Category: Accepting Christ is your choice

Lean not on your own understanding..


Proverbs 3:5,6

5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; What can we learn from these six words? Consider the writer of Proverbs, King Solomon. The wisest man who ever lived and the wealthiest as well, but his wisdom made plain to him that your trust should be in the Lord. Not in money, not in yourself, not in your job. Don’t trust your own wisdom, or your faith or your Bible, but in God alone! Don’t even lean on your own profession of faith in a church but make sure that you are leaning on God alone, on your faith in Him alone!

Living your life every day by trusting in the Lord alone is the very best way to live. If you are a believer in Jesus and His grace for salvation, make sure that you don’t despise His grace and live according to your own ways. God’s wisdom and His grace should lead you in every decision, especially major decisions, but also those that you don’t think might matter to Him. Why? Because every decision in your life should be filtered through God’s wisdom and grace!

Trust in Him in every small thing as well as big decisions. Trust in Him when you are tempted and tried in school or in daily living. No matter what you may be doing, ask Him to guide you in your decision, whether it is a big decision or a small decision. Listen to Him intently and don’t move in a direction which God doesn’t lead you in. God is always near to us and He has the power and the ability to give you the wisdom to accomplish whatever you have determined to follow His lead to do.

Your trust in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit should be with “all your heart”, sincerely and fully trusting in Him to do His work in you and your life fully and completely! He is in charge and on the throne and if you have given Him your heart, then He is in control of your heart too. The phrase “with all thine heart” denotes a deep sincerity of faith, which is complete and total and humble. Not a faith which is jovial and off the cuff, treating God as a friend or your buddy, but a faith which knows its place in the presence of its Creator.

And lean not unto thine own understanding; What does this part of the verse mean exactly? Can we learn from these seven words? YES, we can! The Bible is the inspired Word of the Living God, our Creator, and our Redeemer! Every word is useful to each of us, whether we understand them all or not. Men should not depend upon their own wisdom and understanding, in the conduct of civil life, but should seek the direction and blessing of God, or otherwise will be severely disappointed; and, when they succeed, should ascribe it not to their own ideas and wisdom, but to the goodness and grace of God; for “bread” is not always “to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding” Eccl. 9:11
Men and mankind, should not listen to their own counsel, especially in any spiritual endeavor. Because unless your heart is guided by the Holy Spirit and your mind is set on the things of God rather than the things of mankind, you cannot truly trust your own “understanding”. The natural man, one who has not trusted in Jesus for his salvation, cannot understand the things of God, which is why, to many people, the Bible, and its wisdom don’t make sense at all. The understanding of men is darkened by sin and without the Light given to them by the Spirit of God through salvation, their own wisdom is dark and foreboding like the Earth before God’s light shone upon it.

“In all our ways, acknowledge Him”; What does this mean to us today? Simply put, know the Lord and follow Him in everything that you do. Consider that God is all around us, not like the pagans think of Him being in the rocks and the trees, but He is as close to you as your skin because He is your Creator! You are never far from Him because He is everywhere if you feel far away from Him it is because you moved…God did not.

Remember that He is near you at all times and acknowledge that He is where you are, regardless of the place or time. Develop a listening heart and a mind to listen to His prompting in your life. Go only where He directs you to and be sensitive to His leading in your life’s decisions. Remember “and he shall direct thy paths”; IF you will listen to His wisdom and follow His lead and leading in all that you do.

This is my sermon for tomorrow morning. I pray that you will glean some of God’s wisdom from it and take it with you.VineandBranches

Should you consider the alternative?


What?! The alternative to Jesus and being saved from your sins, that is what I am writing about this time. What is the alternative? Simply put..don’t change anything in your life. Keep doing what you do and living your life just the way that you always have. Don’t read the Bible, don’t go to church, don’t pray for help in any situation that you find yourself in. Why? Because the world around us says that we can take care of everything on our own with no help from some imaginary god.Yourplans&Gods

The problem is that Christians don’t believe in an imaginary god. Our God is real and is the Creator of everything. Then again, some of us do claim to worship our own version of God, like when you hear someone say: “The god that I worship wouldn’t let those children die”; “My god is not like the one which I hear preached in the church”. Exactly Who do you think God is? We cannot make Him in our image! He created us in His image and desires us to be more like Jesus in every way.

