Category: God’s purpose for you

Pondering Scripture


2 Chronicles 7:14 says: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

In the scripture above, the Lord gives a number of conditions for our healing. We must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and repent from our ways in order to be forgiven and receive our blessing, is that right? It was in the day that God said this to the Israelites and to some extent, it is today as well. We still have to humble ourselves and seek Him and pray and repent of our sinful ways, but the forgiveness has been paid for by Jesus on the cross.

What else can we do? Do we have to do anything to be forgiven? Mainly, we have to seek Him and ask for our forgiveness, but the seeking needs to be done daily, not weekly or only when we think we need Him!

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Do we offer ourselves up as a living sacrifice to Him daily? That is how we are supposed to start the day, giving it and ourselves to God’s service. It is only right that we do this because of the sacrifice made on our behalf. Even though, we aren’t required to do anything, we should because we belong to Him! We were bought at the price of the Savior’s life and we owe Him our lives and more but our life is all that we have to give if it is given willingly and with a humble spirit.

Are we His? Do you know His purpose for you?

These are questions which many people in history have asked and many are still asking today. Yet, few are finding the answers that they seek. Why is that do you think? Is it because the answer can’t be found? Of course not! It is there, in front of us every day and yet many people do not find it because they are looking for something else.

When we read the Bible, we are supposed to be praying about what we are reading so that God can reveal His wisdom from the Word to us. I admit that I don’t do this all the time, but that is how we are to know the mind of God, at least as much as we can know Him as we are now.

In Jeremiah 29:12-13: “Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” When we seek Him with all of our heart, He hears us and responds to our prayers. If our heart isn’t in it, He knows.

Our life in Him can be awakened by our attitude toward our service to Him. With God, attitude is everything because it shows what is in your heart and soul. It proves what kind of change has been wrought in your innermost being or even if there has been a change!

That is why Jesus said in John 14:14-16: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth.”

There are those in ministry today that are saying that this is the way to prosperity. God only gives you what you ask if it is in His will for you. He is not a rich grandfather who hands out goodies when we ask for them! Many people would like for that to happen, but that is now how our relationship with Him works.

We are to be reflections of Jesus’ character and show the world what He has done for us and what He has in store for them, if they will only come to Him and lay their lives down for Him. For many people the thought of giving your life to Jesus is just too much, although I am not sure why. The fact that Jesus gave His life for all of us before we were ever born speaks volumes toward the character and the foreknowledge He had pertaining to us. Why can’t we, at the very least, give our lives to Him and His service so that His sacrifice was not in vain?

When we spend time with God and His Word, we are in contact with our Creator and our Redeemer. What more could we need? Our walk with Him will be sweeter and any temptation that comes our way can be pushed aside with scriptures that we have taken into our mind and our heart. The Spirit Himself can bring them to mind whenever you see or hear something which might cause you to stumble if it weren’t for the Word and its wisdom.

Our world and each of us in it needs that wisdom to carry us through the struggles that we face, but God gives us hope and strength through His Word to be able to handle whatever life puts in our path.

Can we be the children that God wants us to be? Not on our own or by our own strength, but with His strength and His wisdom by reading and studying His Word, we can be true ambassadors to the world for Christ. Our world, our country needs Him today—now, as we are getting closer to the time of reckoning for this world and its ruler. I pray that each of you will search your hearts and decide for yourself if you will follow Him daily from now on.

If we don’t, our way of life and our eternal life hangs in the balance by a very thin thread. Can you look around you and consider facing eternity without those that you love and hold dear? I can’t.

 

A prayer for our Nation and the World


Thought you might enjoy this interesting
prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It
seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked
to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the
usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask
your forgiveness and to seek your direction
and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to
those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly
what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed
our values. We have exploited the poor and called it
the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it
welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it
choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it
justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our
children and called it building self
esteem. We have abused power and called it
politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions
and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and
pornography and called it freedom of
__expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values
of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts
today; cleanse us from every sin and set
us free.
Amen!”

Did you know this about Jesus?


