that my relationship with him wasn’t really what was missing but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

After high school, I found that the missing part of my life didn’t mean much, at least not yet. So I partied and played around with weed and sex and I still felt empty and confused because nothing that I tried was fulfilling at all and mostly left me feeling empty inside. Even though I thought I had found and accepted Jesus, and I may have invited Him into my heart, I don’t think that I had fully committed my life and my heart to Him at this point.

I didn’t have anyone to teach me how to become closer to God and to come to know Him in a deeper way, so I still felt like I was stuck in a rut and I didn’t know how to get on the right pathway. I don’t know if I am expressing this the best way but that is how I felt at the time.

Why am I opening my story up to you? Because our testimony is the story about how each of us came to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior and it is a story that each of us can express in our own words because it is personal. Each of us knows our own short-comings and our failures which brought us to the point of knowing that we need Jesus, because until we came to that point…we didn’t want to know Him.

My actual walk with Jesus began after my son was born. I had been given this gift from God to love and cherish and to be an example to, and I knew that if I wasn’t following Jesus from that point on then he wouldn’t learn about Him either. So, I began by reading the Bible at night while I was working in the lab at the hospital. I would read in between running samples or on my lunch (early breakfast) break.

Little by little, God’s Word began to make sense to me. I still didn’t understand it and even today after reading through the Bible many times I don’t claim to understand it yet, but I am walking with Him on a daily path. Do I stumble? Yes! Do I wander off the path or fall? Yes! But…He is there to help me get back up, ask for His forgiveness when I have failed Him in one way or another and then we carry on toward the goal.

What is the goal? The prize of being in His Presence! That is the ultimate goal of life. The life which each of us lives through and complains about here is just temporary but the Life in Him and in eternity is…well eternal! There won’t be anything missing when we are in His Kingdom and His Presence! The only “missing” things will be the problems which we have here, the time which we never seem to have enough of, our aches and pains and our glasses (if you wear them) or contacts. All of these man-made bits of help and diseases will be left on Earth when we leave this place, praise God!

If you need prayer for any reason or just an unspoken request, please leave it in the comments. I will pray for you in my prayers because I pray that this site and these messages have an impact in the world every day. Thank you for reading.

Amen.

Do you believe?


There are many Christians in the world or rather there are many who claim to be Christians. How many actually are in the world only God knows the answer to that question. In America, there are nearly 70% of the population who claim to be Christians but if that were true every church would be full whenever there was a service.

So, back to the question, do you believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation?

God provided the way for each of us to gain salvation through Him but it is up to us to make the decision to believe in Jesus for our salvation when we feel convicted of our own sinful lives. Knowing that your righteousness is not good enough to get you into heaven and that you only gain access through belief in Jesus Christ for your salvation.

In Acts 4:12, Peter exclaims: 12 “Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

So, do you believe in Him as your Savior? Some who read this probably do believe in Jesus as their Savior but there may be many who think that He was just a man and a prophet and nothing more. In the Old Testament, there are over 300 prophecies concerning His birth and His ministry and He fulfilled them all! In the book of Micah, written between ~700 years prior to His birth it was foretold that He would be born in Bethlehem.

For a man to fulfill the prophecies about Jesus, even a few of them would be miraculous, but He fulfilled every one of them. Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity and the Son of God, there is no other name by which we can be saved and sanctified for our sins. If you don’t know Him yet, as your Savior, I implore you to seek Him with the utmost urgency because the time grows short and He will be coming for those who believe in Him soon.

I have no idea when His return will be but all of the prophetic signs have been fulfilled and the world is in turmoil just as He said it would be in the last days. Don’t turn away from Him or His call on your life because when this life is over there are no second chances to gain your salvation through belief in Him.

IamtheWay

 

 

Are you lost?


In this age of cell phones with GPS capabilities, very few people can get lost on the road to almost anywhere. But, the road to Heaven is a road which is your life and a GPS doesn’t work on it. Oh, you can find exactly where you are at any time but what about your spiritual walk and your ultimate destination? Those two are part of the same interconnected lifestyle. It isn’t just going to church on the occasional Sunday or any particular holiday like Christmas and Easter.