When someone says that their god is not like this or that I want to ask them if they claim to be a Christian. If they say that they are, then I would like to ask them where they got the notion that God can be different for them instead of being the unchanging God of the Bible? We cannot serve a different god and claim that “our god” is the God of the Bible because we are engaging in idolatry when we create a god like we want instead of worshiping the One true God in the Bible.

Because when you try to make God to be or to have some trait that suits you and your lifestyle, then you aren’t a Christian anymore. You are worshiping an idol. A god which you are comfortable with but also one which has no business being taught to others because your “god” is not God!

Life is confusing and stressful enough without adding a layer of ambiguous nonsense on top of our religion. God is and always has been and there is no other that He will share that distinction with. As it says in the Old Testament, I am a jealous God.

That is why God told the Israelites not to worship other gods. This part is not up for debate, yet people try to mold God into their own ideas of who and what He is or is supposed to be. The creature cannot make God in their likeness or according to their preferences. Our Creator is God the Father, Jesus the Son (the Living Word) and the Holy Spirit which goes about touching men’s hearts and convicting them of their sinfulness in order to bring them to full knowledge of Himself and to have faith in Him leading to salvation.

You can choose to believe this or not…it is up to you. But, I caution you on this. We are given a certain number of days to live, yet we do not know when our time here is up. Make sure that you do know the God of the Bible before your last breath. Make sure of your faith and salvation before this life ends regardless of how your life may be leading you, because when you do breathe that last breath your time is up and you will face God either in judgment or a welcoming embrace. Which would you rather be greeted with?

Darkness and light


Cosmic-consciousness-alien-human-encounterHow is darkness defined in our world? In most of the world, it is defined by terrorism and violence and sometimes by the conditions in certain areas of our world. Particularly those which are called “third world” areas, where poverty and hunger is the norm for almost everyone. Life is hard enough in those areas without being hit with terrorism, but that happens all too often today as well.

So, why am I writing about this subject? I don’t live in a third-world country or scrounge for food because I or my family is completely destitute. So…what is the reason for me, a pastor, writing about darkness and light? It is because of the hope which we all have in Jesus. It is also because there are places, even in America, where kids and grown-ups do search through garbage for food. Why is this happening? Why is our culture and our so-called “Christian values” in America allowing this? Aren’t we supposed to help those who are hurting or less fortunate in society?

Yes, we are supposed to help those who are in these situations but many of those who are homeless either don’t want our help or they won’t accept it because of their pride. Homelessness is not new, but today people can’t just keep heading west to the mountains and disappear like they did before the Civil War. Jesus said that we should be His hands and feet in this world which is overrun with poverty and hopelessness. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel“. When He told His disciples and by extension the church to do this, the good news or gospel is that there is hope in Jesus for a new life and a changed life.

We are supposed to take His message of hope and healing to everyone, not just to our friends and family or those who attend church with us or those who live close by. So, why don’t we? Is it because we are uncomfortable telling others about what Jesus has done for us? Is it because we are afraid of what they might think of us?

Jesus gave the disciples and His church the command to go and tell others about Him and the gospel which gives every person hope of eternity and with their repentance they are forgiven of all of their sins. This is our mission, our purpose as Christians in this life. So..why do we ignore His mandate for us? Why do we choose to be Christians by giving our heart and life to Jesus and then sit down on our salvation like a cushion? Like it is a gold pillow which we can’t part with? We didn’t purchase our salvation, Jesus did that with His blood!

