Time and death

Neither of these wait for anyone. Time moves regardless of the speed you perceive it’s movement as. Sometimes it moves slowly and at other times it seems to sprint much faster than you would like. Death on the other hand bides its time. It does come to us but there are times that it makes it’s appearance at inopportune times. For some it comes far too early and for others it shows up when it is least expected.

Time was a part of creation and God ordained it to be. It was supposed to mark seasons and months and years along with the stars and the Sun and the moon. Until that creation week, time had not existed and neither had death. Until the disobedience of mankind, death had never been a part of the universe. But, God had to clothe Adam and Eve with the skin of an animal so death entered into our world.

Life is marked by both time and death but also by birth. An infant comes into the world and from his first breath to his or her last breath God already knows the time that they will have. The best part of your salvation in Jesus is that when you come to the end of your life here, you are just beginning your eternity with Jesus. So death in this life brings your eternity to life and it will never end. The only way that this will be a joyous life on the other side of the veil is if you have given your heart to Jesus in this life.

Time is only measured on Earth. Once you enter into eternity time doesn’t truly have any hold on your life from that point on. If you are a child of God and have lived a separated life from the world while following Jesus in this life then your eternity will involve many wonderful experiences. If you have not given your life to Jesus, then your eternity will be one which is endless punishment for not giving your life to Him. That is the unpardonable sin…refusing the gift of God through Jesus.

I pray that those who read this will turn away from their sinful lives and ask Jesus to be their Savior. If you have given your life to Him, wonderful! If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?

What can you do?

It is a question which is asked many times in today’s job market. In trying to figure out what sort of position you may be able to do, you will get this question. Maybe not worded the same but the answer will either get your prospective boss’s attention or they will listen to you and then tell you “I’ll call you”. Which just means, “Next?!”.

In consideration of your eternity and your salvation there is no question like this because there is nothing that you can do to “help” Jesus save you. He’s already done everything necessary to give you salvation through Him! When you feel your Spirit telling you, convicting you that you need Him, the only thing that you can do is believe in Him for your salvation or…not!

It is your decision to accept Jesus as your Savior and believe in His work on the cross which paid for your salvation and then confess Him before your church that you have done these things. Then, get baptized which shows everyone that you have put your old sinful self in a grave and you have risen to walk with Jesus in a new Life!

Becoming a Christian is not some work which you have to do day in and day out in order to earn your salvation. Jesus did all of that perfectly! So when you feel His call on your life, don’t turn away and tell Him that you don’t have time. Because you may be telling the truth…you don’t have any more time to make this decision. Your life may end for some reason today or tonight and you may not get a chance to ask Him into your heart before you really meet Him face to face. If you haven’t asked Him to be your Savior, what could possibly gain you entrance into Heaven? Answer: NOTHING

We can’t do anything in this life to earn our salvation which has already been paid for and there is no amount of money or works or charity which will do that for you either. Did Jesus really give His life for us? Yes! The disciples wouldn’t have died such horrible deaths for a lie. All but one disciple died from crucifixion or being skinned alive or by being beheaded and many other ways. John was the only disciple who died of old age.

Are you sure of your salvation? If you aren’t then read John and the book of Romans. Both of these will point you in the direction and to the Person you need to know, Jesus the Christ!

Are you frustrated with God?

In our lives we do sometimes feel this way. Why has this happened? Why did my child die in that car crash? Why did my grandchild overdose on opioids? Why did I lose my job? The questions go on and on, but usually without an answer. At least we usually don’t get the answer that we truly want to hear. So we begin by blaming God for all of our troubles or we confront Him and demand an answer while we are ranting at Him in our prayer time!

The fact is that God doesn’t owe you or me any explanation about anything which is happening in our lives. Most of what happens in our lives could be explained as being allowed to happen by God but He doesn’t have to give you a reason or an explanation for whatever may be happening. Is it frustrating for us to have things like this to happen and then we can’t figure out why they happened? Yes, of course it is, but if you have read much of the Bible you will see that people who have faith in God and have placed their faith in His provision for their lives usually have that faith tested in some way. But before destruction comes to them, God will come in and save them to bring them back into fellowship with Himself. God is always on time but it is His time, not our idea of His time.

Many times this testing is allowed, such as the case with Job where Satan was allowed to take everything, including his health, from him just to prove Job’s faith in God. Job didn’t ask for this but since the question was brought up by God because He was proud of Job for being a righteous man, Satan said that Job would cast his faith away if God would remove His protection from him. But Job didn’t lose his faith. In fact by the time the book is over Job’s faith was increased rather than tossed aside.

