Category: Advice

A friend and Savior


TrueFriendshipCould we be friends?

Sometimes people get so caught up in life and living until they forget about the friends they have. Friends put up with all sorts of behavior that even your family won’t put up with, but that doesn’t mean that you should forget them. True friends are those that even when it has been years since you last spoke to each other, you can just pick up where you left off. How many friends like that do you have?

This is the type of friend that we all have available in Jesus.

When you give your heart to Jesus, He becomes your Savior and friend but HE also introduces you to many other people who can be your friends. Your brothers and sisters in Christ! They know Him and through their spirit and your spirit you can become close friends. I am not saying this is automatic because that is not how friendships work, but it can be.

God created us all to be as close as friends no matter where we live or what our life may be like. Could you be friends with God? Of course you can, if you will just decide to follow Him and His Son, every day not just once or twice per month. Walk with Him in life, daily…even hourly, because HE gives your breath to you and your heart beats because of His grace too!

Friendship is a relationship and being a child of God, saved and sanctified by the atoning blood of Jesus, is also a relationship which needs to be a lifelong one! Your relationship with Jesus should be one which is even closer than just friends and in order for that to be, you need to learn as much as possible about Him! This can be done by reading and studying the Bible and attending a church which teaches from it.

Consider that your relationship with Jesus is a friendship. Mainly because He already knows you far better than you know Him, so pursue Him like you would if He is the only Life that you have…because after this one He truly is your Life or your Judge, it is your choice which one He will be. Choose wisely.

Unreasonable expectations


In today’s world every person on Earth looks for something or someone who is unreasonable, impossible even because we are looking for that “perfect specimen”. We not only look for an immortal beauty but we want her to be strong but gentle and one who can fulfill all of our desires and our needs. No woman or man exists which can fulfill these expectations! Sometimes we get these ideas from watching movies or reading books like romance novels or maybe some other form of lesser entertainment.

But…perfection in all areas doesn’t exist in this mortal plane. There isn’t a man or woman on Earth who can be all of these and be in love with us because each of us is also imperfect. If the perfect man or woman exists then anyone or anything less than perfection, such as you and me, just won’t cut it! It is something which we learn as young adults usually to our own peril and disappointment.

Just as Galatea and Pygmalion, we too are bound by expectation and disappointment to some extent. In the story, he prays for her to be made into a woman who is like his ideal and his goddess grants his request. In reality, unless perfection is mated to perfection, the relationship is doomed to fail because an imperfect being, such as you or me, cannot fulfill the expectations of the other.

God can change you into a new creation when He comes to live in your heart, but until you are brought to Heaven there will always be a human who fails and falls in this life. Is it possible to have perfection in this mortal body? No, it is not. It is an unreasonable expectation of our existence to even think that it is possible.

Even God cannot look on us and we cannot look Him in the face without dire consequences. Perfect love and sinless Life cannot stand in our presence without causing our death because we are unable to be perfect in any of those areas. Perfection doesn’t exist in this realm of existence and since God exists outside our reality it only exists where He is. Did God expect too much of mankind? No, because He knew when He created them that they could not be obedient in all of their imperfect ways.

God does give us an image, an ideal to work toward in the person of Jesus Christ, and we can strive toward that goal but in this life we will never attain it. Learning about Jesus, following hard after Him in this life, reading and studying Scripture and prayer asking Him to grant us wisdom enough to understand Scripture’s true meaning, these are the works which guide us toward Him and His image.

As long as we don’t create an imperfect, human inspired image of Him, changing Jesus into a more attainable human ideal then we will do fine. If we do that then we are guilty of creating an idol of our own which resembles Jesus only in our minds, because it is not Him but an imperfect copy. Our copy or idea of Jesus or even God is based upon the only form that we are familiar with and that is ourself.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Why don’t relationships work?


Truly the reason that this happens is because of the foundation. Many marriages begin on the wrong foot and certainly on sand or loose gravel for a foundation. Why do we pursue a relationship that ultimately will fail?

