Category: Be useful to God

Are you hungry?


Do you truly know the hunger of those who follow the Lord? Are you hungry for His Presence?

God loves you and watches over all of your doings and your daily problems, yet there are many who do not what the Lord asks of you. Why? Because of the substance of our life. We chase after many things in our lives but we do not seek God, we seek out “stuff” which has no substance in God’s Kingdom. So what are the acceptable things which are part of God’s Kingdom? The works which we do because we belong to God and our salvation is from Jesus the Christ. These are works which are not required, but they are works which we feel obligated to do for Him because of the price paid for our freedom!

Jesus paid this price on the cross and it was paid out of love! As the scriptures say, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life“. He did this because it was promised from the very beginning of creation since humanity could not keep God’s laws, “the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head and he will bruise His heel“. This was a prophecy in reference to Jesus (Yeshua) many years before His birth in Bethlehem.

This is the very reason which Jesus the Christ came to Earth from God, to save mankind from their sins and provide a way for them to be reconciled to God! It wasn’t for some prideful parade of a future King which came, which was what Israel was waiting for, but He came to redeem His people from the burden and the consequences of their sins! Will He come as their King? Yes, He will come and begin His reign on Earth soon and He will rule over the whole Earth, not just Israel!

Come, Lord Jesus! Amen

Chosen…


According to the Bible, we were chosen long ago by God Himself. Why? Because He knows who will accept and hear His call on their lives. Of course, there are some who may take a little more time than others to make that decision but God still knows the outcome. That doesn’t mean that you are chosen to be a Christian and the person next to you is not, it just means that God knows which of you will act on His touch first! In many ways that could mean that you will have an influence in your neighbor’s life and their choice to give their lives to Jesus. God loves each of us but since He sees the end and the beginning of all things, He knows which of us will turn to Him in repentance and which ones will not.

Does that mean that some people will not be given a chance to become Christians? No! Each person in the world is given the chance but not everyone will accept it. Some will accept it and then decide that being a Christian is not really what they want or the way they want to live. The people who do this were not really intent on being a Christians, they were just trying it out. Trying out Christianity is not the way to go. God loves you and if you feel His touch and His call on your life and your heart don’t turn away from Him!

You can go to church and read the Bible all that you want but the only way that any that either of them will have an effect in your life is when God touches your heart and opens your eyes spiritually to the condition that you are in. You might say to me, “What do you mean the condition I am in?”; when you are outside of the will and purpose of God none of His wisdom or the teachings of God’s Word make sense to you! God’s Wisdom is foolish to anyone and everyone who lives outside of God’s will and living by unbelief in Him.

The wisdom of the world is foolishness in God’s sight. So are we chosen to be useful to God and in His Kingdom? He knows that each of us can be useful for His Kingdom and He knows when you will turn to Him in repentance. Those who do not repent, who will not repent are also known to Him as well and those people break God’s heart. He doesn’t wish to see anyone in hell because of their stubbornness but that is the reason that many will be in hell. Because of stubbornness and pride, they will turn away from Him thinking that they are good enough to gain entrance into heaven.

We are unable to be good enough to gain entrance into heaven without Jesus in our hearts and learning more about God through His Word and living by His wisdom and not our own. If humanity could attain eternal life on our own, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die on the cross and be raised again to give us the hope of heaven. God knew this was true and that we are unable to be righteous and sinless in our own strength without His Spirit and His Strength to aid you in becoming more like Jesus.

What should I do?


Many of us ask this question in our daily lives and usually, it is referring to something other than following Jesus or getting into the ministry. But what if you are asking this question and getting to know Jesus is part of it or at least involved in the possible answer? Have you thought of what you should do?

Some people do wonder about their answer to the Holy Spirit and what to do about it. Some are called in their dreams and the Spirit touches them in a mighty way to draw them to Him. Then there are times when it is a very still, small voice which prods you into being curious about God’s call on your life. Whichever one happens in your life, pay attention to Him!

God loves each of you, regardless of your belief or non-belief in Him or His Son, Jesus. The price for salvation has been paid through His blood on the cross and the only thing that is necessary for you to obtain your salvation is to accept Jesus as your Savior. In much of the world, today that is a very dangerous decision but many people still make it.

Truly, our God is awesome and He does love all people whether they believe in Him or not. But, to show you just how wonderful His creation is I am going to add a photo here which may show some of His creative majesty which you may have never seen.

