In one of my favorite movies the computer is trying to teach Mr. Spock all that he should know in order for him to take his place on the bridge of the Enterprise. He answers all of the questions correctly except this one: How do you feel?
The computer repeats the question and his mother comes in to find him with a quizzical look on his face. She tells him that the computer knows that he is half human and it wants an answer. An answer that he doesn’t know how to give or even how to phrase correctly until the ending of the movie when he tells his father to tell his mother that he feels fine.
How do we feel in this world of contradictions and confusing twists that seem to show up in the news and in other places as well. Particularly in reference to so-called “sexual preference” or “sexual orientation”. These are states of being which our society today is telling us that we are born that way and we are not. God created each of us male or female. There are no third choices or choices of any kind when it comes to how you live your either are what you were born as or you aren’t. But how are you going to answer that question in front of God?
You will stand in front of Him as the person that you were meant to be not the one that surgery and chemicals caused you to look like someone else. Live your life as God made you to be not what your parents or society would choose for you.
God considers every person to be unique and special and worth the life of His Son to save your soul from hell. So regardless of how you may feel right now, today, God loves you. Don’t forget that.
So many claim to be Christians today but because of fear and misinformation very few are attending church services. So, what is coming next? In our time and in the next few weeks we will be voting for a President to continue his second term in office, if it is God’s will for that to happen. Many of us will get a flu shot or a COVID-19 shot and hope that it helps for a season. But…what about after that? What should we look for after all of this?
The news media and social media will tell everyone that our world is doomed whether our choice of candidate gets elected or not. Many people may even begin to go into survival mode and hoard more toilet paper and canned goods. Can we be certain of anything that we see or hear in media broadcasts today? If it is reported by a news organization or any media company I would have to say…NO! So what are we supposed to do about this uncertainty? Truthfully there is nothing that we, as individuals, can do except pray.
If you are a believer in Jesus and you have given your heart to Him then read His Word because most of the things which we are seeing and hearing on the TV or the Internet were foretold long before it started. The rise of knowledge and technology, which we have seen in the past century has happened. Israel became a Jewish nation again seventy-two years ago and now we are seeing so many people claiming that our history needs changing because it “hurts some people’s feelings”. How can we cope with all of this uncertainty? Read God’s Word! It will show you that God is not surprised by this. He knew thousands of years ago that this was coming.
Read the prophetic books like Isaiah and Daniel and Ezekiel. Then read in Matthew 24 and in the book of Revelation about how God will deal with the world that has been against Israel for so long. The best part is that the church, those who believe in Jesus for their salvation, is not punished during the Tribulation because we are not here! The world will be in a constant state of chaos and it will get worse as the months and years go by but only for seven years. Then Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives and He will end the Tribulation with the Word of God which will destroy the enemies of Israel. God loves Israel and those in the world who have believed in Jesus for their salvation.
God will not leave us and He hasn’t left us at any time. This trouble that we are going through now is just a way of testing the faith of the church. To see how much we are looking for Him and keeping our faith in His promises. I could be wrong but it seems that we, as the Church, are being tested. How long will this last? I don’t know but God does. Seek Him in all that you do and pray that He will convict you to become a Christian or to reaffirm and strengthen your faith during these troubled times. The test could be over in a few minutes or it may take a few years but by whatever time measurement you use, God is the only One who knows precisely when Christians (the church) will be taken home to be with Him.
I pray that all who claim to know Him are known by Him when this time comes. Amen
There will be millions rising to meet Him along with those who knew Him at the time of their death.
Life is supposed to be lived with your eyes front. Looking forward to what lies ahead of you. But do we live this way or is it just a fond saying that we hear or maybe learn at some point in our life? Eyes front! is a command that I remember hearing in basic training a few decades ago. So what does it mean to us today?
The better part of it is that we shouldn’t be looking behind us and we should be making plans for the life that is ahead of us. The present, which is today, is something that we can’t plan for because we got up this morning living in it. The “present” is today and it should be used as a way or a pathway to get to our future…tomorrow.
Jesus said: 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Look toward tomorrow but do not fret about it. Keep your eyes on the work that Jesus has given you to do and the days will take care of themselves.
Most believers and the churches that they attend know or think they know “what they believe” and “how to tell others about their belief in Jesus”. In many ways, the pastors of those churches feel that they know these things as well. Some do know these fundamental beliefs of the church and they preach them from God’s Word. But do you know why you should study God’s Word? Do you know why you should tell others in your family and those who live nearby about your Savior?
Is there a reason why we should tell others about Jesus? Why do we come to church?