So should we live in our faith like Job did? We should, but most people who claim to have faith in God would not keep their faith in the same circumstances which Job went through. In today’s world even the church and those who call themselves “Christians” who attend church services have little faith. They would blame God for their troubles and seek to fix their problems on their own and by their own strength. In today’s world they might succeed in paying of their debts and possibly regaining some of their wealth. But if your faith is in yourself and in your job or your business it will not last. God is the only Savior of mankind and it is He Who controls all aspects of life that we take for granted!

Seek and serve the One Savior, Jesus the Christ, because it is only by His grace and your repentance from your sinful ways, believing in Him for your salvation that you will see Him face to face in Heaven. He is the Door and the Good Shepherd and only through Him will we find peace and salvation for eternity. We cannot add any amount of worth to our salvation by the works which we do because He has already paid the price for each of us, the full price. All that we have to do is accept it as a graceful gift from God, believe in Jesus as our Savior and turn away from out old way of life to live in His Newness of Life through Him! Amen

Jesus’ death began before the cross

Have you ever wondered about the night that Jesus was in the garden? Most of us know the story about Him going to the garden and asking the disciples to pray with Him. He was asking the Father if this cup could pass from Him and He was sweating drops of blood because of the stress and the fear that His humanity felt. He had very likely had an idea or vision of what was coming in relation to the crucifixion. But…even before His crucifixion, He was scourged.

The “cat of nine tails” was usually dipped in resin and then drug through broken glass or pottery and it had metal tips on the ends as well. This whip was about 2 ½ feet long and the Roman soldiers who wielded it did not like being in Judea nor did they like Jews. Most of Rome’s soldiers were well muscled as well so taking all of that into account, Jesus began dying from the loss of blood at least an hour before He was nailed to the cross.

By the time Simon the Cyrene began helping Him carry His cross, Jesus had lost enough blood that He was very close to losing consciousness. So, His death began much earlier than being nailed to the cross. He had felt the betrayal of one of His disciples. He had heard Peter deny knowing Him three times and even though He knew that it was going to happen, it still hurt Him emotionally. Just a few days prior to His “mock trial”, many people had hailed Him as their Savior, their Messiah, coming into Jerusalem. Yet, many of those same people had been paid to bring false accusations against Him during His “trial”.

All of these combined to bring His Spirit to a very low point, so it is not surprising that He cried “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” when He was on the cross. We think about all of the miracles that Jesus performed while He was teaching and preaching during His ministry and those are proof of Who He was as the Son of God. Most of us never consider that Jesus was born as a human baby to a human mother. His limitations and His emotions and fears and His doubts all were part of His humanity so He could identify with us in every way. He knows your depression and fear and heartache. He has felt bruised feet and hands while He was a carpenter with His human father.

He felt hunger and fatigue during His time of testing in the wilderness for forty days. He felt alone even among thousands of admirers because of His mission which was coming to an end. Jesus felt all of these things which we feel but many of us don’t consider this when we read the Bible or listen to a sermon. Because the Bible doesn’t give details about His emotions or His feelings most of the time. So why do I write this now? Because we should think about our Savior’s time as a human being. Every feeling and temptation which we feel or have felt, He experienced during His life on Earth. That is what makes Him so easy to relate to and easy to believe in simply because He lived as one of us until He went back to His throne in Heaven.

Make sure of your salvation and your belief in Him while there is still time because after the church is taken away, choosing to become a Christian will be much harder to do.

Everything that He went through on this day, He did because of His love for humanity.

Stay the course, keep watching…

Do you love Jesus? I don’t mean a little bit or as a friend, even if He really is your friend. I mean a deep, abiding love like you have for your spouse or your children!

2 Timothy 3

1 But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, 4 traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!

This is a perfect description of our world today, even the world inside some churches. People who believe in Jesus or even think that they do are in the same boat as those who are described by Paul. In today’s society even those in the church, are lovers of self much more than they are of Jesus. But, we should all be His followers and lovers of Him just as He loved all of us enough to go to the cross and pay our debt for our sins.

