Category: Abide in Him

Do you hear what I hear?


This is part of a wonderful song for Christmas which I have loved for years. These days, there isn’t much that you hear about Christ on a daily basis, sometimes even a weekly one. People don’t want to hear the Truth of God’s Word unless they are in need of God’s help. The problem with this is that God is not a genie! We are not supposed to treat our relationship with Jesus as one where we seek His help when we need it, but when things are going well we don’t want Him around!

God loves each one of us far more than we can even understand, and yet we don’t seem to give that love back to Him. Jesus came to Earth as a baby, born to a virgin long ago. He also came to pay the price for ALL of our sins and be our Savior if we will only believe in Him. So…what is the problem that many of us seem to have with Jesus? Is it that He was born Jewish? He preached long ago and we don’t think that His message is relevant today? Could it be that we don’t want to offend anyone with our faith so we don’t tell anyone about Him or our belief in Him?

The message and the lessons which Jesus taught have more to do with today than at any time before now! We are to love each other as we are loved! Why can’t we look past our perceived differences in skin color and culture and just see another person in need of Jesus? Why is it so hard to get past our genetic differences and just see the similarities?

I mean, we all have two arms and legs, most of us have hair (some more, some less), all of us have two ears, two eyes, and one mouth (even if that last one gets us into more trouble than it should)! That is why the Bible says that we should be quick to listen and slow to speak.

Quick2Listen

It doesn’t matter what you are speaking about or who you may be listening to, make sure to measure your words before you speak and listen to what is being said, carefully seeking the truth in what you are hearing. As one wise person said, “Taste your words before you spit them out”; in that way, you will know if they are good or not. People will think you are wise or smart depending on your speech. If your speech is full of big words but not much substance then you will seem to be smart but like a politician you aren’t saying much at all.

Consider your words and your speech because God hears every word, whether you are His or not.

Does God hear me?


I have wondered that in the past and I am sure that many others have as well. We pray asking for God to heal or help in some way in our lives, sometimes we ask for specific things and yet we rarely see the answer to this prayer. God does answer and He hears your prayers and mine, but He may not answer your prayer in the way that you expect Him to. Then again, your answer may come to you in the form of a friendship with someone and we aren’t sensitive enough to take notice of the offer.

To answer the question in my title: YES, God does hear you! Even if you aren’t a Christian, He hears your prayer. Especially if you are asking for His forgiveness and wanting Jesus to come in and straighten out your life! Does God hear the prayers of those who don’t believe in Jesus or refuse to believe? Yes, they are heard but until their heart is touched by the Holy Spirit to break it open enough to let Jesus inside, those prayers go unanswered. I mean, God is not a genie so He doesn’t give you millions of dollars or a jet or a really fancy car, especially if you aren’t a believer.

God loves each of us with such a deep love until we can’t understand it! Because we just can’t comprehend a love which is given and expressed so deeply even for those of us who are still on the fence in our belief in Him. Being “on the fence” in your decision to believe is a decision too because you are not a believer but you haven’t decided to give your life to Him either. That is a very dangerous place to be!

Consider it from this perspective: You are walking on the ridge of a hill and there is a fire raging on one side, completely out of control and heading your way. On the other side is a green valley with a river and trees that is very peaceful and cool. Which would you choose? Any sane person would choose the cool valley with the river in it, but in life, there are many more people who tend to walk on the ridge for years. Why? Because spiritually you can’t see the flames or the fire and that is the problem.

Both valleys look almost identical, except the one with the spiritual fire has thorns and cactus and snakes which you can’t see until you wander into it. This is how Satan fools people into thinking that his way is just as good until you get caught and feel like you can’t get away. If we all had eyes which could discern the spiritual dangers around us, then the world would be a much different place than what it is today.

The gift which God has given us is that we have access to eternity with Him IF we will believe in Jesus and His atonement for us! That’s it! Believe in Him and the work which He did on the cross so many years ago. Then, ask forgiveness for your sins and turn away from your old life and follow Him into eternity! Living in Heaven won’t be boring by any means, but it will be filled with awe at all of the wonders of God and His grace given to each of us!

