Which path are you on?

Jesus said that there are two pathways or gateways, one which is wide and easy and one which is narrow. In Matthew chapter 7 you’ll find His words: 13“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Many times we feel that we are on the right path and if we truly belong to Jesus we are likely on the narrow path leading to life. But what about the rest of the world? Many find the broad pathway that they have been deceived into believing that it is the pathway to life as well. Sometimes the deceit is so complete that they may not find out that they are on the wrong pathway until it is too late. This is the deception that many today are struggling with. Some teachers and preachers are not teaching the whole counsel of God from His Word.

They are only teaching parts of it which people like to hear or want to hear and skipping over the parts which offend people. This is not the way that the apostle Paul taught that the gospel should be preached nor is it the way or the message that Jesus would’ve taught. God knows those who are hearing and following the pathway leading to life and those who are on the “broad road/gateway” He longs for them to see the Truth…but many won’t.

The entire message of Jesus and His teachings shows that there are only two ways: good or evil, light or dark, repent and believe for your salvation or choose to follow your own way and fall into the trap set by Satan. There are no gray areas in the Bible. You are either following God’s way and believing Him for your salvation or you are following Satan’s ways and living your life they way that you see fit. You must choose which side you want to live for eternity with, God or Satan, Heaven or hell? The choice is yours and it truly is your choice which sends you to one destination or the other God knows which choice you will make but do you? Make this choice before your life comes to an end because at that point it is too late and the choice has been made.

Jesus wept…

He wept for His friend, Lazarus. Not because he died before Jesus could come but because he had to die so that others might see him return from the dead and live because Jesus called him back. He came back because of the call of Jesus and because many would believe in Jesus because of the miracle. Jesus wept because of the unbelief in the world even at the time that He lived and it likely grieves His heart even now because of the unbelief and hatred that is still in the world today.

We weep when a loved one dies. Sometimes it hurts so deeply that the pain lasts for days or weeks or even years…but God knows our pain and He gives us the strength to make it one more day. It is only by His strength that we can get through today and tomorrow and the next day. Sometimes it hurts and it is hard but many times the good memories that we have bring a smile to our face and warm our hearts even when they feel broken.

We hear people say things like “time will heal the pain”. It won’t. With the passage of time the pain gets easier to bear but it is still there and it is never truly healed. The pain of loss and the fact that you can’t talk to or see the person who is not here never truly goes away. The only time that the pain and the sorrow will ever be gone will be when we see them in heaven one day. Then we can celebrate throughout eternity.

Those who don’t believe in Jesus for their Savior and are part of a family that didn’t believe in Him for salvation don’t have this hope and assurance. Our hope comes from Jesus because of His love for us and the sacrifice that He made for us to have a relationship with Him. I pray that anyone who has not made that decision about their eternal future will make it before it is too late. Seek Him out and ask Him to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins. Live your life following Him and learning from Him by reading and praying about what you read in the Bible. God calls us to Himself and we should answer His call by humbly telling Him that we are sorry for waiting so long.

Jesus taught with authority

Jesus Expels an Evil Spirit

(Luke 4:31-37)

21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. 26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

The people were astonished at His teaching…why? Because He did have authority! Jesus came to teach and to save those who would listen and learn from His teaching and His authority came from God the Father. As John’s gospel says, He was the Living Word. The Word of God is powerful like a two-edged sword and it convicts and creates and condemns and it is a blessing to those who believe it. By the Word of God creation was brought into being and without it nothing was made.

All of the angels and stars and plants and fish that we see around us came into existence by the Word of God. Only man was “formed from the clay” by God. Adam was not commanded to come forth by the Word, he was formed by God’s hand. We are the only creation of God which was made this way, yet we should not take pride in this because it was done because of God’s love for us. He wanted us to be His creation which could converse with Him and walk with Him and still have our own ideas and the freedom to do what we wished with our ideas.

Why am I writing this now? Because of the time in which we are living in. We are very close to the end of the church age although we don’t know the day or the hour that it will come. When you read the prophetic books of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation and chapter 24 of Matthew all of the indicators are present in our world right now and it will only get worse. I pray that you will seek your Savior in Jesus Christ before this time of God’s patience and mercy comes to an end.

What will you do?

Before Jesus ascended to His Father, He gave His disciples a command to go into all of the world and preach the gospel. Each of us, as Christians, who have asked for His forgiveness and for Him to be our Savior also has this command extended to us. So…what will you do? Have you told those that you know at work or even those that you meet at a coffee shop about your Lord and Savior? It truly is our job to do so and we are supposed to be doing so until we are called to be with Him one day. Have you tried to tell those in your family about Jesus? They are the hardest to tell because they may think that they are Christians already but do they live their lives like they belong to Him?