1. He is the first-born son of God; 2. He fulfilled over 300 prophecies about the Messiah during His lifetime on earth; 3.Pagan wise men (astronomers/astrologers) recognized Him when His own people did not; 4. He is alive today at the right hand of God; 5. He will judge the nations when He returns to rule on the throne of David.

These are just a few of the facts about Jesus and there are many more. The big question is this: Do you know Him? I am not asking if you are a “fan” of Jesus because churches are full of fans. I am asking do you KNOW Him? In many ways our culture has changed to the point that it would be disgraceful to someone from the generation of WWII. I know a few people from that generation and they can’t believe that our nation has gone so far down the path that we are on. The reason behind our decline in the world and in other areas of life is because we have replaced Jesus and God with something which doesn’t resemble them at all!

God created man to have a daily walk with Him, to fellowship with Him the way that we do today with our friends and family. Although the family is increasingly under fire today because of our “culture”, it is the most important institution that God endorsed from the beginning besides marriage between a man and a woman.

Knowing God is far different than being a fan of Him. I know about or have met many people but I only know superficial knowledge, just the surface. Intimate knowledge is reserved for my family and for Jesus. To have that kind of knowledge of Him, you have to have a daily relationship with Him. I don’t mean to say that I am in constant contact with Him, but I try to speak and allow Him to speak back to me at least once per day. Our lives can be far more than just living, we can be doing His work for Him on a daily basis. This is actually what we were created to do, though many of us never find this out until it is too late.

Some, find out about it and embrace it as their calling in life. Some are called to be ministers and evangelists and they fulfill this calling very well. As long as they keep God in the place that He is supposed to be in, things will work out just fine. On the other hand, if they try to be the one who is being served, they will find that their reward will not be what they expected.

We only get to experience the joy of knowing God when we are doing His work for Him and not for ourselves. Why does it have to be that way? Because that is the way He ordained it to be, just as the farmer reaps his harvest after planting the seed and nurturing it to maturity so our life is to be. If we are to be useful to Him and His kingdom, we must do His will every day.

We are longing for meaning, can it be found?


Over the past few years I have noticed that people are searching, longing for meaning and purpose in their lives. We all do at one point in life. Some of us find it in our family, some find it in meaningful work, some never find true meaning or purpose and go on searching, wondering what can possibly fill that empty space. There is something, someone, who can fill that space in our lives and in our heart. But, we must search Him out, He will not force us to come to this knowledge. Force, coercion, and pain are not the ways to find Him or come to Him.

Granted, the so-called “church” has done many evil things in the past and some people are causing more pain in His name even today, but that is the way of our nature, not His. We are the ones who have perverted and soiled His name by claiming to be doing things which He would not condone and yet claiming that we do this for Christ. All that is happening when this is done is that the name and glory of the Christ and God Himself are being tarnished like old silver by the actions of people who only have their own interests at heart.

The reason behind this is simply Satan himself because even though he was created to worship God, he was given free will like we are and pride was found in him and he was cast out of Heaven because he wanted to be exalted above God. He is now the ruler of this world and all that is done on earth, especially things which are evil and which can cast doubt toward God he will do. Although, he is not totally in control because God only allows him to do what is truly in the will and knowledge of God. God knows exactly what will work to bring about our obedience and our recognition of Who He is, so that we will ultimately fulfill our purpose. We are in control only to the extent that what we do affects our lives and our immediate surroundings. We are not gods and were never intended to be.

We were created by God to be in this universe and to be servants to Him. That is not to say, that we are slaves in the sense that many people and the devil himself tries to make us believe that we are. As Christians, we do it because we were loved and known by Him first and considered worthy enough that He died on the cross to save us from our own stupid, prideful, decisions. People do things, good or bad, on their own which cause others to fall into a life which will be ruinous to them and to others. It is just our nature, because of the fall from grace in the Garden and we must be redeemed from it through Jesus. He is and always has been the way to life everlasting.

It has been called many things from many cultures and I am not saying that there is another way, by another name but one day everyone will know that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Whether you get it in a church or from an evangelist or from the Bible itself, when God calls you it will become clear to you that what you need was there all along, you just didn’t know that it was so easy. Easy to claim the life of being a Christian, yet it is hard to live it daily. Many churches will tell you that the life of a believer is easy but it is not. Our nature keeps us from getting up every morning and laying down our own nature and taking up the nature of being a Christian. It can be done, but not under our own strength. We have to ask for His strength and through Him we can do what He wants us to do.