Hell is eternal as well, so if you don’t make that choice of following Jesus and believing in Him for your salvation, then that is where your eternity will be. It will not be an eternal party as some have thought and expressed in front of friends and many others. Anyone who ends up there will find that God’s Presence doesn’t dwell with those in hell. There is no water, no grass, no real life at all. The only constant there is the pain, suffering of your immortal body which cannot die but it will feel the pain of separation and torment.

The choice for you is between the Life of Heaven or the separation and pain of hell…which will you choose?

Who came so long ago?


Nativity-29It was in fulfillment of prophecy that He came. God gave the Word to Isaiah many hundreds of years prior to His birth.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

Our Savior, the Lamb of God, came as a baby into this world to live as we do and to die as a sacrifice which we could not do. He gave His life to pay for all of our sins so that we could have an eternal relationship with God in eternity. Also, because giving our lives and our hearts to Him in believing that He did this for us, we can live for Him in this life and tell others about His sacrifice for our lives.

Jesus, the Son of God, came to place His life in the Father’s hands to pay for our sins and He did exactly that by being a sinless and spotless Lamb give as a willing sacrifice for all of our sins. Here is a link to learn more about the prophecies which He fulfilled in order to be the One prophesied in Scripture.

Salvation comes no other way than by belief in Jesus and the atonement which He provided for us. He did this willingly and not under compulsion so that the prophecy would be fulfilled in His death, burial, and resurrection! Please don’t ignore this gift which was given to each of us IF we will believe in Him and repent of our sins to follow His example in our lives until He returns.

Jesus loves….me!


I sang along with the children in my church this morning and we sang “Jesus loves me”. It is a very fitting song for Christmas because that is the reason He came to be our Savior! This season is known for excess spending and all sorts of commercial excesses in sales and marketing and all sorts of product placement, etc.

Why can’t we place our Savior at the center of this celebration? We have the freedom to worship Him, yet we change the names of trees that are bought for this time of year. We say “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas so we don’t offend a few people! The freedom to worship God was the reason which began the journey to this country for many people, so why should we have to give up or limit our freedoms now because of a minority of people who may be offended?

God’s love is so great for each of us that He sent Jesus to be born in Bethlehem and grow up under Jewish law to save His people. When they refused to see Him as their Messiah, the offer of salvation was expanded to the entire world! There have been many stumbles and mishaps along the way to bring Jesus’ gift of salvation to every nation. Some of them very tragic and costly in lives and property and those damages can’t be undone from a cultural standpoint.

Just as the results of wars cannot be undone and the effect of words on different parties can’t be unsaid to remove the hurt and the pain they have caused, Christian history cannot be changed either. But, there have been many good things which have come from the spreading of the gospel in the world. People have come to know Jesus as their Savior who wouldn’t have had that chance if we had not followed the Lord’s command to go into all the world and tell others about Him.

God loves you and every person on this planet and He wants you to come to know Jesus as your Savior. The extent of His love and compassion is unknowable because God is infinite in knowledge and power, but of all the people on Earth who can be effective in His Kingdom, one of you who reads this can do something which no other person in the world can do! You can reach your children or maybe your nephews and nieces when nobody else can. You may be able to reach your family in ways that nobody other than you can do. God knows all of these facts and He can use your talents because He gave them to you.

Don’t consider that your talent or gift is not useful to God or useful in His Kingdom because He wouldn’t have given it to you if you couldn’t use it. Seek Him out in all that you do, ask for the ability to use your gift to bring someone to Christ because that is the most wonderful gift of all and it doesn’t cost you anything.

RomanRoad2Salvation

Being a mouthpiece


Since I am a preacher, that is what I am seen as by most people…a mouthpiece for God’s Word. I read a few verses or maybe a chapter during the service on Sunday morning and then expound on what I have read and what the wisdom that God has given me tells me about this scripture. Moses was a mouthpiece and all of the prophets in the Bible were too. Jesus is a direct mouthpiece because He is the Living Word of God and His disciples were mouthpieces and teachers just as we are today.

