Category: Faith

Do you believe in Jesus?


I could’ve put anything at the end of that sentence, but Jesus seems more appropriate, particularly for this site. Why is this an important question? Because if you do believe in Him and have asked Him into your life then your eternity is sure regardless of the religious climate we live in today. If you don’t believe and have no desire to believe in Him, until you realize your error you will always be searching for something to fill the emptiness in your life.

How do I know that you feel empty and unfulfilled in your life? God designed us to be spiritual beings, not in a nonphysical sense but men and women who desire to know God and have a relationship with Him. If you don’t know Him and you don’t have a relationship with God, then you will feel empty in a way that can’t be explained medically or physically. I know because we all feel this at some point in our lives. Not one of us on this Earth, with the exception of Jesus, was born with God’s Spirit living within us. There has always been a void, an empty feeling, like something is missing but you can’t put your finger on it.

Many of us try to fill that spot with all sorts of things, sometimes we do this for a very long time, but until you find the right “fit” nothing will make the emptiness go away. There is no amount of money, prestige, or fame which will take the ache of the empty space away. No drug or relationship will ease the feeling that something just isn’t right. So, what can we do about this? Well, the only thing that we can do is search for the one thing which will fill that void but if we don’t look in the right place, we will never find Him.

I am speaking of Jesus and He will come into your life and change your heart and make you a “new Creation in Christ“! God loves you and every other person on this planet and He has provided a way for your salvation through Jesus. It is not a salvation through a legal system of things which you have to perform or adhere to in a certain way, it is not a salvation which is based upon your actions or your own beliefs. Faith in Jesus and in His sacrifice for you, believing that He did this to pay for your sins is the only requirement.

Yes, you may get baptized afterward and begin to tell people what He has saved you from but that isn’t absolutely necessary. Think of the thief on the cross, Jesus told him that “today you will be with me in Paradise“, and he couldn’t get baptized or tell anyone about His Savior! Yes, it is wonderful to tell others about Him and what He has saved you from, but isn’t it great that you really don’t have to work to attain salvation on your own merit!

The time for this Earth and the secular governments running it is growing short and we should be searching for our Savior. He is not a man who lives here with might and power and money, but He is the Son of God and our Creator. Be prayerfully seeking Him if you don’t know Him yet. Trust in His Word and His atonement for you and your sins, because there are no other paths to Heaven except through Him, regardless of what you may hear in the media or from the Pope.

 

Judgement, where does it start?


Many times in God’s Word, the judgement began at the door of the Temple and went from there. Today, I believe that the church, all churches, needs to examine its doctrine and its practices to make sure that they line up with God’s Word. If any part of our service, our doctrine or our lives inside or outside of the church doesn’t line up with His Word, then revival and repentance is sorely needed!

Sometimes you hear people in the media saying that the church is too this or that or they are judging us, by what right can they do that? If we use God’s Word as our True example and don’t add any of our human frailties and feelings into it, then our witness is true. If we are using rules and regulations that “the church founders wrote”, then we are way out of line!

We cannot be salt and light for the world if we, as a church, have lost the flavor imparted to us and our lives by the Holy Spirit. Our lives have to reflect the message and the life of Jesus, as much as possible, otherwise we don’t look any different from any other “religion”. Jesus gave His disciples and the church a mandate of going and making disciples of all nations. It wasn’t a suggestion or a talking point, it was and is a command from our Lord and it shouldn’t be ignored regardless of the opinion of those outside the church.

Why do I say this so forcefully? Because, we are supposed to be telling people about Jesus and His love for them. We are not supposed to be “like everyone else”, we are representing the Body of Christ here on Earth. Taking His message to those who may not hear it, taking God’s Word to those who can’t afford or get a copy, bringing food and clothes to those in need, teaching them about Jesus by being like Him so that they want to know Him. That is what His church is supposed to be doing. Not meeting in huge auditoriums and cheering to a sermon which says nothing about any of this!

God loves all of humanity but there will come a point when He draws back and lets us go our own way, to the ruin of whichever country that may be. I pray that is not happening to America, but from the news and the stories that have been told in the past decade, it just may be. Please pray with me that we are not at this point. We are at the point of truly needing God’s strength and His mercy but if we don’t repent of our sins and our weak religious ways then we may experience His judgement instead.

By faith…


If you have ever read the Old Testament at all, you have noticed that many of the patriarchs stories begin with that statement, “By faith…”. Did you ever wonder why? Because nothing that is done for God in this life will work unless it is done by faith. Even people who didn’t know Jesus, like the servants at the wedding at Cana, had a smidgen of faith. His mother told them to do whatever He tells you.