I know that all of this sounds very cryptic because I am not going into specifics about Christian life and service, but the reason that I am not is because it is different for each of us. You may be gifted in one area, your wife or son or daughter may be gifted in another. Yet, through the Spirit, once you surrender your will to His will in your life, you can and will be able to do whatever He asks of you and shows you what He wants you to do. God loves each person on this planet and wants each of us to come to know Him but until we do, He will not force us. It is not in His nature to do that and God cannot change because He is unchanging.

Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man can come unto the Father except by Me” John 14:6. There is only one way which will get you to Heaven, and that is through trusting in the saving power of Jesus and the sacrifice made on the cross for you, believing Him for your salvation. No other religion or ceremony will do, no one can do what He did and yet He lives and will come back for His own. We will be tested and some will be found lacking in faith and there will be a falling away but if you will put your faith in Him and trust in Him, and cling to the Bible and the wisdom contained in it, you will find peace and life everlasting through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Are you a broken vessel?


Does your life feel broken? Do you feel broken in your walk with God? Sometimes our lives feel this way but Jesus and His Father have not left you. If anyone has moved in the relationship, it is you. Even though you may not have moved very far, distance makes the relationship a little harder to feel from our perspective.

Is your relationship with God feeling empty or lacking in depth? Mine does at times. At the point where we are in history, our lives and our relationship with God needs to be fresh and refreshed daily. Walking with Christ daily from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep at night is a process and it is one that He desires from you. It is also one which will enhance your life with Him as long as you keep your part of the relationship active and alive.

In biblical times, when pottery became broken and useless, it was thrown away much as we do today with things that don’t work anymore. The pottery and the clay of which it is made can be used again, unlike electronic junk today. Pottery just has to be broken and wet to the point of being remolded and shaped into something useful again. In our lives, it is the breaking and remolding which causes us discomfort but it is necessary if we are to be useful to Christ.

A few verses which show this are found in the book of Jeremiah: “Arise, and go down to the potter‟s house, and there shall I announce my words to you.” Then I went down to
the potter‟s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?‟ declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter‟s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:2—6)

God can work with us as a potter does with clay to make whatever is needed and to make it better suited for the job. How can we help the Potter in making us a suitable vessel for Him to work into the shape that is needed? By keeping our lives on the path which is set before us and by studying His Word and asking Him to show us what He would have us to do with that which we learn.

I am not saying that we will become as wise as Solomon or as effective as Paul was but God knows what we can do and He will equip us to do that which He has purposed for us to do. All that is required of us is to obey Him and listen to Him. Just as Abraham and all of the other prophets did when they were chosen to be His servants, so are we to do in our walk with Him. All of the disciples which followed Jesus and were faithful to Him in their service while He was about His Father’s work did this as well. They listened to Him and to what He taught and then when He told them to go and teach others to do the same, they did. The commission that was given to them was passed to us as believers today and the church too.

We, as the body of Christ which is the church, are to go and make disciples of all nations. That includes those at our workplace or at home or anywhere else that we may be asked about the joy that is in us. I know that there are times when we don’t feel “joyful” but when you have Jesus in your heart, the joy will leak out whether you feel it or not. Those around you can and will see it.

What kind of vessel are you? Are you a pitcher to bring forth prophetic words, a bowl brimming with the Spirit of Truth, or a perfume vial filled with anointing oil? Are you a basin to wash feet, a fine goblet fashioned for the King’s table, or are you a large platter to hold the bread and meat of His gentle Word?
We are uniquely made in the gentle hands of Jesus, and He alone knows your color, shape, and purpose. Are you going to allow Him to mold you and shape you to do great works? Do others see the works that you can do but you are not doing them? Could that be why your life seems to be off just a bit?

We are at the beginning of a journey, one which will be wonderful for some and endless for all who have come to know Him. If you have not made that commitment in your heart to Jesus, do it today. He patiently waits for you and He loves you more than you can know. Living the life of a follower of Christ is not the easiest journey that you will make but it is the most rewarding. We don’t know and can’t imagine the life that we will have with Him in Heaven and we won’t know if the decision is never made.