Holidays and an occasional visit to church don’t equal a lifetime of relationship with your Savior. A relationship with Jesus is more closely related to a relationship with your spouse because it is a daily walk, a daily reading and studying of God’s Word, continually washing your mind with the water of Life which springs from it. A real Christian life begins on the day that you accept Jesus as your Savior, regardless of your physical age.

Some people seem to think that once they have accepted Him as their Savior, there isn’t anything more they should do so they go back to living their life. Their spirit tells them that they are doing it wrong, but if you ignore your spirit long enough eventually you won’t heart it at all. While this is possible and you are grieving the Spirit when you do it, I don’t believe that a person who does this was actually saved, to begin with, if they continually move back toward their old way of life.

When you are convicted of your sins and ask Jesus into your life, usually there is a complete change in your heart and your mind to move toward becoming more like Jesus. If you are studying the Word and meditating on His Wisdom and working toward becoming more like Christ, I don’t think you will turn back to your old way of living. Jesus paid a price for your soul, and for your salvation, so don’t treat your new life in Christ lightly.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). Jesus is with us in all of our troubles and our fears especially after we have asked Him into our heart and our lives so why would you do things and go places that you wouldn’t be comfortable taking Jesus if He were with you in the flesh? He is there in Spirit in everything that you are doing, so consider that before you decide to go somewhere or do something that you wouldn’t take your own mother with you!

Jesus never leaves our side so if you did accept Him as your Savior, why would you consider doing a sinful act or going somewhere that you wouldn’t take Him? He loves you more deeply than you can imagine or even comprehend right now and even though your daily life may not be running over with blessings, He is still there. “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

We are coming close to the “end of the age” and you can see it because of the prophecies in the Bible. Make sure of your salvation in Christ while there is time, because tomorrow may be too late. Every trial and problem in your life has passed through God’s hands and is approved for you to endure but you will endure it better with His strength and His Presence in your life.

God’s position


God is unchanging in His ways and the “church” in America today seems to be telling people that He does. Saying it will not make it so. We, meaning all who claim to be Christians, should read our Bibles more carefully and take what is said in them as being the Truth. Since it was His Holy Spirit which prompted the men who wrote each book, the Word is His Word and considering that God can’t lie then every word is Truth.

I will not get into the debate over sexual orientation or other lifestyles here, but God’s position is clear in His Word. There is no solution for a couple other than a man and a woman since God’s intention, in the beginning, was for them to “be fruitful and multiply”. This is the natural order of all living things, human or otherwise. God loves His entire Creation and the salvation of mankind is only by belief in Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Lord and Savior.

IamtheWayAny other pathway which other philosophies espouse is a false path and doesn’t lead to Heaven at all. Is it possible to gain entrance into Heaven without Jesus? No! Works of ours do not qualify any of us because when they are done without Jesus in our hearts they are meaningless in God’s sight. Living and working in this world without Jesus is possible but gaining entry to Heaven is not. If you die without Jesus then you will be judged by Him and sent to hell for the decision which you chose to make about your salvation and your own righteousness!

Your sins will be part of your judgment without Jesus to cover them but they won’t be the only reason you spend eternity in hell. A sentence to hell is because of your decision to go through life without Jesus in your heart and as a guide in your life.

God loves you and me so much that He wants us to come to know His Son. Which of us will decide to follow Him is known by God, yet the decision to know and believe in Jesus for our salvation is our individual decision to make. So, what will your decision be? Will you believe in Jesus the Christ as your Savior and Lord in the simple way that the thief on the cross did? He didn’t have any way of being baptized or any time to do any works for Jesus except to believe in Him because of what he knew of Him, yet Jesus told him that “this day you will be with Me in Paradise“.

If that thief could come to Him in his humble faith and believe unto salvation then why can’t more people give their lives to Him in service until He comes or they come to the end of their lives? In today’s world, there are so many who are against Christianity because Christians believe in the inerrant Word of God and what it contains…the Truth of Salvation and Wisdom from God! Religion doesn’t save you, a denomination doesn’t grant you entrance into Heaven, no amount of works or money given to the church will gain you entrance either. The only way to eternity with Jesus in Heaven is through belief in Him for your salvation and repentance of your sins which have kept you from Him prior to your conviction by the Holy Spirit when you realized that you truly need Him!