Telling others about our Savior throws a lifeline to them so that they can know their Savior and escape an eternity in hell. Why do we come to church? Because the Bible says, “forsake not the assembling of the brethren or believers”. We are strengthened in our Spirit when we worship Jesus together. We learn more about our Savior and how to be His disciples when we meet together and study the Bible about His work. We learn about who we are to take this good news, the gospel, to every tribe and nation and tongue, whether it is across the ocean or the street.
But…do we take this good news even to our own family? The “why” of the gospel is simple, maybe too simple, and it is love. God loved us and still loves us so deeply that He sent Jesus to live and die for our sins, no matter how big or small our sins may seem to be to us. The sins that we commit each day in our thoughts and in our speech and with our eyes tend to make a mockery of our claim of being a Christian. We don’t take our faith and our walk with Jesus by our side seriously. Sometimes we rarely think about Him at all outside of the church. It’s almost like when we were young and we would go to visit our grandmother or an aunt that we only see once or twice a year.
We would be told in very stern words to be on our best behavior while we are there. The problem with this kind of thinking and living as Christians is that unlike our grandmother or our aunt, God knows what we think and say even if we don’t say it in church. He knows about your sins regardless of their perceived size because to a holy God…every sin is the same. It is our rebellion against Him and His commandments. That is hard for us to understand because we categorize sins as big or little, white or black. To God, telling your Mom that you didn’t eat the cookie when you did is the same as killing your brother or someone in anger. They don’t seem to be the same to us, but to God, a sin is a sin…period.
Your life and mine are an open book to God. He can turn the days back and see the day you were born and He can look ahead to the day you will die or to the day that we will be taken up to heaven. He knows you and me far better and more completely than our family does. So answer this question in your mind: do you know why you are important to God? It is a simple answer but it is one that we rarely believe or understand because it is too simple.
The reason that we are important to God is LOVE.
Plain, simple, and boring…but from His perspective, it is the most important reason of all! Why is love so bland and boring to us? Because we have used the word for so many things which are not actually “love” until we have tarnished its meaning and weakened its importance. For some people, the expression of love can be done in ways that others would find obsessive or offensive. Then there are times when we say, “I love that show!” or “I love shrimp!”
We use the word “love” in ways and for the expression of feelings that really have no resemblance to love at all. At least not the type of love that God has for us and for all of His Creation. We have stretched it and turned it into a word with little meaning at all because we use it so much. But…God’s Love for us is overflowing with meaning and purpose and it’s alive just like His Word in the Bible. It inspires you and it burns within you and it compels you to do things that you wouldn’t normally do like get in front of a group of people and speak for almost thirty minutes!
Love is the reason for everything that God made. Especially when it comes to His feelings for you and me. God’s love came to Earth so that we could come to heaven. He came to pay for our mistakes so we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty ourselves.
Our world is paying the price for pushing God out of the schools and our government too. Not only are we paying for our ignorance but the rest of the world has been put on notice for the same iniquity. Some people may wonder exactly who is doing this? It is our Creator, God. God is in charge of the universe and everything in it, especially our lives. We may not acknowledge Him for it, but you breathe in and out and your heart beats because He wills it so. Does He control us or you like an automaton? Of course not! He created us to love Him and serve Him because we want to not because of instinct or because we have to. Love can’t be forced on anyone.
So why do we push Him away from our lives? In today’s culture it is because we want our lives and the truth that we use on a daily basis to be more fluid and flexible. God’s Truth is not flexible. That is the major reason that most of the world’s religions have no absolute truth in their holy words. God’s Word is the absolute Truth because it came from Him by the Holy Spirit Who inspired the writers of the Old Testament and the New Testament to write it as His Word because it actually IS HIS WORD!
In the book of John it begins at the beginning: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God“. Then, when Jesus came to Earth to live with His creation He was and is the Word become flesh. Believing in Him for your salvation because He is the only way to salvation is the Truth that many don’t want to listen to or believe but if they don’t…if you don’t believe in Jesus the Christ for your salvation then you will pay an eternal price because of it. Make your most important decision while you still can in this life because after your life is over, there is no way to change your choice. No choice is a choice.
Look into the Old Testament and you see God actively disciplining His people. He used signs and wonders to bring them out of Egypt and then He also used all kinds of signs and punishments to bring the Israelite community back into fellowship with Him. I am very glad that He does NOT use those kinds of enticements or punishments for the church, that is supposed to be part of the New Covenant through the blood of Jesus. Why is our world in such turmoil today? Mostly because the church dropped the ball in the past.
It didn’t take the “church” long to conform to the people and the world around them after Jesus ascended to Heaven. The Roman Catholic church adopted the “rituals” of pagans in order to bring them into its influence. That is where “Christmas” and “Easter” come from.