Show Christ what your heart is made of so that He can live there and He will show you what you are made of and He will make you better than you are now. You will be a new creation when He comes to live with you, one which can do all things through Christ and with His power so that others will see Him through you and your witness for Him. The finishing touches won’t be done until you are born into your heavenly body and it will be there that your eternal life will truly begin!

Can you see?


When we are born our eyes take a while to get to the point of actually seeing what is around us. Our brain and the nerves have to grow to the point of being able to process the information. What about when we get older? Can we see things as they are or do we only see what we want to see? It depends on what we are looking at.

When we are looking at things or people that we like or love, we usually see the best in them. Then at other times we may see more or less good or bad, it depends on our mood and sometimes how we feel. Then there are times when we are looking at things with our spiritual eyes, especially if we are Christians. Those who have not accepted Jesus don’t have spiritual eyes yet.

I have had people to ask me about this and it seems odd that people who have been in church for many years don’t understand about their spiritual eyes and what they are for. We have to use all of our gifts from God if we are to be successful in delivering His message to a world that needs it. There are so many people in the world and outside the church that do not see things happening according to prophecy and the scriptures that refer to this time in our history.

Why is that, you may ask. It is because of the deception from Satan‘s spirits and demons and the lies that they get people to believe, especially those within the church! We are the ones that are targeted more often than any others because we already claim to belong to Jesus. If he can get one or many of us to slip up or believe something which is “twisted scripture”, or scripture that is true but has been altered so that it says something different or means something different, then that is what he wants to do. Corrupt the message and the messenger so that others will be deceived and follow a teaching which will carry others straight to hell.

In that way, Satan can take unwitting victims which may have been searching for the truth and lead them down a path to destruction without them ever realizing it until it is too late to do anything about it. Our scriptures show that he is good at that because he is the father of lies. Back in the garden of Eden, he twisted God’s words and added a question to make Eve question God. He did it again when he tempted Jesus by leaving out some parts of scripture to fit his purposes, although Jesus knew what he was doing we don’t! When he comes at us through a preacher or some other messenger that we trust, with words that sound right, we have to ask God to help us to understand the message so that we get the correct message.

If we don’t do that, Christians can be deceived just as easy as everyone else. Satan has been at this for thousands of years and can craft a lie that sounds true and he can do it well enough to fool even the angels of Heaven. That is how he got so many to follow him in his rebellion against God!

Now those that followed him are the ones who deceive us and cause us pain and disease and depression and heartache. The world that doesn’t know Jesus may not even know about the work that Satan and his demons and spirits do because they are already outside the love of God. Satan doesn’t care about them unless he finds out that they are going to give their lives to Jesus. Then they become a target because they can cause him problems, especially if they are going to be a strong in their witness for God.

Our lives are worth a lot to God because He loves us and He created us. When these spirits cause rifts in churches or families, Satan loves it. Especially when there is a death in the family. He will use that death to cause more anger and frustration between members of the same family when there wouldn’t be if he weren’t right in the midst of it. Prayer is the only avenue that we have in this to have power over him and what he does to us. That is why I am still praying for those who have lost a loved one recently because they do need it, whether they want it or not. God can do wonderful things in your life if you will let Him.

Give Jesus a chance in your life and you will never regret it, on this side of Heaven or when you get there. When we get there, we won’t have anymore pain or sorrow, or anything that comes from our enemy here on earth. We will have life everlasting and a home for all of eternity.

What will the Church do?


“Men and women have become “lovers of self’ (humanism), “lovers of money” (secularism), and “lovers of pleasure” (hedonism) “rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power” (2 Tim. 3:2, 4b-5), and the church in general has moved in tandem with the trends of modern society. In many ways, the society in which Noah lived, as described in Genesis 6:5-12, was not unlike the society we live in today!”   The Rapture Question Answered: Plain and Simple (Kindle Edition). By Robert Van Kampen

At the time of the Great Flood during Noah’s time, people were going about their business and their everyday life with no clue as to what was about to happen. Even though Noah was preaching to them and telling them that if they didn’t repent, there would be consequences and yet they did not listen. It sounds a lot like today. Our world and those living in it are going about their lives with no care about who they are serving. Most may not be aware of what spiritual condition they are in.

