What kind of light are we shining today?

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Matthew 5:14 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.5.14.KJV

Is your church teaching it’s members directly from the Word of God? If not then there’s something terribly wrong. Jesus Christ told the disciples to go and preach the Gospel, the Good News, to all who would hear. This was done in the early church before the crusades.

Ever since then, the “church” has been through many changes. Some were good but most were not. The original church tried to live peacefully with those who did not believe. Then, there was the Roman Catholic church that incorporated many pagan beliefs into it’s services to attract the pagans. Later, the church began to break up into denominations. After the Reformation happened, the church became…the best term for it would be fragmented.

Different teachings of doctrine and differing interpretations of the Bible’s message. The “big national churches” wanted to keep people from reading the Bible which was written in Latin and so the service was also done in Latin until Tyndale and a few others began to translate the Bible into English so that a common man could read it and come to Christ. So in many ways, the church has spread the message of Jesus Christ and it has also hurt the message as well.

We are supposed to study and learn from God’s Word so that we can take His message to the world around us. At work, at school, on the street, at a restaurant or anywhere else you come into contact with someone who is searching for the Truth of Jesus and His message of a loving God Who is willing to forgive you and save your soul from the punishment that we deserve for turning away from Him. Jesus came to bring that message to all who would listen and embrace the salvation that is offered by His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection too.

That is our blessed hope. He said that He would come again and take us to His home in heaven and we are closer to that now than we have ever been. I pray that you will seek Him out as your Savior soon because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. God loves you and if you have felt Him touch your heart don’t turn Him away.

You can be blessed…

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.5.9.KJV

Today we see so much violence and hate, but we are supposed to be peacemakers. Show Jesus’ love to those around you so that they will want it too.

God will strengthen you

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 1 Peter 5:10 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/1pe.5.10.KJV

What does “giving your life” mean?

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was asking His Father if there was another way but then He said “nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done”. I know, it sounds as if I am giving a talk/sermon/post on giving your life to Jesus and in a way I am. But in our time, in the 21st century, giving your life to someone or for something means a lot more. Consider it this way: Jesus was living in the first century. He was a carpenter Who also happened to be the Savior of the world and the Son of God. His parents who raised Him were not rich in wealth. He wore very simple, home-spun cloth for His clothes. In our world today, His condition would be looked on as a man living in a very poor state of being.

God’s Word asks us to give our life to Him, surrendering everything that we have to have all of His riches in glory. We can’t imagine how Heaven is going to be. Even the prophets in the Old Testament and John the apostle didn’t have the words to describe what they saw in their visions of heaven. Any description that we can come up with today would fall very far from the reality that is there. Why do I go to such detail to tell about what we can’t describe? Because when we are asked to give our life and surrender everything to Jesus…are we able to truly give it all to Him?

For most people, the answer would be a very loud “NO!”. God cannot have my business or my family or my home! The reality from God’s perspective is that those things that we don’t want to give up are really His anyway, He is just blessing us with them while we are here. But, many of us don’t want to admit that what we see as our possessions are actually on loan from God, including our family.

Surrendering your life means far more than most of us consider but the giving of our life to Christ is necessary for our eternal home. Asking Him to take everything in your life is not telling God to take your family or your business or your home away from you. It means that you aren’t holding anything back! You aren’t telling him that “this box of goodies is mine but you can have the rest”. That is not how it works. God either has ALL of you and your life or He has nothing. Just as some people today believe either ALL of the Bible as God’s Word or they don’t believe any of it, you can’t pick and choose this part but not that one. It is the same with your life, you cannot choose to give Jesus part of your life and heart…He either has all of it or none.

Make the decision to give Him everything so that He can return the favor and the blessing to you.

Do you feel rich?

Many people don’t feel this way at all. Even those who are rich with wealth that the world recognizes see their wealth as their right or as a tool to get more. If you are a believer in Jesus and you know that He is your Savior then you are more wealthy than this world can know. The world around us doesn’t recognize this type of wealth because it is not the kind that you can see. It is wealth in heaven above. It is our forgiveness and our promise of eternal life with God in His house.

Jesus told us to “lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where rust and moths cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal“. The world around us doesn’t recognize this as wealth because it cannot be spent here and now but it is more than any wealthy man or woman has on this Earth.

God loves each of you even if you don’t believe in Him or His Son, Jesus. But beware…God loved Isaac but only one of his children did God place as the most favored. He said that “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated”. Today it’s not so simple, especially in our society. Everyone wants a new home and a new car now! Nobody wants to wait and save up some money for a down payment. This “microwave generation” wants everything right now regardless of how Mom and Dad did it. It’s the same with the way people view a relationship with Jesus. They want to be assured of a place in heaven and if they don’t feel like they can learn that at this church or from this pastor or denomination then they will go somewhere else.

Many are encouraged to join a church during a revival or some special event and some do but joining a church is not the same as gaining your salvation through the actions of the Holy Spirit. Some people get caught up in the singing or the emotions of the sermon and they “feel” led to make this decision tonight and it may be the Holy Spirit touching them. The problem that we have in churches today is that once they are on the rolls of membership, they are almost forgotten. Unless they are mentored at home or join in a youth group study or Sunday school regularly they will not learn how God wants them to live and be a part of His family.

The Scriptures that are referenced in the paragraphs above are good ones to learn from but unless you read and study them more than once the principles that they have to teach will not stick in your head or your heart. Listening to God is learned through reading His Word in order to know His voice and His ways of teaching. You can’t learn by osmosis from carrying a Bible to church, if you don’t read it then none of God’s wisdom will ever take root in your heart and your life.

The book of Proverbs is one of the greatest collections of wisdom in the world but very few people read it even once in their lifetime. They will read through a novel or a self-help book by someone who says they have the answers regardless of the length or the thickness of it. Proverbs is only thirty chapters long so reading one chapter a day takes about a month. Then go back and read it through again and pray about what you have read, asking God to show you which parts apply to your life and situation. Then…read it again. Usually after the third read your brain cells will realize that this is important stuff and we should remember this. You won’t have it memorized word for word but when problems come along, you will remember that you read about that somewhere recently.

Try reading God’s Word and asking Him to show you what you need to learn from it. He will answer you with more than you were expecting to learn.

We are commanded to love one another

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:35 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.13.35.KJV

We are not supposed to seek ways to hurt each other. If you believe in Jesus for your salvation, you should show love to those around you. Reflect His love and compassion for every person that you meet today and see what a difference it will make.

Encourage one another

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Hebrews 10:24‭-‬25 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/heb.10.24-25.KJV

Depend on God

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalms 46:1 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.46.1.KJV

How can you understand God?

The first thing that you have to understand is the Trinity of God Himself. God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit. Think of them as a coin. God is on the face of the coin, Jesus is on the reverse side and the Holy Spirit is the edge of the coin that shows how they are joined together as One God and it is the combination of them Who created mankind and all that is found in Creation.

In truth we cannot understand God because He is our Creator and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and we can’t understand Him or His ways. God is sending His Son back to Earth soon to gather all of those who have believed in Him for their salvation. It may be today or tomorrow or next year but Jesus told His disciples that He would return to take them and His Bride, the church (believers in Him since the beginning), back with Him to their home in Heaven. Then the time of tribulation will begin and those still here will know what the time is and what is coming if they have been in church and studied the book of Revelation.

The prophecy in God’s Word has been fulfilled completely with the exception of those about the church being taken away and those in the book of Revelation. I pray that all who read this site will be curious enough to read and seek His wisdom so that you can be saved from the terror that is coming.

God is good!

Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 2 Samuel 7:22 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/2sa.7.22.KJV