Those of us who live in the South, the Bible belt as it is referred to, are harder to convince that we even need Jesus as our Savior. Why is this true? Because most of us have grown up in church. We have been brought to church ever since we were too small to even know where we were or why we were there. Our parents and grandparents are members of the church so we grow up believing that we are as well. We have heard many sermons about Jesus and His gospel for years it seems and we can quote some scripture as well. So…why do we need Jesus?

Because growing up in the church and as part of the crowd in the church doesn’t grant you salvation!

Satan can quote Scripture as well as any theologian can and he knows the Person of God and Jesus because he was created by them…but he won’t serve them. He doesn’t want salvation. He wants to be “like God”. The type of Christianity that we have in the South is called cultural Christianity or to put it another way “Christianity by osmosis”. We grow up believing that we are Christians because we have been in the church ever since before we could walk. So we think we are “safe from the fires of Hell” because we have been in church and we know about Jesus and we have a Bible that we look at during the service. But…do you live your daily life OUTSIDE the church as if you are His disciple?

Belonging to Jesus and being known by Him is totally different from knowing about Him. Think of it this way…I know a lot about the new Corvette because I’ve read about it in magazines but I don’t have one in my garage. First because I can’t afford it! Secondly, because knowledge of or about something or Someone doesn’t mean that you possess it or have a relationship with Them because they live in your heart!

You could read the Bible from Genesis to the book of Revelation once every year but unless you have been convicted of your need for a Savior and have given your heart and life to Him, you have only read a book with sixty-six other books inside it. Salvation comes to each of us by faith in God and the conviction that we are sinners and need Jesus as our Savior. Until that happens and you accept Him as your Savior, regardless of how much time you’ve spent in church, you are still lost. Make sure of your place in eternity while you can because when this life is over there are no “second chances” because you’ve used them all up in this life.

Small though you are…

But thou, Beth–lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2 KJV

The Lord of Hosts is His name and He will rule the Earth with a rod of iron. Our King is coming back and all who have rejected Him will know that He is the Lord and Savior of us all!

We are going through some trials now but they will pale in comparison to the time of the Tribulation. There will be many wars and famines and other disasters which the world has never experienced in the time that mankind has been on the Earth. Jesus came to Bethlehem to be born, to live His life as one of us in order to identify with our suffering and then He was crucified on the cross, was buried and then rose again on the third day to pay the penalty for mankind’s sins.

Even though there are many religions in the world, there is only one which has a Savior which has died and was raised to life again. He is coming back one day soon to take His believers home to be with Him. It will be a terrible time for those who are not chosen to be taken to Heaven on that day. Many have heard of this and may even profess to be Christian in their life but if their life doesn’t bear the fruit which comes from being a follower of Jesus, they are fooling themselves. Too many think and even believe in their hearts that they are saved because they have grown up in the church but that doesn’t save your soul. Going to church and Bible school doesn’t save you either, only the absolute belief in Jesus as your Savior when the Spirit calls you into conviction of your need for Him will truly save your soul.

Make sure which side you are on when that Trumpet sounds because pretenders will not enter into the Kingdom.

Fear is our enemy…

If you look at some of the decisions which we make in our lifetime, a good percentage of them are motivated by fear. In particular when we buy things. Some people call it “impulse buying”. Something looks like a good deal so we buy whatever it is because we think we may not find a better price, only to find the same item a month or so later “on sale”. Sometimes it will go on sale the next day, but the people at the store aren’t allowed to tell you that. This happens in our consumer-driven economy more often than it should. I know because I used to do this more often than I should’ve. I still do at times but I keep praying that this “impulse demon” will go away.

Fear causes many things to happen that shouldn’t happen and these things usually happen because of specific fears. Sometimes they happen because of a general feeling of anxiety which is also a form of fear. We also fear telling other people about our Savior and what He has done for them and for the rest of the world. We fear rejection and anger since there are many who just don’t want to hear about a “god that I can’t see” or “a god that left us here to die on this ball of mud”.

God has never turned His back on humanity. He may allow some tragedies to happen or some wars or diseases to become more virulent or for the war to drag on and on, but He has never left us. We look around our world and we see the good of humanity sometimes but the news reports on mostly bad things. There is very little encouraging news which is reported on a daily basis. We may hear of a good deed or some philanthropy that has helped people when they were in need but that is mostly on a once per year calendar. On a daily level, we usually just turn the TV off so we won’t hear so much negativity.