The differences don’t come from “evolution”, God placed these differences in our tears.

Jesus learned from Joseph


When the high priest heard Jesus acknowledge that He was the Son of God, he rent his cloak. In the Old Testament, if the high priest did this in his priestly robe (the one which had no seams), it effectively removed him from office according to the Torah.

We have been celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, but consider the time of His crucifixion and when He said, “It is finished”. The veil of the Temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. God’s Presence was in the Holy of Holies so it was God Himself Who tore (rent) the veil of the Temple from top to bottom giving mankind access to Himself from that point on through the substitutionary death of Jesus as the Passover Lamb and the fulfillment of ALL of the feasts which God had instituted from the time of the exodus from Egypt to the giving of the law of God on Mount Sinai. In particular the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Firstfruits.

Jesus fulfilled all of the feasts and their meaning, not just as the Lamb of God but as our Savior and Lord and our High Priest Who went into the Temple in Heaven to put His blood on the altar to atone for ALL of our sins.

JosephandYeshua

The list below comes from a very good book which is speculative, but according to Scripture as much as possible. The name of the book is “The Forgotten Man of Christmas“, check it out if you are interested:

  • Jesus came into a world where the ruthless exercise of power turned the pages of history, but His way was the way of love and peace.
  • He wasn’t an academician, but Jesus challenges us to develop our capacity to love God more, and in His name, thousands of schools and colleges have been funded.
  • Jesus never wrote any of His teachings down and no book bears His name as the author, but His teachings are universally known and quoted and have shaped the course of human history like no other.
  • He was a carpenter by trade and He never built any objects of note, but we choose to honor Him through the beauty of cathedrals, churches, and chapels, all built to His glory.
  • Jesus never held any political power nor any monetary wealth or social prestige, but no one has ever altered the human scene or our understanding like He did.
  • Jesus healed a relatively small handful of people during His ministry, yet the foundation of modern medicine bears His imprint even today.
  • Jesus knew nothing of art, other than the joining of wood and stone in His trade, but His spirit ignites the creative spark in humanity and many galleries are graced with expressions of Who He was and Who He is.
  • There is only one of His sermons which is complete in the gospels, yet the words of that sermon are the cornerstone for our human reality and the Magna Carta of our human spirit.
  • Jesus never owned anything of value to the world, yet when He was on the cross soldiers gambled for the only article in His estate, the seamless robe He wore; and in every place where His teachings are embraced, the standard of living is lifted, and where His name is claimed, no one can sit idly by while people go hungry or the lonely are in need of a friend.
  • Jesus spoke more of service than of rights and privileges, but where His message is heard and heeded, the value of each individual is exalted and the rights of all are protected, especially those who are weak, worn, forgotten or unborn.
  • Jesus lived only 33 years before His Earthly life ended, but He changed everything, even the way we date history. Surely we can agree with Paul that “His name is above every name.”

Many of these traits He learned from the example of His Earthly father during the years before He was found in the Temple at the age of 12. During the years leading up to His Earthly father’s death, Jesus kept learning the lessons that Joseph taught Him and I believe that Joseph modeled God for his Son as much as anyone could have. Many of the attributes of God are what we are supposed to model for our own children and anyone else who might see Jesus reflected in our lives.

Being like Jesus was in this life is our goal as Christians but He learned much of how to live and be like His Father, God, by learning it from His Earthly father…Joseph. A Jewish Boy could learn from no better teacher than the man who raised Him and that is exactly where Jesus learned how He treated the people around Him, men and women alike.

God wants a relationship with each one of us and it doesn’t matter where you live or if you have any money or not, He just wants a real, personal relationship with you. In God’s eyes and in His heart He sees each of us as unique individuals, which we are, but God sees and knows so much more about you. He can see your ambition and your guilt. He knows your weaknesses and your strengths and He cares about you.

Many of us go here and there trying to gather more goods or to be more productive, yet what good are we doing by accomplishing this? If you aren’t doing these things for God and His Kingdom then the benefit is for who exactly? God doesn’t need your money or your things, He wants you and your talents because He gave them to you to do His will in this life. Collecting things in this world has nothing to do with your service in God’s Kingdom because not one of those “things” will be with you when you stand before God.

