Understanding your role (part 3)

I didn’t realize that my sermon was quite so long, so I am having to add another post to finish it. I hope that you enjoy it. Remember, the first part is at http://inhisservicetilhecomes.com.

Part 2 was published on this site, so it should be easy to put them together. Try to read them in sequence so you get the context of the whole sermon.

This is the final piece so here it is:

In other words, do what Jesus did in that He took care of those having faith in Him with prayer and supplications often and He healed their afflictions in so much that it would give glory to God the Father. Of course, He kept himself from the sins of this world which is nigh impossible for us to do except that we have to live in the Word and be praying to God for the strength to do so while we are present in this body.

Why does James call us to be strong in our faith and our walk with Jesus? Because of the witness that we have by claiming Jesus as our Savior. If you aren’t living out your faith on a daily walk with Him, then how will people be able to tell if you are a true Christian?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said it like this when he preached from this chapter:

“It is your faith which is tried. It is supposed that you have that faith. You are not the people of God, you are not truly brethren unless you are believers. It is this faith of yours which is peculiarly obnoxious to Satan and to the world which lieth in the wicked one. The hand of faith is against all evil, and all evil is against faith. Faith is that blessed grace which is most pleasing to God, and hence it is most displeasing to the devil. He rages at faith because he sees therein his own defeat and the victory of grace. Because the trial of your faith brings honour to the Lord, therefore the Lord Himself is sure to try it that out of its trial praise may come to His grace by which faith is sustained. It is by our faith that we are saved, justified, and brought near to God, and therefore it is no marvel that it is attacked. Faith is the standard bearer, and the object of the enemy is to strike him down that the battle may be gained. It is by our faith that we live; we began to live by it, and we continue to live by it, for “the just shall live by faith.” Hold fast, therefore, this your choice treasure. It is by faith, too, that Christians perform exploits. Faith is the conquering principle: therefore it is Satan’s policy to slay it even as Pharaoh sought to kill the male children when Israel dwelt in Egypt”.

(http://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/spurgeon/all_joy_in_all_trials.htm)

In conclusion, we are to live out our faith daily, sometimes hourly if the temptation is ongoing, so that we will be counted as God’s adopted and influence others to want what we have found in Him! Amen?

Understanding your role (part 2)

The first part of this series, if you will, can be found at http://inhisservicetilhecomes.com. It is part of a sermon which I did this past weekend about our service to God and our role in that service. I pray that you will all take it to heart and read both.

C. Faith adopts God’s eternal perspective in both poverty and riches (1:9-11).

In both poverty and riches we have nothing to boast about in God’s sight. Even those who have little, such as a homeless man or woman, if they place their faith and hope in God then they are as rich as anyone else! The rich man doesn’t have anything to boast about beyond this life, because God owns all of the riches and the universe itself! In God’s eyes and by His reckoning, even a rich man is poor if he has placed his faith in his riches. But, by placing your faith in God a rich man will have eternity to praise God for His love and his salvation which came to us all by Jesus Christ!

D. Faith perseveres under testing, not blaming God for temptations (1:12-18).

The 12th verse begins with the word “Blessed”, this reflects the understanding that a person who walks in the paths set by the Lord, sees his plight or his troubles in terms of the hope that he has in Christ, awaiting him in eternity. So by that measure, the present troubles seem fleeting and of no effect. When you compare your life, even to one thousand years, every problem fades into the background. How much more it would do so when compared to an eternity with Jesus? That is why the Word says that our life is like a puff of wind or smoke or like the grass which is green and beautiful one day and dried up and burned the next. Faith grows as it is tested just as a tree’s roots grow deeper when it is exposed to the wind. Sometimes the testing is like a gentle breeze and we get through it will little effort or prayer even. Some days, our testing may be like a rushing mighty wind blowing against a tree or a house and unless there is a good foundation or much roots in the One Who can hold you and take you through this day or trial, then you may fall. But, God will not allow a person who trusts in Him to fail or fall.