Bridge2SalvationWhat is my point in this article today? Simply that God is awesome, Jesus is sitting at the right of His Father and the universe is under their control! Being the person who tells others about God and His Son, and thankfully I am not the only one doing this, is an awesome responsibility! But, I enjoy it!

God loves us and the story that is told in the Bible, from the beginning to the end, is the story of His love and compassion toward us all. While it is true that it starts out being a story about Creation and the Israelite nation, the wisdom contained within its pages is for all of us! Jesus came to tell that story more personally so that we could understand that God’s love doesn’t just mean something to one particular people, but it is expressed toward all of humanity through His death and resurrection!

God’s love and compassion for us are also expressed in His patience toward us because we are very stubborn in our sinful lives and we don’t want to follow His ways until we are ready. The problem with that is that we don’t have a clue about our the brevity of our lives! We are not guaranteed tomorrow or even tonight, so as the saying goes “today is the day of salvation”! Tomorrow isn’t here until it is and you may not have much time in the day or the week ahead to give your life to Jesus and repent of your sins.

None of us can know if we are going into the new year in a couple of weeks because it isn’t a certainty. A wreck or a heart attack or a stroke could take your life at any time between now and then and if you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus and believe in His atonement for your sins, then you will cross from this life into judgment and hell.

God loves each of us and this is shown in His Word, so don’t wait until you find yourself in front of God and being judged for a life lived without Jesus or even believing in Him. Yes, each of us will be judged in one way or another. If you are a Christian and have Jesus as your Savior then you will be judged by what you did for God’s Kingdom.

If you are not a Christian, then every word and deed that you have ever done in your life will be brought before you to convict you of your sins and to prove that you deserve to be punished in hell. Not for the sins, but for refusing to give your heart to Jesus! That is the sin which condemns you to hell. Make sure of your salvation while you can in this life because when this one is over you can’t rewind and fix it.

Have you learned much this year?


Life is hard at times. Learning about your Creator and your faith is one of the most rewarding experiences that you can have. So, exactly how do you learn about Him? Well, that is a very good question and it is what this article is all about.

Truly, God loves each of us! Not just those who claim to be Christians but every person on the Earth! Of course, that doesn’t always translate into those persons giving Him their heart and their love in return. The main part of learning about God and Jesus and their love for you is inside of a book…the Bible! God inspired writers to write down His laws and His requirements for His people, the Jewish nation of Israel.

Some might argue that those laws and requirements don’t pertain to us today because they were written over two millennia ago, some as much as three millennia in the past. How could wisdom and laws from that far back in time and written to a different people have anything to do with today?

It is because God is our Creator and His wisdom is timeless as are His laws and precepts. Yes, they were written by people far away and years in the past but God lives outside of time and He gives wisdom and love to all who will come to Him and ask. God loves all of us, which is why Jesus came to live a life unblemished by sin and then be sacrificed as the Spotless Lamb of God for our sins!

We are His Creation and when the world was still unformed and not made yet, He knew that humanity would need a Savior. Jesus came to be that Savior for all of us if we will believe in Him and the atonement that He purchased with His blood and His death on the cross and then He vanquished over death when He came out of the tomb three days later.

job-type-of-ChristWhen we are tested and tried during our lives by illness or setbacks in a job or finances, it is to make us better and closer to God. Just as Job was tested hard when all of his children and his wealth was taken by the attacks of Satan. Then his health was taken away and he still didn’t lose his faith. He questioned God’s reasons for his losses but he never lost his faith in God’s mercy and greatness! When the testing was over, God blessed him with the gift of children and twice his wealth and he lived to a ripe old age.

Here is the account of God’s grace toward Job:

God Restores Job’s Fortunes

10 The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. 11 Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house, and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. 12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man and full of days.

Who do you say that I am?


WhoDoYouSayIamIt is a question which Jesus asked of His disciples and it is one which all of us need to answer in our own hearts as well. Have you considered what your answer would be? Is He your Savior or just a great prophet? Is He the Son of God or an imposter like so many of those who had the name Jesus (Joshua, Yeshua) at that time? Who is He in your heart and in your life? Do you even believe that He existed?