Feed My Sheep…


Good shepherdOne of the misunderstood commands of our Lord was when He restored Peter to his place before He ascended to the Father. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep” and He said it not once or twice but three times. Granted, Jesus didn’t use the same wording for each time that He asked Peter to do this, but the meaning is the same. He asked him to be a shepherd to His flock and to tend to His lambs and feed His sheep.

This is what all pastors and just regular Christians are supposed to do because we have a responsibility to those who are just becoming Christians, like children or lambs in a flock. We are also supposed to help feed those who are still learning about God’s Word and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Being a Christian is not as easy as some try to make it seem. There are always obstacles, temptations, and darts which are flung at us each and every day from the enemy. But in Jesus Christ, we do have the power to resist them and to conquer them especially if we are grounded in His Word and know it well enough to use it as a weapon against Satan and his followers. We can’t do this on our own!

Even Jesus used Scripture to fend off Satan when He had finished His fast of forty days, so don’t think you won’t need to know it because you will. Feeding His sheep includes feeding our own souls so that our walk with Him is more productive. God loves us and wants the best for us, but His best for us doesn’t mean that we will become rich in money. We will be rich in blessings and in His Kingdom.

Have faith in Jesus and believe in Him for your salvation because He is the only way to have salvation in this life and in eternity as well. Don’t believe the lie that you can accept Him as your Savior and then go back to living your life on your terms and doing whatever you want to do. That is not how salvation works. The change which happens in your heart should translate into a new lifestyle and one which honors Him and glorifies Him! Going back to your old life and your old lifestyle after you have “given” your heart to Him proves only that you didn’t give anything to Jesus.

If you actually did give your heart to Him and then turned away from Him and being a Christian in your daily walk with Him, you are trampling His blood and His sacrifice under your feet like it doesn’t mean anything to you at all! All that you have is insurance against going to hell, but no works which would point anyone else in the direction of Jesus. That is a sad and unfruitful way of saying that you are a Christian when nobody can see it in your life.

Think about it and make sure that your life with Him is true and honest and one which will draw even a child to come to know Him.

Lord or Judge, your decision


In this life, we have two decisions which have an eternal impact on our future. Both of these decisions have to do with Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior or our rejection of Him. He came to this Earth in the form of the Rock which gave the Israelites water in the wilderness and as the Angel of the Lord. He was also the Pillar of Fire/Smoke which protected the Israelites from the Egyptian army and went with them on their journey through the wilderness. Jesus, the Living Word, the Lamb of God, Counselor and Prince of Peace…He was all of these and our Savior when He took our sins on Himself and paid the price which we could not pay.

Lord or JudgeSo, what is your decision about Him today? Is He your Savior and Lord or will He be your Judge when you stand before Him one day? Think carefully about this decision because when this life is over, you can’t change your mind then. You must choose.

Jesus arose from the tomb after three days and spent the next 50 days teaching His disciples what they needed to know to take His message away from Jerusalem. He may not have been with them every day of that time, but according to the holidays He was around in different places.

So many times we read the Bible, at least those of us who do read it, and we find one gospel which states just the facts like Mark. Then we read John’s gospel and he focused on the miracles and parables which Jesus taught with. John also made sure that we knew that we needed Jesus and we needed to believe in Him as our Savior. The job which Jesus had to do was to pay for all of our sins so we could be granted salvation through our faith and belief in Him as our Savior.

He tried to bring this knowledge to the Jewish leaders and people but they wouldn’t listen. They considered their own righteousness to be enough without Him or His message. Many of us today consider our “righteousness” will be enough to grant us entry into Heaven because we attend church and occasionally read our Bibles. But the outward appearance of being righteous does nothing for our heart or our soul. As Jesus said to them, “You are like whitewashed tombs“.

The only righteousness which counts is what is imputed to us through the surrender of our life to Him and by living daily by His grace and power. We don’t have the ability to be righteous enough without Him in our heart or our life. Make sure of your salvation before it is too late and you stand before Him just as you are right now.