They had run out of wine at the wedding feast, so Jesus told them to fill six water jars with water, then draw some and give it to the master of the feast. When they did, he exclaimed that the groom had saved the best wine for later rather than giving it out at the beginning. The servants didn’t know Who He was, but on Mary’s word they did what Jesus asked and they knew that what they put in the jars was water but what came out was wine.

By faith, we can do many things if we will believe. Faith in God and in His Son can heal relationships, disease, heartaches, and all sorts of other maladies particularly those caused by sinful behavior. By faith and without doubt, you can do anything through Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

By faith the mouths of lions were shut, by faith Samson conquered the Philistines, by faith David vanquished Goliath, by faith Peter stepped out of the boat and walked toward Jesus on the surface of the water. All of these were accomplished by faith. It is true that faith can be short-circuited by doubt and by obstacles in life, but if you will keep your faith focused on Jesus and His Spirit, then there is nothing which can’t be done for God’s Kingdom!

Ministries can expand, the effect of those ministries can impact even more people, when you have faith in the power of God to accomplish His purposes through your life or your ministry. I am not giving you a way of getting wealth by this fashion because that is not what serving God is about! Yes, there are some out there who use their ministries to do just that, but they will have to answer for this and many other things one day.

All that I ask is that those of you who read this post, search the Scriptures for faith, do your homework for God and your ministry for His Kingdom because in the end, when this life is over you will be standing before Him. Do you want to bow before Him as a humble servant and a minister or will you stand arrogant and proud of what your ministry accomplished! IT WASN’T YOUR MINISTRY!! If you truly are a child of God and have surrendered your life to Him, then anything that your ministry did or accomplished belonged to God and it always did!

Salvation, do you need it?


Salvation is a state of being which you need if you wish to have a productive and rewarding eternity. It is granted to us through the Grace of God by believing in Jesus and His sacrifice for us which paid the price for our sins. All that we need to do to claim it is to ask God for His forgiveness and repent (turn away from) of our sinful ways and ask Jesus to come into our hearts to make us into the person that God intended for us to be.

We can’t do this alone nor can we come to it from any other pathway except by belief in Jesus’ sacrifice which paid the price that we cannot pay. Why am I writing about this? Because it is necessary to do so. Our world is out of sync with God and the world seems to be OK with this! Most things which are seen as good today would’ve been looked down upon thirty or fifty years ago. The things which are labeled as “bad” today are the virtues and values which our grandparents valued and raised their children to emulate.

We are in a society which is upside down from the values which our country once valued. Why is that? Because society has been trying to get rid of any mention of God or Jesus in any part of our society. We have been under what I consider to be God’s judgement for the past few years but it is going to get worse. I don’t know which of our candidates will win the election, but unless we repent of our march away from God and turn back to Him, I fear that our situation will only get worse.

We need salvation and we also need a revival on a national scale, even a worldwide scale! God has been trying to get our attention and yet we seem to concentrate on every little bit of fluff news which isn’t news and we ignore the real issues. Poverty, human trafficking, drugs, killing each other for no reason except that we wanted to do it, these are symptoms of a society on the edge of anarchy and we need to pull back from that edge!

God provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him and for us to be more at peace with each other, but it requires repentance and humility and a willing spirit to follow Him. We cannot do it on our own merit nor do we have the strength to do it on our own either. The only way that we can do this is by giving our heart to Jesus and repenting of our sins of pride and selfishness. Then get into and study God’s Word because it is not a false book as some claim, it is the Truth which God gave to us as a guidebook for our lives.

Many people who have fought against this Book are now turning to it for strength and comfort and salvation. Why? Because it is just as relevant today as it was when it was written. The wisdom contained in it is useful and effective for all parts of your life and God will speak to you through its words. He has done this and will do the things which are written in it again. Believe in Jesus for your salvation and your eternity, learn about Him by studying His Word and follow His example for being a disciple of His.

Amen.

LIFE!


Have you ever wondered what life is really? Life is living in this world and yet it seems so brief, so small, so much less than we should have. What is real life? Living with the Spirit of God in your heart! You are created to live with God in Heaven, yet the sin which came through Adam’s fall and Eve’s too, has separated humanity from God. How can we bridge that gap between ourselves and God?

Seek Him in His Word, learn about Him through prayer and by studying His Word, ask Jesus to come into your heart and cleanse you fully so that you will be more like Him! That’s how you live!! In Him, with Him for eternity.