Many questions to answer but the real truth of it is that Jesus is the Son of God, foretold to come by being born of a virgin, of the lineage of David and He was born in Bethlehem. So much conflict and strife in a city in the country of Israel. Fighting between relatives, since all of those around Israel are also descendants of Abraham through Ishmael. Yet, all of this conflict was foretold in the Bible, not just in the book of Revelation but in other, much older prophetic books like Isaiah and Daniel.

So, who is Jesus to you? Is He your Savior and Messiah? He is to me because without His Spirit helping me with these words, I couldn’t come up with all of these writings!

God sent Jesus to Earth to redeem the whole human race from the sins of our mutual ancestor, Adam. I know, if you don’t believe the Creation story from the Bible then we are descended from apes through evolutionary means. But, hear me out in this wise: Adam disobeyed God in eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and we are partakers of that sin nature. We, meaning all of humanity, have always sought to be “like god” in some way!

We have searched for and are still searching for ways to extend our lives beyond our normal lifespan or to fix age-related diseases which our bodies have in one way or another as we get older. I contend with arthritis myself and would like nothing better than for a cure to be found, but that will likely be when I get my body in Heaven. We cannot be gods of any kind in these finite bodies of ours and God didn’t make us for that purpose.

We are His creation just as the animals and the angels and the planets and stars and galaxies are His creation. All of the universe which we can see and the parts which we can’t see are also His creation! God is ruler and sovereign over all and He doesn’t have to give us anything or even answer our prayers, but He does. His judgment is final and true and yet people want to question the Bible and its authenticity.

Jesus is the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity and He came to pay our price for our sins. God’s Word calls Him many names such as Wonderful Counselor, King of Kings and the Prince of Peace among many others like the Root of Jesse and the Son of David and the Righteous Branch. He is our Savior and Lord and the only way to be saved from our sins is our belief in Him and the atonement which He accomplished for all of us! Don’t deny Him as your Savior, accept Him and follow Him into eternity because following Satan into eternity is going to be eternal punishment.

Problematic faith


In our society today it seems that we have problems with faith. Occasionally it is the lack of faith but most often it is that people of faith seem to be the problem. It doesn’t matter how many florists or bakeries there are in a particular town or city, those who want to cause trouble usually find the one run by someone who is a Christian. As Jesus said, “The world hated Me so it will hate you“; it is the Truth which the world hates and since our Lord is the Truth and His Word is also, then it makes sense in a way.

Our faith in Jesus is not really in question but the absolute Truth of God’s Word is the part which the world and those who don’t want to believe in Him or live by it is the real problem. Can we do anything to fix this? No, not really. The only way that this could be better would be IF the world would convert to Christianity. We are trying to tell the world about Jesus and that He is the Messiah for all of humanity, but much of the world doesn’t want to hear it.

Thankfully, we don’t push our faith on people. We tell you about it, we will pray for you, I can tell you the pathway to salvation through belief in Jesus, but if you decide against it then that is your decision. God doesn’t push Himself nor belief in His Son on the world. He didn’t do it even before Jesus was born but He did try to get the Israelites to follow His commandments and be His representatives to the world, but they didn’t do that even then.

Being faithful in following God has always been a tricky proposition. There was always the temptation to worship the gods of those around them or if they married someone who worshipped an idol. We have the same problem today, except our “idols” are much different. We worship money or family or our jobs, even though we don’t bow down or pray to them. We just place more emphasis on those things in our life than we should.

Anytime that you place anything ahead of or in place of your faith and belief in God, you are creating an idol or a “god” which takes His place. This is a big problem in our world today. Because many people look at their jobs or their bank accounts as their “savior” in many things. That is why Jesus said that “it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven“.

Why is that true? Well, wealthy people don’t have to worry about bills or having enough money or food. Why would they need God? Granted, there are some who know where their wealth came from and they honor Him for it and with tithes which show that He is the source and not their business or their bank account. But…those are few. Give God the glory for your ability to get wealth and for your salvation through Jesus!