E. Faith obeys God’s word, even when provoked (1:19-27).

In verse 19 and 20 there is a bit of wisdom that all of us need to carry with us every day: “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” I believe that this is the very reason that God made us with two ears and two eyes and only one mouth because if you hear the things which are being said and notice those things which are happening around you, then when you do speak you should speak from wisdom, God’s Wisdom, and not your own.

We are to lay aside all sinful behavior, which would shine a dim light on your witness if you were still doing it and people know that you claim to be a Christian. As Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow me”; your cross is your burden or your temptation which comes back to taunt you which you have to conquer through faith and perseverance. As James writes, “if you are hearers only” then what are you doing with your faith? He writes that we should be doers of the Word as well as hearers because by living your faith out in public, others will see that you are actually living by what you claim!

Hearing the Word of God on Sunday only would be like “a man who looked at himself in the mirror and then immediately forgot what he looked like”. But, when you hear the Word and then continue to study it daily and walk in that faith which it brings to fruition, then you will be blessed indeed.

If you are religious or only act that way for gain of some kind, and yet you don’t watch what you say or how you say it, then you are deceiving yourself and your own heart and your so-called “religion” is useless and in vain. Everyone will be able to see that you are not really being true to what you claim to be.

You will be seen as someone who claims to be rich even when they have nothing to prove it to be so! A hypocrite. Pure religion with faith in Jesus Christ is undefiled before God and the proof of it is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep yourself unspotted in the world.

See the Lord do this thing….

1 Samuel 12: 14-16:

14 If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God;

15 But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.

16 Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes.

Samuel said these words in front of the people of Israel when they crowned Saul their king, because they wanted a king like everyone else had. They didn’t want God as their King! God is very patient with us, even when we reject His rule in our life. He doesn’t smite a person dead when they foolishly shake their fist at Him and ask for Him to strike them dead. That doesn’t stop them from being foolish enough to do it though.

God is not a man. He is not made in our image as many seem to try to mold Him that way, we are made in His Image! Thankfully, God has enough patience with humanity to allow us to keep living and hopefully we will learn about Him enough to feel the need for Him to rule in our hearts the way that He should!

As in Proverbs it says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom“. Fear in this context is respect or reverence not fear as in scared of or afraid! Being a child of God brings joy into your life, knowing that He is always at your side. He, our Creator, is on your side and always near you, no matter what the circumstances may be! We are beloved by God Himself, whether you have given your heart to Him or not! He doesn’t wish that anyone should go into Hell forever, but by your choice of not giving your heart to Jesus and asking Him to come into your life it is you who chooses that path for eternity!

God created mankind to be in fellowship with Him all of the days of our lives. But..it was our choice to remain in that relationship with Him and everyone knows how that turned out! Through Jesus our Savior, each of us can change that situation and get back into fellowship with God. All that is required is that you believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins and ask Him to save you from your old, sinful life.

That is it! That is all that is required and its all that you or I can do to become a child of God! No amount of money or works in this life can get you righteous enough to be allowed into Heaven. Only the blood of Jesus can cover your sins and mine so that God sees His righteousness instead of our rags! You only have this life, however long it may be, to get this done so please don’t wait. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, so please seek out your Savior today and ask Him to come into your heart to change you into the person that God knows you can be.

The wonder of Joy

joy In many ways when we come to know Jesus, we are joyful in that knowledge that we have our salvation granted through Jesus our Savior. We are very much like a small child, giddy and so happy that our Savior loves us enough to grant us our salvation through His blood, His death and resurrection! So…what happens after you find that you need to learn more about Him and learn to listen to Him every day?

It seems that many people don’t experience that joyous wonder like a child. They understand that they need Him and they ask Him into their hearts. But sometimes our church or others in the church who should shepherd them toward their Savior drop the ball. Many people end up just standing in ankle-deep salvation for many years and some never get past that point.

The joy of knowing Jesus and knowing that you have been saved through His sacrifice in your place should carry you through for many months until you begin to mature as a Christian. But how do you do that? The same way you get through any learning situation, by study, prayer and by seeking His advice for your life every day. It is a daily walk with Him after all, and just as any relationship…it needs to be cultivated and nurtured.