Your salvation and the good news of it is a GIFT which God gives to those He calls to be Christians so we can take it out into our workplace or other places in the world and give it away to others. That is our mission and our purpose in this life or at least the only one which makes a difference in each person’s life which accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

Please, don’t ignore the commission which Jesus gave to each of us and our church because there are many who still need to hear it and our time is running short.

Cold as ice


I think that this winter we can all identify with the cold outside whether we would like it or not. It has been cold this winter and it isn’t over yet. So, how does this phrase “cold as ice” have anything to do with following Jesus? Well, if you have a few minutes to read and ponder this I will try to tell you.

GodcantakecareofyouThe global climate changed, past tense, after the Flood and it was very cold in some places and warmer in others than it had been previously. For the record, I don’t believe in the so-called global warming that you hear about in reference to almost any climatic change these days. Earth has always had its cold spells and warmer spells in the past and will likely keep on doing that for many years to come.

The reference which I am making today to “cold as ice” is the way which many people turn away from the love and peace offered to them through Jesus. It is a gift which you can’t afford and there is no price which you can pay to buy it, it is actually free to each person IF…they will only believe that Jesus did this for them and accept it. But, many people in our world want to find their own pathway to Heaven, one which they can travel when they want to and take a detour off of the path when they feel like it.

Living a Christian life with Jesus as your Savior is not an on again/off again affair. It is not a take it or leave it idea or decision, it is a life choice. Not a lifestyle, but a choice just as most other things in life are which have a true and lasting effect on your everyday life. The problem is that people in our world today are cold toward God’s Word and His Son. They don’t want to believe that He is the Savior that they have been searching for during their lifetime.

Most want their salvation to be a 50/50 partnership where they do so much and God picks up the rest of the tab for their salvation. But, just as in marriage, this is not a partnership where it is split down the middle. God and Jesus paid the WHOLE price for you and for every person ever created and the only thing that you can bring to the table is a heart and soul which knows that it NEEDS Jesus! Whenever you get to that point, the Holy Spirit usually lets you know, you only have to ask for Him to come in and save you from yourself, your sins and the consequences of them.

There are no amount of “good works” that you can perform which will make your salvation more real or lasting because Jesus did everything needed on the cross. We can’t add anything to His work any more than you could add fuel to the Sun and make it hotter. There are enough which has been done to pay each of our sin debts because the blood that Jesus shed paid for each person’s debts from the beginning of the world until the end.

It is the coldness of our hearts which cause us to ignore the gift which is offered for our salvation. It is also our own selfishness which puts us in that shape as well because we want to keep doing things our way and we don’t want to change. Nor do we want Jesus to change our hearts so that we are comfortable with Him being in our lives to make us more like Him.

So, how much of the world is selfish enough to be described as “cold as ice”? If you search for the answer on the Internet it will be somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of the world’s population who really don’t want much to do with Jesus. Many of them will actually say that they attend church weekly or pray to God daily, which is nice but where does their heart belong? Does Jesus know them well enough to have them written in the Book of Life?

Those questions can only be answered by God and they will be answered when they stand in front of Him, but at that point…it will be too late to change your mind or ask Him to come in and fix your sinful heart. Make sure that you know without a doubt where you are in that relationship because when you truly find out it may be too late to change.

Is your life in balance?


If you asked that question to a room full of people, whether you were at a church or a school, I would be right in saying that few, if any, would say “Yes”. We do try to keep our lives in balance but most of us don’t even know what we are balancing on or the actual part of our life that we are trying to balance.

Can we do this balancing act ourselves, without God’s help or presence in our lives? The answer is, absolutely NOT! Yes, I could balance my checkbook or maybe stand on one leg for a little while, but balance my life, that is something that only God could accomplish in my life and yours. Although it wouldn’t be instantaneous. Allowing God into your life and into your heart does begin the change, but it is a continuous change. It is something that people call a “work in progress” which doesn’t really become complete and finished in this life.