 

Anger or compassion


thereasonforourproblemsWe live every day with the consequences of one or the other, the outcome depends upon which one is more prevalent in our lives. Is it anger and our temper or do we live a life of service to others and showing compassion toward their problems? Do you worry more about your own problems and troubles? Most of us do exactly that. We worry about our lives and our finances and many other problems, most of which we can do nothing constructive about.

Life is given to each of us to bring glory to God, not to our own life or for our own selfish needs or wants. God gives us the necessary abilities to accomplish everything that He has intended for us to do. We should depend upon Him and His provisions for us, whether it is in the form of money or talent, to be able to accomplish the task He has given to us. Finding out that task is our job, to work toward being close enough to God so that we can discern His will for us.

How do we do this? By reading the Bible with an attitude of prayer and seeking His will for our life. Read a chapter then ask God to reveal His wisdom in what you just read. Ask Him to show you what His wisdom means in this chapter and how it applies to your life and ministry. It doesn’t matter which book you are reading or what chapter it may be. It could be in Genesis or Psalms or Matthew or even in Revelation.

The point is that whatever you read, ask God to show you what His wisdom is in the scripture. I have found that it doesn’t matter how many times you read a book or chapter in God’s Word, you will get a different meaning almost every time you read it. Why is that? Because God’s Word is a living document which reads you and your Spirit as you read it. Actually, it is God’s Spirit which inspired the Word of God in the Bible which is reading you and your soul.

I know that many will read this and call it crazy or something like that, but if you ask a preacher or an evangelist about what they get out of reading and studying the Bible, you will get many different answers. By that, I mean that each time you read the same passage, if you are reading it to learn from God’s wisdom, you will get a little different message than you did the last time. I have only read the Bible through about seven or eight times and each time I will get a slightly different message from the last time I read it.

God knows you so much better than you do and His Word speaks to those differences however slight they are or what those emotional or life experiences might be. His Word speaks in His voice to your soul, your spirit and it is that part of you which hears the different messages or teachings which come from the study of His Word.

….it’s too late for me.


These are the worst words that a pastor can hear when someone requests prayer for a family member but they end the request with this. It is never too late to come to believe in Jesus, even on your last day here you can decide to follow Him! There is no sin that He will turn away because His accomplishment on the cross and during His life took care of the punishment for all of us. If we will just accept Him and believe in Him we can be saved, even if it is with your last breath!

God provided the atonement through Jesus’ death on the cross for all of mankind, all that we have to do to receive it is to believe in it and ask Him to come into your life and save you from an eternity in hell. Mercy is provided for us through God’s love for us through Jesus our Savior. You can’t purchase it and you can’t add to it by doing more in this life through works of any kind. Grace is our unmerited favor and blessing through Jesus Christ, to which we cannot add anything to or be deserving of more than we are.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, came for this purpose only…to atone for the sins of the world and all of humanity. It is a free gift and all we have to do is accept it and believe it, confessing our sins and we are each saved. It is just that simple! God knew before the world was created that mankind would go their way and not follow Him as He intended but He also had a plan in place to redeem us from our mistakes.

It is never too late to accept Jesus as your Savior, regardless of the sins that you have committed or how evil you may think of yourself. Those are lies from the Accuser and we don’t need to believe them! Choose to follow Jesus, read the Bible and believe in Him and God’s inerrant Word, then walk with Him on a daily basis toward eternity. Your life here is only a puff of smoke compared to eternal life with Jesus. So, walk in it like you have it already if you have truly given your life and heart to Him!

Why am I bringing up eternity and salvation in Jesus at a time when our world seems to be more wicked and lost? Because of those very things! Our world is that way because we have chosen to follow our own goals and our own paths instead of seeking out the One Who can save us! There is nothing which we can do that can add one second to our lives and nothing that we bring to the altar is truly acceptable to God except the blood of Jesus!

He was our Spotless Lamb and our Prince of Peace and He has paid the price for every sin, whether you think of them as big sins or small ones, they are all sins in the eyes of God! How can you be saved? Here are a few scriptures which will point you in that direction.

Bridge2Salvation