He is your Creator and your Savior and that relationship should be one that continues all through your life, day in and day out. Sounds boring, but think about Who you are having a relationship with! He is the Creator, the Son of God, your Savior and the second Person of the Trinity! Could there be anyone in the universe who could possibly be more interesting?

If you are wondering how you could get to know Him, READ the Bible! God inspired the writers and disciples to tell you about Himself and His personality. Yes, sometimes He is demanding but it’s because He expects us to obey Him, just as we expect our children to obey when they learn the rules about being in your house! Life, as a child of God, is a learning process and it is one that takes a lifetime! You can’t get a version of it which is a digest version, it is a day by day, week by week learning process which is very much like our own lives.

The joy of knowing Jesus is like the joy of bringing home your newborn son or daughter. It or rather they are new in your life, you are new at learning how to handle your relationship with them or Him. As time goes on and you learn more about Him, the joy should grow into a deeper love and a deeper relationship…but there should always be a bit of joy in it from day-to-day!

Words and learning

In the Bible, there are many words. None quite as omnipotent as believe although faith comes in really close. Depending upon which term that you look for or even which translation you are using, they will show up more in one or less in another. My point is this: the words that we should be using and allowing to help us to grow our relationship with Jesus are not important.

The real clincher is your attitude in your relationship with Him! Do you take it seriously? Do you take the Bible seriously and as the Truth? Finally and most important, do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit to be written by men? If your belief in God’s Word and it’s inspiration by the Holy Spirit is strong and you have your faith in Jesus as the Son of God and your Savior then go out and tell the rest of the world!!

The time that we live in is filled with those who deny that Jesus is the Son of God and those who deny that the Bible is truly the Word of God. Yet, nearly seventy percent of Americans claim to be Christian in their faith. If that were true, why do so many churches have so few people in them on Sunday morning?

There are many studies about the decline of churches and church attendance in America and around the world. One startling outcome is that America is actually behind India and China in attendance! What happened? At the beginning of the 20th century there were 27 churches for every 10,000 people in America, now we are down to 11 per 10,000. And those eleven aren’t full on Sunday morning, so what has happened?

While it is true that the book of Revelation speaks of a falling away in the faith by the faithful, I don’t believe that this is happening at this time. It seems that we need fresh ideas in the church to draw more people to church, but most importantly we need to get back to the Bible and study in it’s wisdom. Teaching our congregations more thoroughly about Jesus and His Father. We don’t need social media nights or fireworks or “eating meetings” to bring people in because the Bread that they need to be digesting is the Word of God! The Bread of Life itself!!

Bible school and teaching teens about Jesus is wonderful and it should be done during the summer. But, we should also have a night or two during the week to teach parents and grandparents about Jesus, not just during one twenty-five minute sermon on Sunday morning. After all, they are raising or helping to raise the next generation coming into the church, so they need to learn just as much or more than the young people do.

Is it possible to teach parents and grandparents about Jesus and God and the wisdom found in the Bible? Of course it is, if they will attend and come to learn. The churches are becoming sparse and many people in the next generation won’t be coming or even be a member of a church if we don’t teach them more about Jesus and why He came to save us! He didn’t do it because it was going to be fun, He came because He loves each and every person on Earth so deeply that He was willing to give His life for each of them!

Does God care about us?

With all of the things that occur on a daily or weekly basis, some of them being horrific and some not so bad, things could be better. I am sure that I am not the only person, Christian or not, who has wondered if God really cares about us! Jesus said that “not even a sparrow falls without God’s knowledge“, so we shouldn’t look at the bad things which seem to happen, in light of His love for us, so many times these things do happen for a reason. But what sort of reason is it?

Sometimes it is to bring God into the situation, many times it is to focus our thoughts on Him but often it is to bring Him glory and praise for His mercy. You might say that the death of so many couldn’t possibly bring God glory and honor and praise! What about the people who we don’t hear about who might have pushed someone else out of harm’s way? Some caregiver who didn’t think of their safety in order to save someone else.

Most news stories don’t focus on anyone who may have done any of these things. They may only be known to the person that didn’t die and they could be in the hospital but still live because of something that someone else did. By the time they remember it, the story is cold and nobody wants to hear about it or they may not even remember much about what happened. God is present in all things, good and bad, and He causes them to work for the good of His Kingdom and those of us who serve Him. We may never find out what has been done behind the scenes until we get to Heaven, but God knows.