Have you thought about how we could get people to come to church? Most of us don’t because the world around us, for the most part, is not interested in coming to church. They don’t want to hear what they are doing wrong nor do they want to know that their “truth” is not the right Truth. Most people in the world don’t believe that the Bible and its teachings are the Truth much less that what is written there was inspired by God’s Spirit. They just think that the Bible is an old book written thousands of years ago and it has no relevance in today’s society.
I do believe that we are being disciplined by God but it is a soft discipline at this point. He’s not throwing hail stones of one hundred pounds at us and the Earth is not breaking open and swallowing whole congregations but we are being taught a lesson if we will notice it and learn from it. The things which are happening around us with COVID-19 and the Antifa riots and other media hyped “news” are just the birth pains before the real storm hits during the Tribulation.
If you are not sure of your salvation or if you have shunned church services for whatever reason I encourage you to make sure as soon as possible. The 7 year peace treaty with Israel will be the beginning of hell on Earth. Make sure which side you are on before that time gets here if you can.
I watched a movie today called “Schindler’s List” and it truly showed the cruelty and the horrors that a human being can inflict on another because of hatred or racism. Not because of their skin color but because of their nationality and their religious beliefs. It was not an easy movie to watch. My Savior is Jewish and was raised as a Jewish man until His people rejected Him as their Messiah and hung Him on a cross to get rid of Him.
God still loves us but our sinful ways He doesn’t excuse one bit. There are going to be many people during the Tribulation and at the Judgment seat who will believe that they were doing what they did for God. I believe that they will get much worse punishment than others, especially if they were trying to exterminate the Jewish people. Our sins aren’t the things which get us thrown into Hell. It is our rejection of the Savior and His grace toward us that will sentence us to hell. We may be punished for the sins which we have committed in this life regardless of their “size”, big lies or little lies, stealing a pen or a million dollars. Any sin which breaks any of the Ten Commandments will convict you because even one sin is still abhorrent to God.
Life is too short for us to be cruel to each other regardless of the reason. But humanity has been finding ways to do just that for thousands of years. It was their sinful and cruel ways which brought the flood on the world and caused God to regret that He had made mankind. That’s pretty bad when the Creator regrets His creation. It also seems that as the years have passed by that in the past century plus twenty years we have grown to be more cruel toward one another. Not on a daily basis for the most part but the news which most of us listen to describes very hate-filled attacks on people all over the world. When I said “on a daily basis” I meant in my country, America.
Even in our United States there are many people killing each other over disagreements which shouldn’t be deadly. Some are over a few dollars or even less. Sometimes it is because of alcohol or drugs but most of the violence seems to center around a woman or money in one way or another. Not all of the violence in America is from guns or the use of guns, although the media seems to make it look that way more often than not.
Why am I writing this at the end of September this year? Because after the Presidential election in a little more than a month, there will likely be many protests and riots and violence of all different kinds. If one candidate is elected instead of the other there will be riots in the streets. I ask this question now before we get to that point: WHY? What good will killing people and burning businesses and police cars accomplish? Will it change the outcome of the election? Not likely. Will it force the government to step in and control the population? Possibly. Is there a rational way to make your voice heard? Yes, vote for your candidate and if they don’t win, this is the last time our current President can run so the next election will possibly be the one for your party to win.
God is the One Who places those in power, whoever they may be and wherever they may be. They are in power for His purposes and they can and will bring about the changes that He wants to be in place. Whether you believe in God or not doesn’t matter because He is still in control whether you believe or not. I pray that our country will experience a revival which will bring more people into God’s Kingdom because it won’t be long before He comes back for His Bride. Once that happens, this world is going to be much more violent than anyone can imagine because His Spirit will be taken from the Earth. The anti-Christ will be in power and there will be hell on Earth. Make sure that you won’t be here to live or die during that time.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10:9 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/rom.10.9.KJV
We are called by God and His Spirit to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We can turn from this calling but consider your life as it is now. You are without hope for eternity and in this life you are confused about your purpose. God can clear up the confusion and give you hope and peace through Jesus Christ as your Savior. Salvation is a one time calling but God makes it easy to accept whenever you hear it.
I don’t mean that God only calls you once. But the calling is placed in your heart so that you will feel it until you answer it’s call on your life. The calling of the Spirit of God is unique to each of us. Some of us feel it at a revival at church or at a venue where someone is preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes we are watching a movie which has a story that points our heart and our mind toward salvation through Jesus. God’s touch or His calling on your life is unique not only because it is personal but because He is. God knows you and all of your good points and bad points but He also knows exactly where you would be useful to Him in this life.