IAM-JesusWe do this because we haven’t found the Relationship which can’t fail. We are born searching for something or Someone but for years we search and look for things and people to fill that void, that empty place which always feels as if it needs…to be filled. It is a scientific principle which states quite accurately that “nature abhors a vacuum”. At some point, something will fill that space whether it is good or bad, God or Satan, it doesn’t matter which, but it will be filled.

If we try to fill it with a career or a family, that can work for a while but it isn’t permanent. If we try to fill it with drugs or alcohol, our life and our relationships are doomed to fail because those things are designed to destroy whatever they come in contact with! But…if we will seek out our Savior, Jesus the Christ, and repent of the attempts which we have tried before, and ask Him to come in and clean our heart up, then our life will be placed on the right path.

Following Him, learning about Him by reading and studying the Bible, praying about your family and your problems, all of these will begin to fix your pathway and your life in such a way that your foundation will become complete and solid. When this happens, your relationship with your spouse and your family will begin to level out and become less bumpy and more smooth. This is the foundation which should guide our lives today but we tend to follow along with the rest of the crowd at school or church, if we go at all.

If everyone at school or at church is just going along to get along for the sake of being thought of as a “pillar of the community”, that is the wrong reason. Trying to earn a place in the eyes of people and “fair weather friends”, no matter how you earn it, doesn’t help you in the long run. Why? Because it isn’t built on God’s foundation which is Jesus.

You can decide to ignore this advice if you wish or just don’t read this at all, it doesn’t hurt my feelings one way or the other. But…what if I am right. When your life is going to hell on a slippery slope, which of your friends could possibly pull you out of it? A rich kid that you went to school with? No, they are likely off enjoying life just as they think they should. What about your dear friend from work? Not likely, they come home feeling even more tired than they did last year.

The only One Who can get your life back on the right path and give you strength enough to make it through all of your trouble is Jesus. No other religion or “holy man” or prophet can do that because all of them are dead! He is alive at the Father’s right hand and He is able to help you in your time of need. Seek Him out and make sure that He is your foundation and your Solid Rock, your Savior. Because without Him, we can do nothing.

Get your relationship with God and His Son, Jesus, right and the rest of your life will be so much better than it has ever been before.

Church?


Today we look at buildings, great and small and call them our church or “the church”. What is the Church? Truthfully it is the people who worship God. It doesn’t matter if it is in a tent or a cathedral, it is the people who make up the church. Just as it was after Jesus went to be with the Father, it was the people who believed in Him and worshiped Him that made up the Church. It was NOT a building at all! Some did worship in a building, like other believer’s homes, but it didn’t really matter about the place of worship as much as it mattered about the hearts of those who came to worship!

You can come to church, to a building, for many years and play the part of a Christian from the time you are a child in Sunday school on up into your 90’s. That doesn’t make you a Christian, only belief in Jesus and a daily walk with Him can do that. Belief comes first, then the desire to worship Him and then the desire to learn more about Him and baptism is mixed in there as well but my point here is that you can live in a cardboard box and still worship Jesus! The building made of bricks and mortar and wood and sometimes steel beams is just a structure…it is the people who attend services and worship God in that building that make up the Church!

God is doing many miracles even today that many don’t recognize or may not know about because the media doesn’t report on things which happen without the influence of science. Unless it was something which was so BIG that they had to report on it, miracles go unnoticed by the majority of people and news organizations…but they still happen.

If you are not a believer in Jesus or God and you have everything that you need, you probably think that you will never need God even if He exists. But what about when you go to the doctor and he finds a mass or a spot on your lungs or your liver and it turns out that it is cancer, stage 4, and there is little he can do. What then?

You could just lie down and die or you could search the whole world for some treatment which may help. The best cure for this cancer is in the person and the power of Jesus! Cry out to Him, seek His Presence and learn more of Him. Why? Because He loves you! Praying that He will take the cancer away is not the answer, asking Him to come into your life and your heart and make you a new person is!

Could He cure you of the cancer? Yes, He can. I don’t know if He will and I am not going to tell you that He will, but your life will be so much more with Him in your heart even if He doesn’t. Why do I say this? Because your friends will see the change that He has brought into your life and they will likely want what you have. He will give you peace, even when your life is getting worse OR He may heal you and take the cancer out of your body. Then you can tell people what an awesome God He is!