It’s possible that something that we say or do, that is seen by someone else, may have a positive effect in someone’s life, yet we may not find out about it until we meet them in Heaven. Yes, God does care about each of us. Not just those of us who are Christians, but every person in the world. Even those who choose not to give their lives to Jesus. That doesn’t change how God feels about them though. He love for us is not dependent upon our response to Him.

Remember, John 3:16, 17: 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

God’s grace is given to us as a gift, just as our salvation is, but we have to accept it. If we feel His Spirit touching our hearts to do so and we refuse, then it is our own fault if we don’t get into Heaven. God doesn’t send you to hell or condemn you for your sins on any other basis EXCEPT our acceptance of His gift to us through Jesus and His atonement for us! It is all up to you! “Choose this day whom you will serve“, just as Joshua did!

Living the life of a believer and a servant of Jesus is not always easy and it doesn’t pay much but remember this, the benefits of eternity outweigh any hardship that you might have now!

Is evil around you today?

You may not work in a place where things could be described as evil, but there is evil in our world. People kill others for no reason or they rape and murder others and this is evil. Deciding to do things your way, regardless of what you feel in your heart is right because you want to do it that way is rebellion and that could be seen as evil too.

Especially if you claim to be a Christian! You have heard sermons and read the Bible and you know what is right or wrong, good or evil, but then you want something or someone so badly that, even when you know it’s wrong, and you know that God wouldn’t agree with you about it, you do it anyway. This is the rebellion that happened in the Garden of Eden.

lifeordeath God only gave one rule, one tree which they were not supposed to eat from and because Satan made it seem like God was keeping something wonderful from them…Adam and Eve disobeyed God in this one thing. They chose to do it their way!! They chose to see if they would be more like God by being disobedient. It didn’t work out the way that they wanted. God didn’t kill them, but God had made them nearly immortal to begin with, so the punishment of death didn’t overtake them for many years. But it still came nonetheless.

While it was true that they weren’t immortal at the beginning, their bodies were perfect in their function. No disease, no malfunctions, no joint problems of any kind, yet we know very little about their time in the Garden. They may have been there for hundreds of years before they rebelled. In any event, it was their choice and it is that choice which ails all of humanity today. Really, there are only two choices in life…to be greedy and selfish or to help others and to do good for others.

The choice between good and evil, light and dark, greed or selflessness, black or white; it really has always been this simple. Turn to the left or the right, which will it be? Just as in the cartoons of a few decades ago, an angel on one shoulder and a little demon on the other…which one will you listen to? Life, choices, movies and their endings have always had a clear distinction between one or the other, most of the time.

So…will you choose Life with Jesus and in Heaven or will you choose punishment for eternity with Satan and his demons and others who chose to disobey God? It really is that simple…..

Preaching from the Bible

Is this the actual way to do it? I mean, if you are a preacher of the gospel aren’t you supposed TaketheGospeltoAll to preach from the Bible? Today, it seems that more churches which are growing, especially the larger ones, have pep talks and “5 ways to make your marriage work” sermons. Jesus didn’t preach or teach on these topics. The gospel is the Good News of His payment of your debt owed because of your sins. He made that payment iN FULL so that we can accept His grace and offer of salvation once and never have to come to Him asking for salvation again.

We may need to confess our sins when we fail Him one day or another, but our salvation is secure in Him. He will in no way lose any that the Spirit calls to Himself and they accept that call. Preaching from the Word of God is the only way that many people get to hear God’s Word. It seems that today many rely on apps on their phone or tablet for scripture reading, and that’s fine but reading the Word and hearing it preached allows it to be imprinted on your mind and your heart even more.

Don’t neglect the gathering together of the brethren in worship. I know, there are always other things to do instead of going to church BUT if you have given your life to Jesus you are expected to worship Him at least one day during the week. Of course some people claim that they worship Him every day, which is good, but the disciples gathered together to worship and pray so I think we should too.