God’s finished work in each of us who accepts Jesus as our Lord comes when we enter into Heaven. The learning and the work for God’s Kingdom don’t end at that point, but we are more able to do the right and correct things in His will from that point on. Balancing your life is a goal which many people reach for, trying to attain it in this life under their own ability. But, until they come to the realization that it cannot be done without God in their life, that goal will be out of reach regardless of the amount of time or money spent to attain it.

Balance in life is about as unattainable as the fictional balancing of the Force in Star Wars. Because…without God in your life and without Jesus in your heart, it truly is something which you cannot achieve your own power and wisdom. Learning from God’s Word and learning how to apply it to your life is a process, much like learning history and philosophy in college. You don’t get it all at once, but you study and read and learn. Sometimes you may have to go over the material again in order to “get it” better.

The best part of learning from the Bible is that you are learning from God’s Word and wisdom and not from man. His wisdom is far beyond ours regardless of the number of degrees that you may have. Please, consider giving your heart and life to Him and learning from His Word. There is no better education than His and the Teacher is very good at what He does too. The Holy Spirit will teach you and guide you in all things through the Word, bringing to mind different lessons each time you read a passage.

We are blessed


Blessings from God

We are the recipients of many blessings from our Lord and the Father, God. Yet, many don’t recognize them as such. We are blessed by having the strength to get up and praise Him with our lives each day. We are blessed with our family and our friends, whether they are saved by Jesus or not. We are blessed to live where we are and in the area that we live because God has a purpose for each of us here and now. Those who have suffered the loss of family or friends due to cancer or other disease are blessed because of God’s will in their lives to be here to carry on the work that He has given each of us to do.

11 For I know the thoughts that I think of you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13

This was given to the prophet Jeremiah for the Israelites but the promise it also for us today. We, who are Christians, have been grafted into the family of God. We did not replace Israel as His chosen people, but we have been set apart to do His works on this Earth and in our place until He calls each of us home, whether by death or by taking us up with His church before the Tribulation.

Are we blessed by God? Yes, we are in many ways! By having the Bible, by being chosen as Christians and by being His witnesses in this fallen and angry world which doesn’t want to accept God’s truth.

Philippians 4:19
19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

These and many other verses were written by Holy Spirit inspired prophets and apostles which the Lord raised up in their day to tell people who God loved them despite the situation that they found themselves in. God doesn’t forget those He has called into His family, regardless of how you or I may feel at the time. Each of us goes through suffering and trials each day, yet we are given the strength by God to endure, our family is given the strength to endure to the end and that strength comes from God.

It is not our own will or our strength or money which gives us the blessings which we have..it is given to us by God to show Him to others around us. In our family, at our jobs, at any place where we eat or attend a play or the establishment, we  frequent to enjoy a meal. This is not a new message but it is one which God wants each of us to hear today and every day that we have in this life.

The blessings of God are given to us for His pleasure and for our good and they are given to us in ways that we may not recognize as a blessing at the time, but the blessing will reveal itself by some miracle which we can recognize because it is given by God and not by a physician but maybe through a physician’s hand or treatment in our lives.

Seek Him out in your life, today, because this is the day that you are given. God gives us each one more day to accomplish His will in our lives and through the words which we say or our actions in trials because by living our lives as a testimony to His grace and mercy, others may see Him in us and may come to a saving knowledge of Jesus our Lord.

As it was said by a servant of our Lord in World War 2, “Let me save just one more, Lord”; shouldn’t we be as bold in the days which we live in today? If by our words or actions we can cause someone to be saved by Jesus by seeing Him in our lives, just one more person will be welcomed into God’s family and be celebrated in Heaven by the angels and welcomed by our Lord when that time comes.

This is the sermon that I am preaching this morning. I pray that whoever reads this will seek out the Lord and find Him so that one more might be saved. Amen

On which side are you?


There has always been an attraction between people who have opposite types of personalities and sometimes interests too. The problem with this is that even though opposites are attracted to each other, sometimes very strongly, they don’t mix very well. In the physical world opposites usually don’t mix much if at all, like fire and ice or oil and water.