So, why did God choose Joseph to be the Earthly father of Jesus? First is the fact that he was a descendant of David and of the tribe of Judah so this would fulfill prophecy regarding the Messiah. That is the fulfillment reason why Joseph was the one who raised Jesus. So what other reason would cause God to allow His Son to be raised by this man? The Bible says that he was a just man and honorable but you can also see kindness in his dealings with Mary as well. Jesus learned all of these human qualities from Joseph even though the Bible seems to write him off as the husband of Mary and a descendant of David.

God knew Joseph’s heart because he was a devout man and a carpenter. Why is that important? Because he could show Jesus the importance of building relationships and how to treat others. We, in the West, tend to look at Jesus as the Son of God which He is but He is so much more than that. He was a carpenter and the Messiah. He was a teacher and a healer. He was a rabbi and a student of Life. He was the Son of God and the son of Mary and Joseph, fully God and also human and it was His humanity which He learned from Joseph.

Did Jesus know all things as God in human form? Yes, He did, but He had to learn humanity and all of its problems and frailties from His human parents and that is what made Him the Person Who loves children and those who are hurting from sickness and grief and suffering in ways which we can’t imagine. It was Jesus’ humanity which He learned from His Dad while He was living with Him. We don’t know what happened to Joseph because the last time we hear about him was when Jesus stayed at the Temple while His parents left and headed back home. Jesus was about 12 years of age then. but during those years Jesus learned many things from Joseph and He may have had Joseph for a few more years but we just don’t have a record of it.

My point is this: Jesus learned about humanity from Joseph and his work as a carpenter and all of the people that his father in the Jewish community. He taught us how to be His disciples through His ministry and parables and His healing of those that He came in contact with that we have in the gospels. So go into the world around you and be more like Jesus and His human father, Joseph, because I believe that we see and learn more about being a follower of Jesus from Joseph because we can see the way that Jesus acted during His ministry. He would’ve learned from His Father all about being God in human form but He learned everything about being one of us from the man God chose to raise His Son.

Life…


We see each other as we perceive ourselves, sometimes better and sometimes worse.

Life is that way sometimes and when we look around we do notice it. People are good-hearted if they have been raised that way, if not then they are the product of their upbringing whatever that might have been.

Then there are those who have become bound by their beliefs and at times are bound so hard until they can’t see what others have been through in their lives. They judge people from their own perspective and beliefs and look down on others, just as the Pharisees did during Jesus’ day. Religious “racism” can blind people in life and it causes many fractures in families and in churches.

This is what has happened in the church since the first century and it has become more pronounced as time has moved toward the place where we are now. It is shameful to look at people who were a part of the church and still consider themselves to be more enlightened than they really are because of their perception and “better than you” attitudes.

The world and the church, regardless of which denomination you belong to, is full of people who are part of this group and one day their hypocrisy will come to light. Satan has done his work very well in the deception of those who believe that they are on the road which leads to heaven. He has also influenced much of what is taught in churches today because many churches don’t teach directly from God’s Word, they just pick a scripture verse or two and teach it out of context.

That is not the way that Jesus taught and it isn’t the way that we are supposed to study the Bible or teach the Bible. Context can show a whole new light on verses in a chapter when they are taught with the whole chapter. Please study the Bible as a whole Book of God’s Word. Don’t just pick and choose what to teach or believe because when you do this you are no better than those around you who choose to believe this part and then don’t want to hear the other part.

which-bible-is-gods-word-3-638

Seeking God and finding Him


We hear in churches all over the world that God is the I AM. In Genesis (the Beginning) God says, “Let us make man in our image”. Consider that God has not come down with dementia and that He was actually speaking to other “parts” of Himself for a moment; later we find in the Bible that God has a Spirit or “the Breath of Life”. Then there is the Angel of the Lord and other representations of Yeshua in the Old Testament. What does this all point us to? That God is a Triune Being Who manifests Himself as the Holy Spirit or the Breath of Life, Yeshua (Jesus) the Son of God (the Angel of the Lord) and God the Father.

When we are seeking Him in any book of the Bible, He can be found. It is not a search that is futile. God is there in each book. He may be seen or heard as one of the Three but He is there. The main reason that so many people get confused about finding God in the Bible is that of His Person, He is found in different ways and places. Sometimes His voice is small and sometimes it is so loud that it frightens people who hear it, as it did when He met Moses on the mountain.

God is not only found in the Bible but His influence can be seen and felt all around us, although people tend to overlook Him or give Him silly names when they find His influence in the natural world. People wonder at all of the beauty on the Earth and in the photos of stars and galaxies and nebula which we see through our telescopes and all of it was placed there by God for His purposes.