We should preach from God’s Word and worship together because the worship of His people and the praise which we give to Him, He inhabits it. Our prayers and needs are seen and heard by our Father and the Son when we are together because those prayers rise like the smoke from incense or sacrifices to the throne! Praise His Holy Name!!

Which god do you follow?

In today’s society, we have many gods. Phones, careers, cars, games, family, Facebook, all qualify to some extent as our “gods” at one time or another. Sometimes, we have more than one. We can’t leave the house or even get up in the morning without checking our phones and then we check in on Facebook. If we lose our phones, we will nearly tear the house apart trying to find this pocket computer which demands our attention every day!

Don’t make that face about this, you know that what I have written here is true because you have seen it in church or at home and certainly on the highway, although I hope not while you are driving. So, yes we have many gods which seem to claim so much of our time on a daily basis, sometimes even hourly, because I have seen people in my family at the dinner table or walking outside with the phone in front of them. They can’t seem to see past that four or five-inch screen in front of their faces.

I may be showing my age here but…how can you live like that?? There is so much more beauty and life going on around you without that screen taking all of your attention and you are missing most of it because of status updates or messages!! Whoever came up with that word certainly had the right idea to begin it with “mess”, because that is exactly what they do! Keeping up with those balloon messages and notification tones keeps many people occupied so much until they can’t pay attention to the rest of their life!

CallofDuty How much better would our society be if we paid that much attention to the Bible? If we had to have it with us every day and read a part of it every hour of our waking day, wouldn’t our world be so much better than it is? I know we would offend many people by having our Bible out when we eat at the restaurant or when we sit to drink some coffee. But, wouldn’t our society really benefit much more in the area of morality and decent behavior if we patterned our life around God’s instructions for life, His Word?

A novel idea which, in my opinion, has come full circle and it is time for it to take its place in our society again. In schools, in the home, in business and in government, God’s Word should be consulted for all of these. Not as a state religion but as a guide to get our country back on the path which it started out on to begin with.

Nominal Christianity

Romans 10

Paul was writing to those Christians, those who accepted Jesus as their Savior. But he saw no distinction between election by the Spirit and prayer to God. Because only God who has rights to move unilaterally in human affairs can answer our prayers. Whether you truly believe it with all of your heart and soul and mind or not, God is truly in control. He doesn’t force us to do things His way, but He can intervene in the affairs of humanity to bring His purposes and His will to pass.

Considering those who don’t believe in Him, we don’t know who will respond to a sermon or to the call or touch of the Holy Spirit, so when you think of election don’t look at it as God has picked you and not this person. He wants all men to come to salvation, yet it is still up to us and our choice to believe in Him or not.

This is why, in this chapter, Paul was praying for the Jews to come to know Jesus as their Savior and we should be diligent to tell others about Him as well as pray for their salvation. It is never proper to just give up on someone because they don’t come to church or even believe like you do.

Verse 10 says: “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”

In verse 9, Paul wrote that with the mouth you shall confess the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Why did I write this after verse 10? Because, you can’t confess something with your mouth that you don’t truly believe in your heart. This is why Jesus said that “out of your mouth comes defilement”.

God’s nature and the humanity of Jesus existed in Him when He was here and after He was raised to life again, this is the confession which Christians should believe in and confess to others. It is the way to Life eternal and for our hope when He comes again. The world is moving away from belief in God and has been for a long time. Even many “Christians” today only have a head knowledge of Jesus and God. They claim to know them but they only know about them, and that knowledge is not enough.

In the USA, 70% of the population claims to be Christian, but only half of that number or less says that religion is important in their lives. I mean, if only about half of that number claim that religion is important, then are they really Christians?

So how do we define a Christian? Only God knows for sure who really belongs to Him. According to the world, anyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian.

But consider, if someone on a jihad came up to you with a knife and asked that question…what would be your answer? Would you truly answer them that you are a Christian and belong to Jesus the Christ, in the face of death? I don’t know if many people would do that, none of us know for sure what our answer would be in that situation. So, what would be your answer? Will you believe in Jesus as your Savior? Our time is growing short, so don’t take too long to find the answer to that question.

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