They will ask you why do you believe now when you didn’t before? Because the Creator came and took my sins away and destroyed the cancer and I am alive to tell it, that’s why!! God loves each of us but we have a rebellious spirit inside of us from the day we are born. Until we realize that He is the answer to all of life’s questions and our problems too, we won’t seek Him out. We will keep doing what we did yesterday or last week or last year, but when our heart and soul tells us that we need Jesus we will seek Him out.

Give your life and your heart to Jesus because He gave His life for you! One day soon everyone will see Him and then many will either ask Him to save them or they will hate Him with an unreasonable hatred. Your life is terribly short compared to eternity, make sure of yours before you enter into it.

Romans 8:23: And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. The link for this passage has many of the Scriptures which will show you that you do need Jesus, if you will seek HIm for your salvation. I pray that you and all who read this will do so before your day comes.

What do you really believe?


It is becoming clear that many people in churches today, regardless of denomination, have no idea what being a committed Christian is. Some think it means going to church when we feel like it. Some seem to think that, just like the rest of the world, if they are good and read the Bible occasionally then God will let them into Heaven. There seems to be quite a few that think that they don’t really have to do anything except to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that will get them into Heaven.

Preachers have told us this for decades, that if you believe in Jesus you will be saved. The apostle, John, says mostly the same thing in his gospel. So, why does it seem that we should desire more of Him than we do? Jesus said that “apart from Me you can do nothing“, truly that phrase has nothing to do with belief. It has to do with our commitment to a daily life with Him.

Reading the Bible, prayer for all of the things that are good and needed in our world, seeking His will for your life in His Word, meditating on His Word after you read it and considering what it means to your life, these are processes which we need to do in our daily walk with Him. This sounds like far too much to do in a day, but it doesn’t need to be. Reading a chapter or two every day and then praying for the meaning of it to be revealed to you doesn’t take long. Thinking about what God reveals to you during the day is your meditation on Him and His Word, but it shouldn’t interfere with your daily life.

Being a dedicated child of God is not as easy as just saying that you believe in Him. It is a daily, sometimes hourly walk with Him through your day, every day. He walked with Adam in the Garden, so why can’t we walk with Him every day? He doesn’t get in the way, and He certainly won’t be a hindrance to anything that we do, unless you intend to do or be in agreement with sinful actions on a daily basis.

Being a Christian is not as easy as it is portrayed because even though becoming one is easy, the process is a daily walk with Him. As Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow Me”, sometimes that means that we have to put something else that we have been holding onto down. For many people today, that is not an easy thing to do. We are addicted to our computers, our tablets, our phones, our games and almost every other distraction imaginable. But, we only come to Jesus when it is necessary or when we have to.

Seeking Him and learning about Him and about our relationship with Him is something which we don’t consider important. We will worry about that tomorrow or next year or when the next revival service is at church. But…what if you don’t live that long? What if you were to die in an hour or two from now? You would be standing at the judgement of your life in front of God without any help at all.

God knows your life and He knows if you will come to Him and when. He is your Creator and He will not turn you away IF you will come to Him with a repentant heart and ask Him to save you from yourself. Ask Him to help you to become the person that you can be in Christ and He will do it IF you are sincere and truthful about your need for Him.

If this is just “lip service”, He won’t even hear you. But, this has to be done in this life. Waiting to take care of this on your death-bed won’t cut it because you may not have that chance. A car wreck, a heart attack or any number of other ways that you can die without any notice, might prevent you from making that last-minute decision. So, what will you decide?

Are you going to keep doing what you have always done, hoping that God will just let you pass? Will you just turn away, like the rich young ruler did because you are having too much fun and you don’t feel that you need Jesus in your life? Maybe you think that being a devoted Christian just doesn’t fit your lifestyle right now. But, if you were to meet Jesus at your judgement and He says that “I never knew you”, how will you feel? Eternity is a long, long time to be outside in outer darkness, away from the Love of God.

Think about it, pray about it if you are serious about your Eternal destiny and then pray some more. Seek Him while there is time, in this life, because when this life is over…your time to be His is up and your eternity begins wherever you are.