Different religions in the same house can work if the couple is determined to make it work. Being in opposition to the world’s system or on God’s team is a particularly diametric position which much of the world will not tolerate. The reason is simple, the world’s religions outside of Christianity won’t accept the Bible’s truth, even though it comes from the Creator Himself.

So…which side are you on? Are you living with Jesus in your heart? Walking with Him at least once a week or a couple of days during the week is the least that you can do because He sacrificed His life to give you the opportunity to be with Him in eternity.

Are there sides to this spiritual war that we have no eyes to see? Yes, there are. Satan has been at work in our world for thousands of years. This is evident by all of the problems in our world including the wars and disease and hatred which we see evidence of every day. The evil in mankind’s heart and mind got there by the temptation of Adam in the garden and the ability to lie and steal is inherent in man without anyone teaching it.

You can call it black and white or good and evil or the dark side and the light, but it is a spiritual battle that has been raging for longer than the Earth has been a planet. Make sure of which side you are on.

What makes your life different?


In every book in the Bible, the one thing which makes each person important is…obedience. This very same ingredient is necessary for today’s world because God wants us to be obedient. Consider what would’ve happened if Moses had said “No!” to God at the burning bush? What would’ve happened in Israel if the prophets refused to do what God wanted? Jonah tried that, and it still worked out the way God wanted.

God will bring His will to pass and if you decide that you don’t want to help Him, then you can look for some things to come into your life which won’t work until you decide to work for God’s purpose instead of your own! Being obedient to the calling which God has placed in your life is necessary because it is what God expects from us. Remember, Jonah, as I said in the paragraph above, didn’t want to go to Ninevah like God wanted him to. He tried to go against God’s will too.

The problem with going against God’s call and will for your life is that God’s will doesn’t stop. His will is always finished the way that He intended it, like it or not. If you won’t do His will, then God will find someone who will or He will convince you to finish the call that was placed on you! Obedience has always been one of the qualities which God has required of His servants and the ones He has called as prophets or priests or even Kings.

Belief in Him and His purposes is also part of that requirement along with obedience and this is part of the reason that many people don’t serve Him today. Many of them attend church and they may read some verses in the Bible, some may even study the Bible a bit but that is as far as they want to go with their faith and their walk with Jesus.

Why?

Because of their own limiting beliefs and their lack of obedience to His calling on their lives, they will not have a fulfilling walk or relationship with Jesus. In contrast with actually obeying God’s call on your life, when you think you know what He wants you to do and you go ahead with that, God will just stand back and let you work on your own until you find that you can’t do what you think He wants! You need to be attentive enough to hear Him and follow His instructions.

Proverbs 3 says this: 5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Oh, my gosh it’s from King James! How will I ever understand that!

I like the King James Bible because of its simplicity. The truth of God’s Word is present in all translations. If the Bible is translated faithfully from the Greek and Hebrew then His message is there for all to read and understand. Have faith in Him and follow Him, allow Him to lead you in your daily walk and believe in Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross and all of this will lead to a walk with Jesus that will carry you into eternity and hopefully will bring others along with you.

Living for Christ


I have seen some teaching online where some people, who may be preachers, are saying that the teaching of “God loves us, regardless of our heart’s position” is a lie. For one thing, God wouldn’t have sent His Son to redeem mankind IF He didn’t love us ALL! Whether we have given our hearts to Him or not, God loves us. Jesus didn’t come to Earth for a few people’s souls, He came to bring the possibility of salvation to everyone. He wouldn’t have come to do this if God didn’t love each person on this Earth.

Remember, God is the Father, Jesus is the Son, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. So, if God loves His creation enough to send His Son to redeem mankind, I  believe that God’s love covers ALL of mankind. Mankind is everyone, no specific nations or cultures or religions and regardless of time! God’s love includes every person which is why He sent Jesus in the first place.