But…God is still in control. He hasn’t forgotten us and since Jesus told His disciples that God the Father knows even when a sparrow falls to the ground, don’t you think He watches over each of us too? God doesn’t lie to get His point across or to just have His way. He is in control of the temperature of our Sun and the gravity which holds our planet in its place. He knows how much is needed to balance the dance of our solar system so that everything stays out of the way of everything else. The universe itself is balanced so delicately that it takes astounding calculations to know that if even one percent fluctuated in one direction or the other life could not exist.

Why am I writing about fear? Because it is an emotion which we are very familiar with and Satan uses it to cause us to doubt our faith in and our salvation through Jesus. Our lives are bound up in anxiety and fear due to disease and wars and economic upheavals just as we are going through right now. Many people are asking the question, “Why would God allow this to happen?”. He is allowing it to turn our attention back to Him and to the real fact that we need Him!

We have become so desensitized to violence and hatred and the sins which happen each day on the Internet or on the news and on TV shows and movies until we don’t blush about much these days. We are not ashamed of the actions of celebrities or our family members. Sinful actions which would’ve been enough to send someone to live with a relative a few decades ago are looked at as normal and permissible in today’s society. When my parents got divorced about fifty years ago it was enough of a scandal that my Dad’s boss leveled some form of punishment at him which I think had to do with a promotion. That would not happen today.

Do we need God and a belief in Jesus which can save our souls from the second death in hell? Yes! The problem is that today many people don’t believe that there is a heaven or a hell and they certainly don’t believe that the Bible is true let alone the fact that many of its prophecies have come true. God exists and Jesus is the only way to salvation for your soul. Satan is also real and hell is prepared for him but many people will go there as well if they don’t turn their hearts back to the One Savior Who can give them eternal life and atonement for all of their sins, Jesus the Christ.

God loves us…each one of us!

John 3:16-17 explains this in very simple terms: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Believe in Jesus as your Savior because He is the only way for your salvation. He came to pay the price for all of our sins and He did it because of His love for us. So will you believe in Him like the thief did for your salvation? Hopefully not on your death-bed because not one of us knows when our death may be. You may not get a chance to make that decision so it would be best if you made it now.

There are so many problems in our world today. We read about people getting sick with this new virus that is out there. Some people are dying who should’ve lived and some are going through it with no symptoms at all. Sometimes those who die are very young and some have many underlying complications such as heart disease or diabetes. Why am I bringing these things up about a disease that most of us hear far too much about every day of the week? Because if there is any chance that you MIGHT get it and then die from it I think you should make very sure of your eternal home.

Living in Christ

Have you considered giving your life to Jesus? During times like this with nearly every country affected by this virus, how can we not look to the One who can truly help? Some are blaming Him for this and some are looking to Him for their healing.

Living with Christ is actually something that is not hard to do. He’s near you all of the time, but you don’t get the full measure of Him until you trust Him for your salvation. He gives us strength and peace for each day and the words that we need in times of testing. Jesus has come to us as a Savior and it is our responsibility to accept Him as our Savior when we feel His call on our lives.

Have you felt that call of the Spirit in your heart and His conviction of your sins which calls you to repent and give your life to Jesus the Messiah? Many people have heard it but they have ignored it and walked away. You are doing this to your own hurt. Because we are not guaranteed tomorrow, your soul could be required of you even in the next hour. I have been accused of scaring people to seek their Savior by saying this but if that is what it takes, so be it. Your eternal destination and your eternal life is at stake here!

Your soul will live on after your death and according to God’s Word we will have a body like Jesus had after His resurrection. We won’t be floating about like ghosts or angels but we will have an actual body. The only question about your eternity is where will you spend it while you have this immortal body? Will you be in Heaven where God is or will you be in hell where Satan and his demons are? It really is your decision when you feel the touch or call of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Will you respond by giving your heart to Him or will you ignore the call and walk away. Occasionally, you may have some time to ponder your decision and you may get another nudge from the Holy Spirit.

Why do I point this out? Because we are not guaranteed to live through the night or into tomorrow. God knows our so-called “expiration date” but we don’t, thankfully. Just make sure of your eternal destination before it gets here because there are no “do-overs” and no “re-spawning” after this life is over.

Are you a visitor or a Christian?

In churches you sometimes see little cards to quantify if you are a visitor to the church. When you fill out one of these you admit that you are “just visiting” but what about the members of the church? Are you just visiting? Why do I ask this question? Because some people who come to church on Sunday morning don’t even darken the door at any other time. Some come to Sunday school and church on Sunday morning but you don’t see or hear from them until the next Sunday and this covers many people in the church today. To explain what I mean when I say that you are “just visiting” even when you attend every Sunday morning I want to ask a question of you: Does anyone at your place of business or your workplace know that you are a Christian? I am not speaking of those who may know that you attend church on Sunday. I am asking you if they can see the influence of Jesus in your work and in your speech when you are at work?