The possibilities


In the environment of today’s Internet and the education afforded by it, the possibilities are almost endless. It is true that you have to be careful about which information that you trust as truthful and which is junk, but so much is there until it is spectacular in amount and scope! One hundred years ago, you would’ve had to spend hours and hours reading through countless tomes to find as much information as  you can get with one click in a search today!

The possibilities in your life, whether you are religious or not, are also endless. Your life is endless because of Jesus’ atonement for you and His Life in you, if you have accepted Him as your Savior. If you are not religious in any way, then your “life” is here where you are and you aren’t worried or concerned about an eternity. So, which side of the fence are you on? Unfortunately, those are the only possibilities regarding your eternal future, you either believe in Jesus and His atonement for you or you refuse to believe in Him.

Those are the choices and you should choose wisely and carefully because eternity is a very long, long time. All of the stars and galaxies will go dark before eternity and its march in time because time doesn’t mean anything there. Why do I bring up the eternal question? Because your choice in believing  or not believing in Jesus and His atonement for you changes your place in eternity and your real Life in that eternity!

In God’s Word it says that the smoke of their torment will rise forever referring to Satan and his demons and fallen angels. Forever and eternity are the same, so reading this should frighten you if you haven’t given your heart and life to Jesus. Why? Because, if you have chosen to follow Satan in his determination to not serve Jesus in this life, then you will share in his fate in eternity. The line between the two states is a very thin one called belief/unbelief and you are either on one side or the other. Make sure which side you want to spend eternity on before you draw your last breath.

Don’t forget Mom


Ephesians 6:1-3

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”


Exodus 20:12

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.


Deuteronomy 5:16

16 “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.


Consequences For Disobeying Your Mother


Deuteronomy 27:16

16 “‘Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’


Proverbs 20:20

20 If one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.


Proverbs 30:17

17 The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

 

God speaks a lot about giving honor and attention to your Mother and Father in His Word, so it seems that He puts a lot of weight on how you behave around them and for them. Truly, your parents are the example for you to live by and the example by which you will raise your children one day. Mother’s day is a day of honoring our Mothers because they are our mothers and because of God’s command to honor both of your parents.

Why did He specify giving honor to your Mother and Father?

God wants us to revere the aged in our family, not because they are a burden to be taken care of but because they have borne the burden of caring for us and they need the same care given to them as well. Consider that in America there are fewer children in most houses than there are pets, so when you reach an age that your children should take care of you, helping you to live gracefully into your later years, you may have to rely on the family pet more than them. That is not a prospect for aging that I would want to live with.

Protestant culture, such as in America and England, tends to favor the young which places the elderly in a difficult place. They are no longer working or maybe their health keeps them from working, their children don’t come around much which just adds to the loneliness and depression.

God places a very high amount of respect and honor on the aged, the crown of the elderly is their grandchildren.
So with a nod to St. Augustine and his mother, I place this sermon in your mind. Consider all of the things which your Mom and your Dad do for you, think about it today and every day because one day, they will need you just as much or more than you needed them when you were young.

Today, tomorrow, forever


Today is the present day that you are living in, moment by moment, so enjoy all of its beauty and goodness that God gives you to enjoy. Tomorrow isn’t here yet and by the time it is, it isn’t tomorrow anymore, so don’t count on it. Live today as if Jesus was coming back tonight! Forever is a time that we will spend after this life is over, whether we spend it with Jesus and other Christians or not is your choice!

God has always intended for us to be with Him forever, but humanity has rebelled every step of the way. Even when we only had one rule to follow, we still thought we knew better than God. After that, it was all downhill. God has always had a plan in place to bring us back to Himself and the reason is simple: He knew that we couldn’t do it on our own, so He gave of Himself in order to pay the price for our disobedience.

He didn’t have to do it that way, but He did! Tomorrow never really comes because when it gets here it is today, so make the most of today, every day. Seek out the One Who holds tomorrow in His hands so that your eternal home will be with Him and all of the joyous people who will be thanking Him for His love and mercy! Why do I say that we will be doing this? Because without His love and mercy, we wouldn’t be worthy and forgiven in order to be in Heaven!