Seeking a miracle is as close as the nearest nursery in a hospital. Each baby born, with or without a special need, is a miracle of God’s creative design and purpose. He knows what each of us can do and what we are capable of in this life, regardless of how long our lives may be. His purpose for each life will be fulfilled and in our world today many of those lives are snuffed out like a candle before they are able to fulfill His purpose through them. Which is why He keeps sending children into the world so at least one will complete His mission for them and for Him.

Why do I write this little article here today? Because someone needs to know that God has a purpose for your life. It may not be a worldwide ministry and it may not be something which will bring you fame and fortune but whatever it is God gave you the talent and the ability to accomplish it. It may only be to talk to a person about their addiction or to help your grandmother or grandfather with a project. It could be the influence which your life will have on someone you don’t even know and you may not know about it until eternity comes.

Whatever your purpose in this life is, it is preparing you for eternity and the influence you will have on someone somewhere. Maybe during this life or during the Kingdom which will be during the one thousand years which Jesus will reign, you will find your place in His Kingdom and His purposes. Who knows? God does.

Seek Him out while there is time to do so, now…today! Because if you haven’t given your heart to Him yet when the Trumpet sounds and the church is taken to eternity, becoming a Christian during the seven years which follow will be harder and much more dangerous than it is today.

acts-4-12

Doctrine will send you to hell


Considering how many religions are in the world you would think that most of the world would be going to heaven. But most of them are not depending upon Jesus for their salvation, even the ones which claim to be “Christian” in their message. Many churches and their preachers or bishops or elders are teaching about Jesus and His message but they are not teaching that each person in their church needs to KNOW Jesus to be saved!

You can know about Jesus and all of His miracles and His parables and that He walked on water and every part of His story even up to His burial and His resurrection…but if you don’t know Him in your heart as your personal Savior then you don’t have Him! No amount of doctrine or discipline or holding fast to the church or the belief which your Mom and Dad drilled into your brain will get you into heaven.

The only way to get into heaven is through belief in Jesus and accepting Him as your Savior, then working out your salvation by reading the Bible and living your life according to it. Striving to be more like Jesus through repenting of your sinful behavior and never going back to it. Even when you fail, and you will, ask forgiveness and read more of His Word with prayer and submission to His will and not your own. That is what is needed and necessary for Christians of any denomination or doctrine or discipline to be able to stand in front of God and show the righteousness of Jesus instead of our wretched and sinful souls.

God loves you and He will forgive you but going to church with an attitude of “my parents are pillars of this church, therefore I am too” or anything so prideful as that will send you straight to hell! No amount of money or time spent soaking in sermons or summer camps listening to teachers who don’t even practice what they are teaching will get you into heaven.

The only way to salvation is by realizing that you are a sinful creature and only by grace are you even alive at all! If you have ever felt the touch of the Holy Spirit in your life and your heart and you didn’t fall down and answer that call then I suggest you do so…NOW! Because when the trumpet sounds and you are left here with the option to starve or take the mark of the antichrist which will you choose? Will you be brave enough to truly give your heart to Jesus then and be executed by beheading? I suggest you do it now while the time is yet available but even now each of us only has the minute in which we are living.

Don’t wait until the real church is gone and the world is left reeling and wondering what happened. Make sure of your salvation while there is time to do so.

acts-4-12

 

 

What do you do?


During the times when we are anxious or fearful about…well, about anything in particular. Whether it is money or disease or death, anxiety and fearfulness can only add to the stress of the situation. Regardless of what is causing the problem itself, we should step back, if we can, in our minds since many times we can’t physically do so. Step back if you can get some quiet time during your time of need and seek to know the mind of God on the matter at hand.

How am I supposed to know or find out what God thinks about my situation? By prayer and the reading His Word.

I know it seems silly to seek God’s help with something in the 21st century but He is still here and His aid is much better at easing your mind than just sitting around fretting about something which you cannot control. It is never outside of God’s ability to control and take care of whatever it may be, no matter the circumstances.

But, in the world today we see all sorts of problems and fears which cause stress on our lives even when we aren’t directly affected by those problems. Why is this? Mainly, in my opinion, because of the twenty-four-hour cycle of news feeds and media and posts on Facebook which we can’t seem to get away from.