What do I mean by “useful to Him”? Consider this modern parable: a man finds a diamond in a field that he is cultivating. It isn’t very big but he gets the bright idea that if he could mine for diamonds he would be rich. So he sells all that he has and goes in search of diamonds, kinda like those men during the gold rush days in the 1800’s. What he didn’t realize was that the field which he sold to someone else was littered with diamonds but he didn’t pause to look around and see them. God knows your worth is far above diamonds and He is our Creator so He knows exactly the abilities that you have because He put them there before you were born. When you give your heart to Jesus, you feel inside that you should be telling others about your Treasure, your salvation through Jesus Christ.
It is not required to be saved because when you believe in Jesus for your salvation and walk away from your old ways…then you will want to let His Light shine forth so others will see it. That is the work and the ability that God placed within you. You have other talents as well and He can use those too. He may even give you more abilities that you didn’t know that you could do. Be sure of your salvation today because that spark of eternal life could flare up so others will see it too.
In Romans 6:23, Paul writes that “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
Why would God give us such a gift? It is worth more than we could ever begin to pay because there is no way that we can earn our way into heaven! But God sent Jesus Christ to Bethlehem as a human baby born to Mary the wife of Joseph. He came into the world as the son of David through His Earthly father and mother but He had the nature of God the Father. He came with no sin and He never faltered throughout His life. Just so He could go through the punishment of a criminal and be scourged and then hung up on a cross to die for humanity’s sins.
God the Father sent Jesus the Son to bear humanity’s shame and punishment, paying for our sins before most of us had even been born. I don’t know what the population of the world was at the time but He had looked down through history and He could see many people who needed salvation which could only come by His sacrifice. Clearly, God loved and still loves each of us far more completely and more deeply than we could ever imagine.
Your salvation and mine only comes by our belief in Jesus and our taking that belief into our hearts. Repenting of those sins which all of us have and seeking His Kingdom and His teachings so that we could be His until our death and then into eternity. It is our choice to do this but God already knows who will make that choice and who will not. God strung together your DNA in order to send you and many others like you and me into the world to be doctors or teachers or farmers or nurses but in doing so, He also knew which person would be a good fit for being a Christian. Your personality, your strength and your witness were all known before you were born. Just as God told Jeremiah, “….in the womb you were consecrated to Me”.
God loves each of us so much that He sent His own Son to die for our sins, paying the penalty for them and making atonement for us so that we could be allowed in His Presence one day. Isn’t that AWESOME! It is also humbling because the Creator of the universe cares about us on this little ball of dirt that He created for us. Life on this planet didn’t evolve from a single cell into multiple cells and then one day become all of life on this world! It was created in the mind of God and brought into existence by Him and for His pleasure. Why? I have no idea, but God does. Give Jesus your heart and make sure that it is done as soon as possible because not one of us knows how long we have to live and that decision has to be made while we live.
It sounds like I’m channeling Master Yoda but what I am speaking or writing about is that there really are two, sometimes more but always 2. In our world the Lord shows us that in every situation there are 2 sides. Dark and light, good and bad, black and white, morning and evening. So how do we navigate in the gray areas that our culture insists on? God doesn’t show any gray areas. You are either in the light or the dark with no gray area in between.
How do we fix this? Truthfully, we can’t. It is a choice that we must make and it is an individual choice, not a collective one. Each of us must choose the side that we feel is the one that God is calling us to. I know that many people don’t believe in God as their Savior, but life requires a choice regardless of your beliefs. Because there is evil in our world and there is overwhelming love and goodness too. You see it and hear about it on the news or on your computer every day. Many people wonder why God allows the evil and the hatred that we see around us? That is where our choices come into the picture.
There are always two choices and just like the cartoon where the little demon was on one shoulder and the angel was on the other, those really are our choices every day. We can listen to one or the other and make a choice and it is that choice which determines how our day or our week turns out. When you look at the world with your spiritual eyes you can easily see that there aren’t any “gray areas” at all. You are either saved through faith in Jesus or you are not. You either believe in Him for your salvation or you just believe that He exists because it says so in the Bible which does not save your soul.
Our eternity stands or falls on one of two choices. Believe in Jesus for your salvation or choose not to believe in Him and go to hell. These choices have to be made in this life today! Why? Because we are not guaranteed a certain number of years before we die. I could die before I finish this or I could live another twenty years or so. With the pains that I have in my hands and my neck now I really don’t want to add another twenty years to it. My point is that we don’t know when our last day is, so choose which way you are going to go now…today.
The Living Message of Christ 