Or do you sound like everyone else at work and in public? Do you act like those around you when you are away from your church or can they see Jesus in your everyday life?

See, visitors who attend church only get a little bit of what is available to each of us. When you are committed to Jesus and your walk with Him goes out of the church and into the world then you are NOT visiting…you are being the church which Jesus wants us to be. Because, how are your co-workers going to know about Him if you don’t show Him to them in your life and your words? In many parts of America only twenty percent of people even attend church so if you aren’t taking Jesus with you then how will the other eighty percent find out about Him?

Many of us don’t even invite other people to come to our church so how will they ever find out about their Savior unless you show them how He has changed your life? God sent Jesus to the entire world and everyone in it. While it is true that He came to the Israelites first His message was intended for everyone. So how will it get to everyone if the church (people who are committed to Jesus) doesn’t carry the message outside the church building?

The world and those living in it have eternity ahead of them and you have a message to give them about Jesus Who can bring salvation to their lives and give them an eternity worth dying for. Because each of us has an eternal soul and whether you decide to follow Jesus and know Him as your Savior or not has an impact on your destination to live out your eternity. If you aren’t sure about your salvation or where you will spend eternity I would suggest that you take care of that as soon as possible. Not one person is guaranteed to see tomorrow and if you die tonight your eternity begins at that point. The question still remains: where will you spend eternity?

There is a chapter in the New Testament which the Apostle Paul wrote which gives a clear description of your life and mine as believers in Christ. Read chapter 8 in Romans and you will see. We are responsible for our lives and what we say and do here on Earth. We cannot be sinless because we sin every day. There are no sinless people on Earth, Christian or not because we cannot be sinless. Our life is given to us every day by God Himself and if you are a Christian we should be telling others about our Savior especially if we aren’t sure about their salvation and especially if they aren’t sure of it either.

Don’t be a visitor in church, be a disciple who takes God’s Word and your Salvation in Christ out into the world around you so others can see it and hear about Him. Be doers of the Word not just hearers only.

Today’s question is…

Why have people, young and old, left the church? Are they not satisfied with God? Are they bored with the sermons that they hear? Are they really listening with their heart…their soul even when they are at church or reading God’s Word? All of these questions need to be asked of the church, the people who make up the church. When you read these questions I want to ask you to do one thing for me and for Jesus: place “you” where the word “they” comes in the sentence. Then re-word the sentence to read: Am I…._______.

Most of us don’t think of this when we are in church. Especially when we have grown up going to church with our parents. We think because we’ve been in “the church” all of our lives that we are covered…that we are Christians like it says in the Bible. We don’t really break any of the Ten Commandments (at least in our minds) or do we? The answer to the last question is a resounding YES! We do break the commandments every day even if you’ve spent your entire life in the church. We cannot keep the commandments without Jesus or without His blood covering our sins. Do Christians wander from their faith sometimes? Yes, they do but eventually that spark in your chest, the Spirit in your soul will show you what you’re doing wrong and steer you back to the right path.

What if I’m not listening to the Spirit in my heart? What if I can’t feel His conviction of my sin or feel convicted by Him? Well….you might want to consider that your salvation may be counterfeit. You felt His Presence and you went down and talked to the preacher and came back and got baptized. Then you spent the next few years trying to do all of the things that you know that Christians do and don’t do, then you felt a temptation from something or someone and you began moving in that direction and away from “church people”. You felt a little guilty about it but eventually even that went away.

What now? Seek Him out in the Bible and find a true Christian friend or your pastor who can guide you back to Jesus. It isn’t a long trip because He never left you. Why do I say this so easily? Because I did it myself. I got wet a few times actually. I thought my conversion was real and I went through the baptism at least twice, maybe three times, but later I found that I was still feeling empty inside. We can fool ourselves into believing that we are saved even when we aren’t and that is a very dangerous place to be in. If you died, you would stand at the judgement seat and you might confess that you believed in Jesus but He would say “I don’t know you”. What a horrible way to start eternity.

Some of us have had family praying for us which has kept us fairly safe until the day we finally find our way to Jesus. If it weren’t for those people, a brother or a sister or your mother or your grandmother praying for your salvation your life would be stretched on a very thin string. If you could see what that string was keeping you from falling into….you would run to Jesus. God has provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him through Jesus’ blood. Believe in Jesus for your salvation because the time grows shorter every day. Seek Him for your eternity depends upon your position of belief in Jesus. Eternity is there without Jesus but it will be without life or love or joy because you will be in a place of torment. Make sure of your destination and that it will be with Him.