It is a sad situation that we find ourselves in, especially concerning the times that we are living in and those that are approaching rapidly. The church and those who profess to have Jesus in their hearts are also on the edge of a precipice, one that could calve out from under us like ice from an iceberg. Is the body of Christ, His church, ready for it? I am not sure if we are. Even if we are not in the time of the Tribulation right now, the testing will come. Some of those who teach that the church will not enter this time are clinging to  the rapture of the saints before the time of Tribulation which is coming and that may be the correct view. No one is sure about this, yet.

What will we do? What can we do as the representatives of Christ? Pray and seek Him, then follow Him and keep our eyes and our hearts focused on Him and His Word. If we don’t do those things, the world and our place in it will be sealed because either we will keep our faith in Him or we will lose our faith in Him and fall away from the church. Those that lose their faith will have the same fate as those who didn’t have any to begin with.

Those who stand by with Christ as their Savior and persevere with their faith intact, will be rewarded. What are you going to do when the church that you have attended most of your life denies that the tribulation has begun? I am not sure what I will do. The only thing that we have to hold onto is Jesus and His Word with our faith as the anchor.

The time  has come for us to be watchful of the times and the prophecy concerning them. It is a concept and a problem for the church because many don’t teach about prophecy and the book of Revelation and we need to be. Because we need to watch and be informed enough to be able to know what God’s Word says about the news that we hear and see everyday.

The End of Days?


According to the prophecy that is in the book of Revelation, I would say so. Mainly because of the number of prophecies that have already been fulfilled. In general, all of the prophecies that were to be fulfilled before the time of tribulation have been fulfilled. The only ones left are those which precede the seven-year peace accord that the Antichrist will broker between Israel and her enemies.

There are many people in the church today who think that we, the church, will be gone before this happens. I am not so sure. There is another view that shows the church being subjected to the first half of the Tribulation and then taken away to Heaven before the wrath of God is poured out on the world. It is a very compelling argument and it has many scriptures to back it up. I am very interested to see just what will happen in the next few years because I believe we are that close to the time of Tribulation which will come on the whole world.

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only”. Matt. 24:36; our Lord told His disciples this in the Olivet discourse after they asked Him about the signs concerning the end of the age. We are living at that time or immediately before it right now. I know there have been many people who have said that the end of the world is on this day or this day, but no one knows! Your last day on earth is your personal “end of the age” and we have no clue as to when our last days are, thankfully! The times that we live in are and have been told about many times in God’s Word, from Daniel and Ezekiel to Joel and Isaiah then to the New Testament and the book of Revelation in particular. This time in our world should not surprise anyone if you have ever read God’s Word.

There are many who say that they will wait until their last day to accept Jesus as their Savior, but you and I don’t know when our last day is! It is arrogance beyond measure to plan your life that way because as soon as you leave home, your life is in danger! Even when you are at home, you may die of a heart attack, stroke, or any other ways. We are not given X number of years and days to live, and we don’t know when our last day is, only God knows that. Thankfully, He keeps that a secret from us.

The end of the church age is near and we are living in the “last days” right now and have been for a long time. Since the state of Israel became a nation again, there are few prophecies left to be fulfilled before the times foretold in the book of Revelation. In the past sixty years technology has advanced at a rapid pace, the world has grown smaller due to the rise of the amount of technology that is available to us on a daily basis. We do have the ability to talk to someone on the other side of the world and see them talk to us by way of the Internet. The Bible says: “But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” Daniel 12:4

Our world is beginning to see some of the signs of the “end of the age”, but not the ones foretold that would be immediately prior to it. God loves us all and wants us to have a relationship with Him. If we choose not to accept the gift of the grace offered to us through Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we are the ones who will condemn ourselves to everlasting punishment! The day or the hour may not be known by us because our personal “day and hour” could be at any time since we are not guaranteed tomorrow.

