We hear a bit of wisdom from Jesus’ own words many times and we don’t even realize where it came from or who said it. It is mentioned in movies and in books. It is used for many purposes, good and bad. Yet it was meant as a way that Jesus was making a point to His enemies when they were trying to catch Him with a politically charged question. They asked Him, “Teacher, should we pay taxes to Caesar?” He then asked a question or two of His own. “Show me the coin. Whose likeness is this?” Of course it was Caesars likeness and Jesus knew this. Then He told them flatly: “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).
Each of us owes a debt to Jesus and to God Himself that we could never pay and it concerns our salvation and the price that was paid for it. Even if you have never given your heart to Jesus or asked Him to cleanse you and make you a disciple of His, He paid the price for your sins. When you feel the touch of the Holy Spirit in your life and on your heart, it is Jesus Who is knocking on the door to your heart. You might tell me or someone else that God wouldn’t accept me because I’ve fought with that Spirit for a long time, so long in fact that I barely feel or hear it anymore. If you feel a nudge or a very slight touch from Him I pray that you will answer that call, that feeling, His touch the next time that you feel it.
God can use your talents for His Kingdom. Even if you feel that they don’t amount to much, God can change your direction and give you the ability to be His watchman or His prophet. He used many men in the past and He is still giving out abilities to those who will answer His call. We may not see miracles happen when we want them to but they will happen when the time is right and it fits His time. Jesus said that “faith the size of a mustard seed” can move mountains. God can give you more than that but your faith still has to be turned on by your belief in the Creator of the universe. Faith to move a mountain won’t lift a grain of sand if you don’t believe.
God has been in our past and He is here today. Watching and seeking anyone who will hear His Word and take it to heart and believe what is there in the Word, the Bible. Many people in government and in some other organizations work very hard trying to take any reference to the Bible out of public view. If they would realize that God loves them and seek to do what it says in the Bible…taking the good news to everyone who will believe, with the same passion that they use trying to get rid of it the whole world would have a revival of faith in the One True God of the Bible.
But…because of the time that we are living in at the end of the church age, there are so many false teachers who are preaching and teaching doctrine that sounds good and it may even have some references to the Bible in their doctrine, but it has been twisted out of context. Scripture has been used by thousands in this manner over the centuries. Taken as one verse and used as a doctrine or a rallying cry but when a verse is used like this its power is twisted and can be used to enslave people or to turn their beliefs toward something or someone who is not who they say they are.
I pray that everyone who is seeking to know Jesus will seek Him in His Word, Old and New Testament, because He is there and we carry His image within us even when we were sinners. We should all consider that fact and seek to be worthy of His image until the day that He comes to take the church home with Him.
Working for God and by extension Jesus as well is the most important job and, besides being a parent, is the most rewarding job that you can have. Does it pay well? Not in this life but when you repent of your sins and you’ve given your heart to Jesus, tell others about your Savior! God reward for His apostles and children is eternal life in heaven and being able to walk into a city where the streets are paved with pure gold.
He is the Creator and He knew you and me before we were born. Did He know that we would give our hearts to Him? Yes and He knows what you are capable of doing for Him and with Him in your life. When God knew you in the womb, He knew your capabilities. He knew then and now what you are capable of accomplishing for yourself and for His Kingdom. Just as He knew each and every person in the Old Testament and what they could do and would do if they would willingly follow His directions and do the things that He tells them to do.
God want us to obey His commands and directions and when we become His children by giving our lives to Him we should do this out of gratitude for His love. It was because of His love for us that Jesus came and paid the price for us on the cross. Jesus did this because of His love for each one of us and because He knew that we would be useful to Him and His Kingdom. Why? Because each of us has at least one person that we can reach for Jesus that nobody else can reach. Some of us may be able to tell many people about His love for us and what He did for our salvation.
The point is that in the past God has used a murderer and a pagan idol worshiper for His purposes. He used a prostitute and a gentile woman for his purposes. He used a donkey that spoke to his master for His purposes and He used a fish to carry Jonah to a city called Nineveh so that the people might be spared from the wrath of God. He is the Creator and He can use your talents even if you don’t think you have any.
Give your heart to Jesus and give your life and your talent to God’s Kingdom. He will show you what to do and where to go and it may just be down the street or across the hallway but He knows that you can reach that person and show them that He loves them too.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah. Psalms 24:10 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.24.10.KJV
Every chapter in the Bible points toward Jesus and salvation through Him. I’m not going to place the scripture references here except to give you a general idea of those crumbs of wisdom found in nearly every chapter of God’s Word. I know I changed from every chapter to “nearly every chapter” and that was intentional too.
While it is true that the Bible points toward our Savior from the beginning to the end, every chapter doesn’t explicitly say it that way. Some are just allusions to Him. Some of the crumbs are very subtle and easy to overlook but they are there. As God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, He also told him that his people would be in slavery in another land for over four hundred years, but there would be a savior. That savior was Moses, who was a type of Christ, who came along at the right time to deliver Israel from bondage.
In many other books of the Bible other saviors have shown up. Some have come as kings, some came as judges, some came as prophets but God used each of them to teach and to deliver Israel from their enemies. But even after being delivered they would soon go back to disobeying God’s commands and his laws. Their prophets repeatedly told the people what was needed to get out of and stay out of being captured by their enemies. Sometimes they listened and sometimes they didn’t. Occasionally they would obey for a while and then fall right back into the same rebellious behavior that got them in trouble before.
Kinda sounds like the way most of the world, especially America, is today doesn’t it?
Is it any wonder that this virus came so suddenly on the world last year? Is it God punishing us? Could be, but I’m not going to be the one to say so. God can use China or Russia or Iran or even a tiny virus to get the world’s attention but if they don’t look to Him for help or guidance then they will die in their sins and without Jesus. I know, nobody wants to hear that there is only one way to be saved or gain entrance into heaven but it is God’s law and He is the only One Whose opinion that I count as being true. Like it or not, God’s Word and His promises have all come true except for those prophecies that are in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
I believe that His Word is true from the beginning to the end and one day soon the whole world will notice it. They may not want to believe it, but when all of the Christians who believe in Jesus for their salvation are taken up in the clouds to meet Him in the air…those who see it will believe and they will be sorrowful like losing their first-born son or daughter.
Read the book of the Revelation for yourself. It is the only book of the Bible that has a blessing for those who read it and believe.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5:7 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.5.7.KJV
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5:7 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.5.7.KJV
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/2co.4.18.KJV
We shouldn’t look at this world around us but we can’t help it. This world is physical because that’s how God created it. We can see, hear, smell and taste everything around us for the most part. Our world is moving toward the time foretold in the Bible and we are very close to chapter three of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
But many people refuse to believe that the Bible is true and they will refuse to believe even when they can see prophecy coming true before their eyes. God knows what will happen and He knows exactly when these things will come to pass. The world doesn’t believe that it will happen but one day they will understand, because on that day there will be no doubt about Who He is. Choose this day to follow Jesus Christ so that you will be counted worthy of His love and His eternal Kingdom.
The Living Message of Christ 