God created mankind to have a relationship with Him, yet with our free will and free choice we have all chosen to follow our own desires, our own paths. God doesn’t want servants who are like robots! He wants you to love Him because He loved you from the beginning. Not the beginning of your life, but from the beginning of all things! God knew you and me and everyone else from that time until now and He loves us. He is not happy with the things which many of us do in our lives or with our lives, but He still loves us.

Does He condemn us all to hell? No! He gives each of us a choice to know Him through Jesus and we all have this choice, all that we have to do is take hold of Him by faith. He will take you just as you are and begin the change in your heart to make you more like He is. All of your faults and the problems that you have, all of the bad words and the drinking and smoking and drugs, no matter what you may have done…He loves you just as you are…but He will make you better!

Give Him the chance to do this work in your life and it will never be the same, it will be BETTER!!

Amen!

Wants…and needs


All of us have come to this part of life and looked outside of the Word of God for the answer. We don’t want to hear that God rewards a cheerful giver because who is happy about giving away their livelihood? Being a cheerful giver doesn’t mean that you are happy giving away ALL of your money, but don’t be a grudge or a Scrooge when you do give your tithes to Him. God looks at the heart and He knows your reason for doing every little thing that you do. He knows is you are genuine about your faith and about tithes.

And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two MITES, which make a farthing. ( Mark 12:41-42 ) A farthing would amount to about a halfpenny worth in the time that Jesus was there. How is it possible that the widow gave more than all the rest? Because she gave to God from her need. Those mites were all that she had, but she knew that God would supply her needs because of her gift in faith.

The rich young ruler which came to Jesus asking how he might inherit eternal life had done all that was required to be righteous as far as the law was concerned but Jesus saw that his money was an obstacle to him. When Jesus told him to give his money to the poor and he would have riches in Heaven, he couldn’t do it. Money meant more to him than eternity.

Why do I bring this up today? Because there are many who look toward riches and having their wants met by having money enough to do whatever they want rather than looking beyond this life into eternity. God can reward you today if he chooses, but nothing that you can have here can compare to your home in Heaven forever!

Consider having enough money to fill a box 3 ft. square with $100 bills. I can’t tell you to the dollar how much that would be, but it would be more than I have ever had! If you had it in the bank, you couldn’t get it any time you wanted. If you had it under the mattress, you would be worried that someone would steal it. If you had a safe at home, it would be full unless it was a very large safe. What could you do with it?

Many people would be afraid to spend it because once you begin spending it, it goes like it is on fire. If you invest it carefully it might grow even larger, then what do you do? If you invested it foolishly, it might disappear in a day or two, then we are back to an empty box.

God has a home for you where your address is on a street made of pure gold! So pure that it is like glass! He formed your dream home from His Word, made not with hands but by His Word. No mortgage, no bills, and all of the time in eternity to enjoy it! What could you do with that! Take eternity one day at a time, the problem is that there is no calendar in Heaven. But, that won’t matter.

God loves you enough that your place is secure IF you have asked Him into your heart, so please consider that and don’t turn away from His call to your heart.

Today and yesterday


Do pastors need to be commentators about the issues of today? Sometimes it is good that pastors do this, but not at the expense of teaching from the Word of God. Today, people want to hear pastors comment on the issues of today, but that should not be the content of sermons on a regular weekly basis! Pastors are not newsmen but are supposed to be watchmen who tell their church members what God’s Word says and expound upon that!

I am a pastor and I was not called to bring attention to the news, but to bring people into the light of the gospel of Jesus the Christ! This is our job and our calling. Politics and the news are for others to speak of but we are to tell people about Jesus and His works for our good and His Kingdom! God called each of us, even those who are not pastors but teachers and even each Christian, whether they have a position in the church or not. We are supposed to be salt and light to the world so that they who are lost and are seeking the filling of their empty hearts can see that Jesus is their answer and the One who is to be placed in that place!

God loves each of us and has given each of us a talent or two to use for His Kingdom, not just for our benefit but for His glory! Even if we only touch one person’s life and they change and give their life to Jesus because of what they see or hear from us, all of Heaven rejoices because of it! During your lifetime, you have the ability to touch many lives and hopefully to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus the Christ. But, you must be willing to submit your heart and your life to Him so that you can fulfill that position and calling.

Trust…what does that mean?


Between people, it means that you have confidence in them to be genuine and honest with you in everything. In religion, trust is synonymous with faith. We trust in God because He is our Creator. We trust Him because He is trustworthy, I mean if God isn’t then we are truly messed up! Trust is the way that we look to our spouses and children because they are there for us, no matter what is happening.

Trust, a five letter word which means: “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.”