Get into God’s word, the Bible and ask Him to reveal what His will is for you because it is important to Him and to you and your family. He loves you and all of us and doesn’t want any to perish, but if we wait too long our chance to accept His gift of Grace may pass us by and then all you can say when you stand before Him is “I am sorry, Lord, I waited too long and I didn’t realize my condition in time”. The most dreaded words that anyone could hear at that point are “Depart from Me into everlasting punishment because I never knew you”. There will be a tear in His eyes when you are told this, but it will be too late. Don’t let this happen, come to Him and give your life to Jesus before it is too late!

We live in unsettling days


There are so many things that are happening right now all over the world, especially in the Middle East, until some days it is hard to watch the news. We are not left alone in these times though because the Creator, our God, knows about everything that is going on and who it is affecting. Everything that is happening today and in the future is happening according to His plans. Satan is trying to derail those plans and fool the world into believing his lies, but in the end God will win and so will all of those who belong to Him!

Our lives are not in vain as long as we keep our faith and our life’s focus on Jesus and on the purpose that He has for us. The time that we have with our loved ones is short compared to the time that we will have with them in eternity. That is why we must be bold in our witnessing to our family and to all of those that we love! If you care about them, you have to witness to them! You must! This is not an option that we can ignore and we must not quit because the seed that we plant must be watered and yet the Holy Spirit will give the increase and call that person to Jesus.

God loves us all and does not want anyone to perish and yet, He knows who will come and who won’t. It is our responsibility to make sure that everyone hears the gospel of Jesus and His offer of salvation, given freely through grace if we will believe. Once we have told our friends and loved ones about Him, if they have not decided to follow Him, then we must pray without ceasing until our Lord calls us home. Shower them with prayer, love them regardless of their actions because once we have done our part it is up to God and His Spirit to bring them to Him.

In 1 Chronicles 16:8-9 says: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name. Make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him. Talk ye of all His wondrous works.”

We are to praise Him and tell others about Him so that they may be saved from the coming wrath during the Tribulation. Our time is not done until Jesus calls us homeward so we must do everything that we can to get the word out about Him and His grace and mercy. During these days and in the near future, our faith will be tested in ways that we have never experienced before. We must pray that our faith will keep us true to Him and that we will have the strength to tell others about Him, because that is what we are here for.

Jesus will come back for us when the Father says that it is time and no one knows exactly when that will be. Although the signs are showing up, a little at a time right now and will increase as we get closer to the Day. We have to watch and be ready for in that day one will be taken and one will be left and the sign will be seen by all people over the world. There will be no secret snatching away, everyone will see and then the truly Great Tribulation will come.

There will also be a falling away of those who are of the faith. There will be some who have been in the church and will lose their faith and begin to trust in lies. Those of us who stand firm in our faith and stay true to Jesus will come through and be rewarded.

1 Chronicles 16:10 says: “Glory ye in His Holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord”. We must put our trust and our faith in Him and pray that our loved ones truly seek Him too. God loves us all and will take care of us through trials and hardship, grief and in joyful times, in sickness and in abundant health. These He promised to those who love Him because He loved us first. How much more could be expected of our Creator and our God? What could we ask of Jesus who gave His life for all of us? He endured the torture and flogging and the crucifixion as a man, and yet was raised to eternal life three days later! In doing this, He conquered death and the grave and made a way for all of us to come to the Father through His sacrifice and by faith in Him. What more could we possibly ask of Him than this?

Many would say that they want a healthy life or more money, these things are temporary because they are from this world. Your life and its comforts last only a short time, like a puff of smoke compared to eternity with Him. While we are here, if we are believers, we must do the things that Jesus told us to do:

Mark 16:15-16 “and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”.

This is our commission and our duty for our Lord. It is the highest and best calling for any Christian and one that we should be honored to do. Go and tell because our days are not given us as promised, we have today but not tomorrow until it is here. While we have the time and the breath we must be about our Lord’s business and our Father’s. Tell others, pray for those to whom you cannot go to in person, give someone a hand toward the Hands that were pierced for our transgressions. He loves you all, can’t we do likewise for those that we love?

Are you good enough?


In our world today there are many people who think they are in pretty good shape to get to heaven. They don’t steal, they aren’t committing adultery, they don’t cuss, and they haven’t killed anybody (yet). So, they consider themselves to be pretty good but those that I listed are just four of the Ten Commandments. What about the other six? They mostly deal with pride and selfishness. How are you doing on those? What about having anything take God’s place, which is the first commandment? Is there anything or anyone which you value more than God?