This year would be a good year to de-stress your life and only check in on social media when you need to, not every fifteen minutes or so like some do. I use it to keep in touch with family and friends but I only get on FB about once or twice a day. I also steer clear of the drama which tries to get under people’s skin while looking at it so I am not a very active person on that platform.

God will watch over your life and the stress that you carry with you but the best place to lay your stress down is at His feet and leave it there. Don’t ask Him to help you with it and then take it up and worry about it an hour or two later. That’s like taking a letter or a bill payment to the post office and then deciding that you can get it to the recipient faster and more on time than they can. Ridiculous logic there.

God can handle all of your problems, no matter how big and bad they seem to you. He is holding the universe together all the time and that isn’t taking much of His attention from your problems at all. Give your life and your problems to Him, you will never be disappointed with the results if you will.

1543853357752_image.jpg

What is your view?


The world and the media cloud our ideas and our view of the world around us with their own version, their own spin on what is happening and what has happened in the past. So how are we to discern the truth of what is and what will be if we don’t read the Bible? It is God’s inspired Word to mankind and since He cannot lie, it is the whole truth. Regardless of the watered down messages that some teach or try to “interpret” in a way which has nothing to do with its message at all.

God’s predictions for our world’s future, such as the saying of Jesus that “the kingdom of God will come before this generation is done”, did not mean that those living at the time would see His second coming. It did refer to the Jewish people who would still be the state of Israel at the time of His second coming. I am sure that many in that day hoped that Jesus would destroy Rome and its hold of persecution and oppression over the Jewish people but that wasn’t His job at that time.

Jesus came to end the oppression of Satan over the whole world so that people could gain their freedom from the world and its sins and the consequences in their lives. That was His message and His mission the first time. When He comes the second time, it will be as Conquerer and King and He will do it because not one comma or period will pass away before all are fulfilled.

Our world, not just America, is beginning a new year and all of us need to be seeking Jesus as our True Savior. He is the only Way to Heaven and our debts for our sins have been paid, all we have to do is believe in Him and follow Him daily, seeking to be more like Him until that day when He calls us all home. I pray that more people will learn of Him and seek Him as their Savior this year because He is coming soon.

1545238297754_image.jpg

My story…


God called me to be a minister way back in 1983. I was in a “relationship” with a woman who didn’t become my wife and it was a “friendship with benefits”, and I had not been listening to Him very well. I answered the call by going to Oral Robert’s University for a weekend to scope out the place in a way. I felt His call and His Presence touching my life while I was there and I listened, weakly, but I did listen.

But…when I cam home, I decided to reject His call and keep going on with my life like I wanted it and the way that I wanted to do it. Unfortunately, that was not the answer that He wanted to hear from me. It wasn’t but a few months until the woman that I had been in a relationship with found someone else and was planning a wedding until she died in a car accident.

Did that have anything to do with me or my decisions? I don’t know. Could it have been something caused by God or allowed by Him to get my attention? Maybe. But…I still didn’t turn toward Him in the way that I should’ve. My life went through a few more “storms” (to use an overused word) before I finally listened to Him. What kind of storms? Well, a bankruptcy and a divorce and a little while of driving OTR trucks (although driving the trucks was fun).

Actually while driving the trucks I began talking to God while I was driving. I told Him that I had messed up my life by not listening to Him the way I should, so I wanted Him to find my soul mate because I had heard Him the first time I got married but I didn’t listen. This time I wanted Him to find her for me and then make sure I knew it and didn’t walk away this time.

To shorten this a bit I did hear Him and we did get married and we are still married, going on now for twenty-six years now. So, yes, I learned my lesson about listening to God’s “still, small voice”. It is easy to hear if you are listening but it is also too easy to ignore because God’s voice is not loud. He tests your spiritual ears and if you hear Him and acknowledge it then He knows you are listening.

The next time that He got my attention was in ’95 when my grandfather died right around Easter that year and my Mom died on Christmas Eve. It took a year or more before I could continue my college education because I was half-way through my first two years when this happened. God called me again to be His minister about nine years later and this time I listened. I studied His Word during the night shifts while I worked as a Medical Technologist in a lab (during the times when I wasn’t really busy).

In 2011 I was called to be a pastor of a small church close to home and by the grace of God, I am still preaching there. I do realize that this story is about my life but I want to show you that when God calls you to be His minister or His disciple or His follower…don’t turn away from Him and don’t ignore His call on your life!