Another disturbing part of our world today is that we try to label people whether they adhere to a good or bad religion or doctrine. While this may be a good idea for security it is not a good idea for people following Jesus. We don’t live in a world where there is a distinct line separating good and bad (evil), even if that is what Jesus taught. The world sees things as black, white or gray. The problem with thinking like this is that black and white being equal in the world, which they are not, these two sides also don’t mix producing the so-called gray area.

Just as there aren’t skeletons or fossils of the forms of life as they evolve, there also aren’t any demons or angels who aren’t evil or good but somewhere in between.

There is and always will be a distinct line between good and evil, black and white, and I am not speaking of a race but the intent of those in our world. We don’t have an option of sometimes good, sometimes evil…you either are or you are not. While it is true that there are people who aren’t Christians but they do good things with their time and money, that is not the same thing.

Yes, we can be good to each other, regardless of our belief or non-belief in a God, but the difference between the actuality of belief and non-belief is in our core, our heart and that is reflected in our behavior toward those around us. Reflecting our internal beliefs to the world is what Christians should be doing, making sure that others see more of Jesus rather than us.

Carrying Jesus in your heart and in your life is part of living as a Christian, having a belief in Him is part of that. Life as a morally good person is wonderful, but your life could have so much more of an eternal effect if Jesus was a part of it.

 

Light and Dark


Most of the time when you hear someone talk about the light and the dark, today people think of Star Wars and the Force. Well, in the spiritual world here on Earth, there are forces of Light and Dark too. In the movies, you hear of a “balance in the Force”, but there is no balance in the spiritual world and if you have followed the Star Wars history you know that balance is not easy!

There is no gray area in either reality! In the Star Wars universe, the good side usually helps people and the Jedi represent that side of the Force. As they tell people “Jedi use the Force for good and defense, never for attack”. Life on Earth is a little like this. It is good or bad, evil or love, there is very little gray areas in our world as well. So, why do I bring this up?

Cosmic-consciousness-alien-human-encounterBecause this last movie in the Star Wars group of films has the same message in it. “The Jedi must end” is one of the lines in the trailer that Luke says to Rey. But…why must they end? Because the Force is not all good? Of course, it isn’t, since the Sith have used the Dark side for their purposes selfishly ever since the Force was discovered. But even the Sith usually find that they are drawn to the Light at some point. Of course, not all of them are because they have embraced evil so tightly until they won’t allow the light in.

In our world, evil is represented by Satan and his demons and the evil things which they cause many in our world to do. Humanity isn’t forced to do these things, but if your heart hasn’t embraced belief in Jesus and allowed the Holy Spirit to change you, then you are open to suggestion and persuasion of another type of force. Our nature has always had this type of conflict because it was corrupted at the beginning, so until we learn that God has a plan for our lives we are like a blank slate.

Our lives can be influenced and manipulated in many different ways if we aren’t taught to follow God and His ways. Unlike some people who believe that humanity would naturally move toward the “good side”, most of humanity has proven that idea wrong many times over the centuries. Being taught about God and Jesus in church and at home is essential but it doesn’t guarantee that a person will choose to give their lives to Jesus.

Just as in the books and movies about the Force, you can be drawn or coaxed toward one side or the other and the same is true for the decision which we all should make to follow Jesus. If we feel drawn to Jesus and to a life of walking in His footsteps, then it is likely that we will do so. Maybe not immediately, but eventually we will give our heart to Him. Some people hear the message of grace and forgiveness and even feel drawn to Him, but they like their life and their friends more and they decide not to follow Him.

Remember…it is your decision which side you follow. God doesn’t force you to follow Jesus because forced obedience isn’t the same as loving and willing obedience. Satan can tempt you with money and power but if you don’t do as he wants you to do then those are taken from you. Yes, light and dark, good and evil are completely separate sides and there is no gray area at all. Because in the real world, mixing the two produces confusion and heartache just as the dark side or the evil side does.

Before the end of your life, and that could be any time since we don’t know when that is coming, make sure…absolutely sure which one you are going to live and work within this life.