This is the dictionary meaning of the word, but how do you define it? Is trust something which is given or is it earned by someone? That depends on who you are trusting in the first place. If it is a person such as a friend or spouse, trust can be easily given to them. If your friend or your spouse does anything in the future to break that trust, then it must be EARNED back, if possible.

Trust between people who are in teams is built as the team works together to accomplish something. Military teams such as the SEAL teams or sports teams like football, baseball, etc. all of these have different levels of trust between the members. Firefighters and policemen and women also have levels of trust, because like in military teams, their lives depend on trusting those who work with them every day.

Spiritual trust and faith are identical because it takes belief in the One Who created us and our lives and the situations that we live in. We have to have a reliable trust in His truth, His ability, and His strength in every possible problem of life, and He is able to do all the things that are necessary for our good and for His Kingdom. We don’t have to worry about His ability to heal, to help, to give comfort and to be your Savior because He is able to do all of these things.

If God, and that is a statement which I don’t come through easily, created all of the universe and all of the angels and Heaven and has provided for all of our lives from Adam until now, then the problems that we have are not hard for Him to help us with. All that we need to have is trust in His love and ability to take care of you with any problem you may have. Trust and faith in Him are the same, but we tend to disagree on this.

I have faith that God can and will do all that is necessary for me to make it through this week and next week as long as I subject my will to His. Do I trust Him to do these things? Yes! Because God can do all things and He always does the right things for us and for His Kingdom.

Times are changing


What can we do? Not much really, except pray and turn our hearts back to God. Our world, this nation, and every nation on Earth needs to turn toward the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why should we do this? Because we have pushed Him out of our lives! We have taken prayer and Bible reading out of our schools and we are reaping the consequences of that decision.

Some people may not notice that this is happening, but if you ask anyone who grew up in the sixties and seventies they can tell you that our world is definitely NOT the same anymore. So many problems, so much anger and violence, so many wars and things which are happening all over the world. These we see and hear about on the news programs or on the Internet on a daily basis and they change our perception of people in our world.

We look at people in a different light. We think about them in ways which are wrong, because we are allowing outside influences, like the news, change our perception. God knows each of them and you. He doesn’t change His ways and we should try to be more like Him. No, we will never be perfect in this life but we should strive toward that goal through Him and by knowing Him.

Why am I saying this? Because…the world is the way it is today simply because we are coming to the end of the church age or the age of God’s grace. He hasn’t given up on us, but His plans are in motion to bring about His purposes in the world. Many people can’t seem to believe that this is where we are today, but if you have read the Bible and the prophecies concerning the end of the age, then most of it makes at least some sense.

No, we can’t understand His ways or why things are happening the way that they are, because they seem so wrong to our way of thinking. But, God sees the picture outside of our time and space and He knows what is going on and how it will work out. This is the message to all who read this post: God has it all in His hands and His ways are better and more perfect than ours because He can see the outcome before the beginning.

Seek Him and trust in Him in all of your life’s journeys, no matter how small or big they might seem to you…because God is bigger than your problems! It might not seem so right now, but He is!

So much pain…


There are many people who live with pain in our world today. Some of it is because of disease of one kind or another. Some of it is due to the loss of a loved one, but we all have pain in our lives at some point. Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is just not right. Then it is your job to find out where the pain originates and if there is a way to lessen the pain or cure the cause of it.

Spiritually, pain comes into our lives through the loss of someone or by God’s Holy Spirit making us aware that we need Him. Grief is painful, sometimes it is terribly painful to the point of making us feel sick and without hope. When that happens, we need to turn to God’s Word and seek Him and the comfort that He gives to us. HE is the only cure for pain that deep. Other so-called “fixes” do nothing but put a mask over the pain or dull it for a while, and when it returns it may be worse than it was before.

Pain, physical and mental or spiritual, is something that we all experience but God gives us the strength to get through it and come out stronger. Seek out Jesus and His strength so that you can be strong enough to stand in the presence of God and not be ashamed of your life. He is righteous and Holy and we cannot stand in His presence without the Blood of Jesus covering our sins.

God loves each of us because we are His creation, and He doesn’t wish for any of us to be in torment in hell. Which is why He provided the grace and the payment for our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice. All that we have to do is believe in Him and His atonement for us and we will be saved. Not belief like from reading it from a book or just hearing it from someone, but a firm belief like a child knowing that his father will catch him when he jumps. Book knowledge and hearsay don’t work by themselves, it has to be backed up with real faith.

Pain is something which gets our attention, but faith knows that it is only temporary. Put your faith in Jesus and all of your problems will fade with His grace and mercy. Because, He will give you the strength and the ability to make it through all of those problems.