Just a thought…


Maybe more than one…I saw this on another site or maybe in an email and considered that it was worthy of placing here:Listen and silent

So much of the life and the times in which we live is part of the prophesied times told of in the Bible. The books of Revelation, Daniel and Ezekiel all have some points which give us some insight into the times in which we live right now. So what is the point of the words “listen” and “silent”? Simply this: you must be silent in order to listen and you need to listen in order to understand. In order to understand the wisdom of God, you need to learn to listen to Him and what better way to do that than to read His Word so you will know His voice when He speaks? If you don’t know someone’s voice, you can’t pick them out in a crowd of people, and that is what we have to do in order to hear God.

There is so much going on around us today until it is extremely hard to pick out relevant information, let alone the actual Truth of God. It just gets drowned out in the background until you can’t hear it well enough to know what is being said. Daily living with God’s Word, not just once or twice a week, is what is truly necessary for all of us who wish to know Him and be known by Him.

Seek His guidance in all of life’s problems and triumphs, the good and the bad times, and everything in between. Why? Because that is how the relationship between us and God was supposed to work in the beginning! Walking, talking and learning from Him was the normal and the only way for Adam and Eve to learn the things needed to be caretakers of the Garden. It is very sad that we fell from His grace so soon, but it didn’t surprise God. He knew that it was coming and what brought it about as well as who was responsible, just as the rebellion in the ranks of the angels didn’t surprise Him.

Silent and quiet times are few and far between, but we need to try to have those with God. Because, Jesus made sure in His ministry to do just that and He did it often, not just when He needed some advice or inspiration. We should do the same. Seek Him out so that you can learn from the Creator, He really is the best teacher.

 

 

 

 

Study time!


You know, I hated to hear those words when I was in high school. Whether we were in study hour at the library or at home and I needed to study for a test, I just didn’t like that time.

Why? Usually it was because the subject that I “needed” to study was not a favorite or I was just being a teenager and didn’t want to. I didn’t have the “luxury” of getting on a video game at home like they do today. The study time that we should be concentrating on now is of God’s Word!

If you are a Christian and you do study His Word at least once or twice a week, then you need to study a bit more. Why? Because, you need to learn more about the times in which we are living. What better way to understand prophecy than to read it and see it unfold in the news almost every day!?

While it is true that we won’t see demons or armored flying insects, but many of the things which are happening are very different from their descriptions in Ezekiel or Revelation. But, we need to be able to recognize those things which are happening today as part of prophecy. Why is that? Because we are living in what is believed to be the last Jubilee year that will occur before the appearance of the Messiah.

This doesn’t give us an exact date or day, but we should treat the signs as what they are…signs! The four Blood Moons during 2014-2015, 2017 being the last Jubilee year, a full eclipse later this year in August in America and another seven years later also visible in America. There are also double full eclipses which are going to happen in the northern part of Egypt seven years apart in 2024 and 2031.

God is sending these signs to the Earth for us to notice and interpret through prophecy in His Word. If we don’t do that or if we just ignore it, then we are setting ourselves up to be deceived by what may come next. When does the Tribulation begin? I haven’t got a clue, but it looks like it may happen in the next fifteen years or so, according to the signs. Then again, God may have another plan altogether. That is up to Him and His timing.

My main concern is the fate of those reading these words. Your eternity depends upon what you do with the knowledge of Christ and whether you accept His atonement for your sins and believe in Him or not. If it is just like any other sunny day and you decide that I will do that tomorrow, then what will you do if many of your Christian friends disappear tonight or in front of your eyes?

What then? This is a blog written by a preacher, but I would classify that instance as an “oh shit!” moment! If you were at a Bible study or at a gathering somewhere and all of a sudden, there were piles of clothes and watches and shoes but most of your friends who were Christians just vanished, what would you feel? Anger, fear, regret…probably all of these and knowing that many people all over the world feel just as you do right now!

Make sure of where your heart is concerning your relationship with Jesus, BEFORE this happens! I don’t mean that you can’t become a Christian afterwards, but it will become far more dangerous, but as long as you belong to Him, your eternity is sealed. Amen.