So, why do we choose to say that we are followers and believer’s in Jesus and yet we have no respect for Him and no real love for Him either? We are just living in the last days before the time of the Tribulation, that’s all. Why are the church and those who make up the church acting this way? Mostly it is because of the society we live in and how we have learned about our Savior. Just as it says in the Bible, “Things continue on as they always have”, we have gotten very apathetic about Jesus’ coming again.

Most of us were brought up in a church, regardless of the denomination, and we’ve heard about Jesus and all of the stories in the Bible all of our lives. So, we believe that we are Christians mostly by osmosis.

Except it doesn’t work that way. Your heart has to be convicted of your need for Jesus. Not just because you want to join the church one Sunday but because there is truly a conviction inside that you are sinful and there is no other way to fix this sinful problem except by giving your heart to Jesus and asking Him for His forgiveness for your sinful ways. The problem with this in today’s church is that there are too many people who don’t believe nor do they think that they truly need Jesus as their Savior!

Many believe that they are good enough to get into heaven even without giving their heart to Jesus and repenting of the sinful things that they think about and do on a regular, sometimes daily basis. Many have made their own version of Jesus in their minds and he doesn’t mind their sins nor does he convict them when they do or say anything that the real Jesus would not allow. This is modern idolatry. There is no statue or figure representing the “god” that they believe in because their idea of “god” is in their mind.

During this time just before the Trumpet sounds (even though we don’t know when that will be), all of us who believe in the real Jesus and have accepted Him as our Savior need to be watching for the signs and reading the Bible. Why? Because we can discern the prophetic signs in the news better if we know what is foretold to happen. God is sending out signs all over the world but if you don’t know what has been foretold, you won’t notice them.

Provisions

Have you ever thought of the things which you have as provisions given to you by God? They truly are that and more! God has blessed each of us with life and health and hopefully a job so that we can support a family too. Everything that you have been blessed with came from God. Even if you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior, these gifts have been given to you from God Himself. Is it possible for your health and your prosperity to have been given to you from Him too? Of course, it is!

You will notice that I said, “provisions” not possessions. Why did I use a different word than the one that many people want to use today? Because God provides us with provisions which we need not possessions which we want! God doesn’t give us our wants, translate as luxuries, He gives us the needs in our lives. He gives you your life, your food, and your home and your family. What does that sound like? Blessings and provision.

God doesn’t hold back the good things of this world from us, whether we have given our lives to Jesus and are followers of Him or not. So how much more could you be doing for His Kingdom if you truly are His follower and a disciple of His? In our technological world today it doesn’t take a lot to be a witness for Jesus in many places other than where you live. Take me for instance. I am disabled and can’t work in a regular job, but I can witness for my Savior all over the world through the power of the Internet.

Granted, my witness here can’t reach those in places where the access to it isn’t there, but it can reach many places.

Your witness and mine are useful to God’s Kingdom in many more ways than just an article on the Internet. We can take our witness with us just as the disciples and the early church fathers did. Witness to others by your actions and your words. Even if you aren’t speaking to someone directly, they will see your actions and hear your words even if you don’t think anyone is listening.

When you have children they hear things that you don’t think they did and it is the same with people everywhere. God loves each of us and He wants you to come to salvation through Jesus. But, unless you hear about Jesus and the salvation available through Him, you won’t know about it until you hear, whether it is by reading something or by a sermon at a church. God provides salvation to those who are seeking it and many won’t seek it until they hear about Him and the hope that is available through Jesus.

Once or daily, which really works?

The doctrine of salvation says that we are saved because of our belief in Jesus and His atonement for our sins IF we accept that as the truth of our salvation. But, what about repentance? Is that a one-time thing or is it a continual practice which we should do each day? Well, the answer to that can be tricky. If you accepted Jesus as your Savior and you truly sought forgiveness and repented of the sins which brought you to the point of knowing that you need Him as your Savior, that is at least a step in the right direction. But…Satan and his forces don’t just walk away and leave when you become a Christian.

Why would they? Before you became a Christian you were part of their “family” in a way. You weren’t saved so you didn’t belong to Jesus and you were living your life in the way that you wanted to live it, so why should they concern themselves with you? You were in control of your life or at least you thought you were.

In reality we have to repent and ask forgiveness of something each and every day. Becoming a Christian and changing your ways to follow Jesus doesn’t create in each of us a heart and soul like Christ, one that is sinless from that point on. We are still human and Satan is going to ramp up his attacks on you in order to dirty your witness toward others in their walk. He doesn’t get tired and he doesn’t have to sleep so you will be hit with tempting thoughts when you least expect it from this point until your last breath on Earth.