Most everyone has trouble with those at one point or another. Everything that we have is a gift from God whether we purchased it or He brought it into our lives. Your children, your wife or husband are all gifts from God, you may not be happy with them all the time but neither is He happy about us and our choices, which is why we have the ability to choose. God wants us to have the choice and the ability to choose Him as an act of love not because we had no choice.

When we were still sinners and blind to the truth of God’s love…did His love for us still exist? Of course it did! Even the smallest detail regarding sin is a sin. The thought you had about someone having more than you do…is a sin. The envy that you feel toward someone you may not even know is a sin. Any word or thought that we say or think that is hurtful or to spite someone is also a sin. Speeding on the highway, taking a pen home from work, using something that is not yours without asking, these are all sins and we will be held accountable for them unless we repent and ask forgiveness.

The world and every created thing in it exist regardless of our position in it or our comprehension of it. The sun and the moon rise and set, the tides come in and flow back to the sea and the seasons change just as God said that they would from the beginning. Animals, birds, fish, and insects all live according to God’s plan because they don’t have a choice regarding what they are or what they do. They glorify God by living and reproducing. We should glorify Him in our walk with Him daily and by our character that everyone sees daily because to some people that may be the only reflection of Christ they ever see.

The same is true in our lives. We wake up and go to sleep at night. We dream, we wake in the morning, eat breakfast and get ready for another day. This is a ritual which will continue until we retire or we die whichever comes first. The true novelty of life is that it shouldn’t be a novelty; we should live it as real as it is and thank God every day that we have that privilege. The life that we are given to live is for God’s glory and His purposes. Whether we choose to work for Him and with Him is our choice but our life will be much greater for it if we choose to walk in His ways and follow His purposes.

While we are here, regardless of our vocation, we should use our time and energy to witness to people by our lives and what they see of Christ through our actions. Remember, the pay for God’s work may be small compared to what others get in this world but our retirement plan is out of this world! No one on earth could possibly measure what the streets of gold or your mansion in glory would be worth. The wonderful presence of God Himself and the fact that you will be with Him for eternity is also beyond anyone’s comprehension.

Our life will be more than we can imagine when we are in His presence and we will be for eternity if we are His. I can’t comprehend one thousand years or one million and eternity is far longer than either of those which is why Christ said that we live like flowers, here today and gone tomorrow. We have to allow Him to work through us while we are here because we only have a short time on this earth, and yet if we belong to Him we will have eternity to learn from Him and to be with Him daily. Heaven will be a place where we will experience freshness and joy all of the time because we will never be tired or run out of things to do, ever!

Even the apostle John couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing when he saw the vision of heaven and the angels and even God Himself. We truly haven’t a clue in regard to what is in store for us and our loved ones in Heaven or even when the earth is remade in the image of the paradise that it was in the Garden of Eden. I have left out reference to scripture in this morning’s sermon because the whole Bible from beginning to end declares God’s majesty and the magnificence of His creation. The sky, the trees, the birds and all the creatures that have ever been on the earth as well as the universe declares His creative power and wondrous love for us. He created all of these things for us to marvel at and consider because He is God, period!

I am bringing this message of praise and adoration before you because it is necessary to realize God’s presence and who He is. We are coming to the end of the church age and our time on earth will soon be done so the time to make your choice regarding who you will serve and where is now, not tomorrow or next week.

What would you say to a person who thinks they are good enough to stand in front of God and declare that they are eligible for heaven? Are you sure about your salvation? If you or a friend of yours thinks “I hope I can get into heaven when I die”, unless your “hope” is in Christ you won’t! If you are counting on your deeds to get there, you will be sorely disappointed. Our righteousness is as filthy rags without the blood of Christ because nothing that we can do on our own will ever be good enough.

John 3:16 says: “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.”

Give our life to Christ and ask Jesus to save you from your sins today. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow or even tonight so the time is now. Once you do that and are sincere in your repentance there will be no doubt about where you will go after you die. You will be with Him and then your life will really begin!