Study God’s Word and fill your mind with gospel songs and messages from Him and you will be able to resist the temptations which Satan throws at you or me. This is the way that we should live our lives with Jesus every day, no matter what we are doing or where you are. God’s Word will strengthen you in your daily walk through life because it is the Living Word.

The model prayer and it’s impact

Luke 11:1

1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

The prayer which Jesus gave His disciples was and is the model of prayer for all of us to use in our prayer life. So why do I say “in our prayer life”? Because we are encouraged to pray not just when we need something or want something but to live in a spirit of prayer all of the time. Some people may think this isn’t possible but it really is.

This spirit of prayer is not praying constantly but the act of being receptive to the leading of God to be prayerful in all things and at all times. Being ready to pray at any time and for anything which comes to mind or even on your phone today.

The model prayer begins with “Our Father which art in heaven…” because Jesus was trying to bring God’s love down to a more personal, intimate level. Almost as if He really is our Father and in fact He is. He is our Creator and it is His mind and His hands which knit your DNA and mine together. Remember, He has known us since before the Earth was formed so He knows exactly what your talents are and your characteristics will be long before you are born.

God, our Creator, cares for each life which is sent to be born. It is our responsibility to raise those children to know their Heavenly Father and we need to be much more intense in doing so. Because the world and its education system will teach them all sorts of information which has nothing to do with God or His Son. Your life and mine would be very different if we had not learned about Him and if we aren’t careful, the next generation may be the last generation that knows anything about God, even in what is called the Bible belt.

Is Scripture still useful?

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Paul wrote this letter to his protege, Timothy, because he knew that he was being questioned about Scripture and its authenticity. He also used this letter to encourage Timothy because it wouldn’t be long before he, Paul, would be killed because of his faith. Thankfully we are not yet under such persecution but there are Christians in other parts of the world who are being threatened with death because of their faith in Jesus.

To answer the question, all Scripture is useful and profitable for instruction and training in God’s Truth. Whether those around you want to know it or accept it or not, but if you are a follower of Jesus then you need to know God’s Word so that you know His thoughts about different subjects which is very useful to defend your faith these days. We are called to defend our faith for the glory of Jesus and His Kingdom because we are living at the end of the church age.

What does that mean?

It means that we are very close to the prophecies of the book of Revelation. The taking away of the church and the appearance of a very charismatic leader who is the Antichrist, all of these things and more will happen the way that God has foretold it. Regardless of your lack of belief in Jesus or the veracity of Scripture, the prophecies of God’s Word is not fiction nor is it a myth. One day soon the whole world will find this out and many of them will not like it when they do.

I pray that many who read this blog and others will seek out their Savior while there is time because the only chance that you have to accept Him is while you are living and breathing on this Earth. Once you have died you will face God and you will have to tell Him why you chose not to ask Jesus into your life and believe in Him. That is a conversation that I hope that many of you can avoid having by changing your life and following Him while there is time.

Is Scripture useful for teaching and instruction? Yes, it is! Because it shows you where your life’s choices have gone wrong and it gives you a chance to change and follow Jesus. Scripture shows each of us, if we read it with an open mind and prayerfully, that God loves us and always has. He made a way for us to become His children through Jesus Christ because that is the only way! His Word tells us all of His Truth that we need to follow Jesus into eternity and all we need to do is believe in Him for our salvation so we can have that chance.

Grief is hard…

When a friend dies, it hurts. When a brother or sister dies, it hurts more and much deeper. When a parent dies, whether it is your mother or your father, the pain is deep and it stays with you for years. It is not something that you can “get over” or move on from. The pain gets a bit easier to think about over time but it does take time. Sometimes it takes a lot of time.

A person who is or has been a mentor and a friend is close enough to be family, that is who left us today. Why do I say this? Because this person worked with my grandfather and he is in heaven with Jesus today. They are remembering so many memories about their children and grandchildren. They are both worshipping Jesus and thanking Him for saving them from their mistakes and their own stupidity. Something that we all should do today.

I pray that those who read this will think about their families and their own salvation and if they aren’t saved through Jesus Christ then seek Him out while you have the chance. This life is the time for becoming a child of God through Jesus Christ so do it while you can. Don’t wait because not one of us is guaranteed tomorrow. I could die from a cardiac arrest tonight or you could die in a car accident tomorrow morning. Please don’t wait.