Category: Religion

No boundaries


In the world today there are borders which are not visible on the ground which separate nations from each other. But there is no boundary between us and God Himself, at least not anymore. When Jesus said that “It is finished” on the cross the curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies ripped from top to bottom. This didn’t happen because of an earthquake or by someone cutting it but because of the Holy Spirit giving access to God’s mercy seat.

Why did this happen? Because the sinless Lamb of God had died and paid the price for all of mankind, not just a few people but for all who had lived and died in the past, the present and in the future where we are today! God’s love doesn’t have any boundaries, regardless of the rhetoric that we hear in the world. His love is such that He gave a part of Himself, His Son, to pay for all of our sins so that we can have access to Heaven and to Him. Nobody else would do that!

The question for us today is this: Do you set boundaries in your life where God is NOT welcome? If you do then you are limiting His work in your life and through you for the world around you. God loves each of us and He will draw each of us to Him when we feel the conviction of our sinful ways. That conviction comes through the Holy Spirit and each time that you feel it, if you have pushed it away or ignored it, it will get a little bit weaker and not quite as loud. Until one day, you may not feel it or hear it at all.

Don’t push Him away. Listen for His call on your life because it doesn’t matter what you may have done in the past, God is willing to forgive and take you into His family. Paul and Moses had both committed murder, yet God used them in mighty ways! Your life can be a witness to others who may believe wrongly that they can’t be saved, but they can be if they are willing to repent of their sins and follow Jesus.

The Bible is God’s Word and it is not just some old dusty book written by a bunch of old men! It is the Living Word! The Bible is a testament of God’s love for us and it is the tangible representation of the Son of God that we have today. John called Him the Living Word and that is what the Bible is as well. Each person who reads it gets a different message from the same passages because He speaks to each of us differently.

Don’t turn away from Him or the study of His Word because it is the mind of God which was given to us for instruction and training and for wisdom in this life! There is no education in the world which contains the wisdom in this Book except maybe a few seminaries where future pastors are trained. God loves us and He is coming back soon, so be watchful and be praying for those who haven’t given their lives to Jesus.

Relationship


RelationshipGodsBlessing

Today…


For those of us in America, today is Mother’s Day and it was celebrated in most churches this morning.

Mother’s do an amazing job of being much more than just a wife or a mother. They are teachers, housekeepers, taxi drivers, coaches, nurses, chefs, gardeners, and so much more. Do they do all of these jobs? Yes, many of them perform all of these jobs during the school year and every day during the summer too. When do they find the time for themselves? Most of them make the time in small increments…a little bit here or there.

The time which they give to themselves is tiny compared to the time that they give to their children and family, but they manage it in stride usually without missing a beat. God gave women a remarkable amount of strength and fortitude and so many talents until many of them are overflowing with it. Mom’s are the original multi-taskers and they have been doing it for a long, long time!

God shows much of His ability and love through the actions and the abilities of our mothers because that is how we perceive Him and get a small glimpse of His love for us. For many of us, our mother’s love may be the only human manifestation of God’s Love that we feel during our life. Many fathers are too busy or maybe they were raised to not show their emotions to others.

I could tell that my Dad loved me when we were together, but he rarely said so. My grandfather wasn’t so open with his feelings either but I could tell that he loved me and was proud of me. God loves each of us more deeply than we can understand or know until we are in His presence. Yet, God’s love is evident in the Bible because of all of the things which He has done for the world even if most of the world doesn’t love Him or follow Him. God still cares for us which is why He sent Jesus to die on a cross and rise again…just so we could have a hope of eternity!

His love is deeper and wider than we can know until we are with Him, so make sure of your salvation while there is time. Life is short, eternity is not, so make sure of where you will spend it.

 

God’s Love


God’s love is more than we can believe or understand and that is why we have so much trouble believing. Even when you read the “Love chapter”, 1 Corinthians 13, most of us think this is referring to love that we have toward each other. In reality, it is a human description of God’s Love for us. Why do I call it a human description? Because the Bible was written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, just as the words here are, but our vocabulary is limited by the words that we use.

God’s love for us is so…deep and unknowable until we can’t begin to describe it in terms which we can understand. We can compare it to our love for our children, whether we are a father or a mother but even that falls terribly short. Yes, we love our children but God loves each of us in a deeper way that we just can’t comprehend. Does He really love those who hate Him? Yes, and He loved the world enough that He sent Jesus to die in our place to provide each of us a way to come to Him through His Son. Whether we accept that invitation or not is still our choice though.

God doesn’t want slaves or instinctual service from us, He wants a relationship with us! It doesn’t matter what we have done or who we are, He wants to know you and He wants you and me to get to know Him!

1 Corinthians 13 New International Version
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

This is the description of how we should be to our wives and our children as well as toward each other in the church. It is a description which falls short of the love which God has for us, but it is how we are to be toward each other in Christ. Can you do this without Him? Partially, but not completely. Living and loving in this manner is not something which we are able to do on our own. God designed us to be this way but when sin entered the Garden our Spirit was cut off from God until we realized that we truly need Him in every way, every single day!

Don’t turn away from God and His love for you. He longs to show it to you in ways which you may not be able to see right now, but He will if you just give Him a chance in your life to change your heart and draw closer to Him each and every day.

Pathways to eternity


I know that most of you have heard the songs about the respective pathways to eternity. There is a “highway to hell” and a “stairway to heaven”, but have you ever wondered why such a difference? Well, it likely has something to do with this…
Pathways2Eternity It kinda makes sense when you read it in the Bible because it says that the road which leads to hell is a broad road and many will find it. The pathway (stairway) to heaven is narrow and there will be few who find it.

God and Jesus never said that the way to Heaven would be an easy path to find or to travel on but the gateway to Heaven is a narrow gate or road and few will find it.

Many people in the world will find themselves on a road with many other so-called “believers” yet they are on the road to hell. Why do I say it this way? Because there are many people who think they are Christians just by attending church services, whether they do so regularly or just occasionally.

Becoming a Christian is not so easy as just attending church, it requires that you turn to Him when you feel His calling on your heart. If you sit there with white knuckles and decide not to give your life to Him, then you have refused His calling. If you do this each time that you feel His call, the call on your heart will get weaker and weaker. That is how we quench the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives, even before it has a chance to change our hearts.

Please, seek Jesus and His Spirit to change your heart because eternity is a very long time to pay for a decision against accepting Jesus as your Savior.

 

 

Darkness and Light


In our world today we live in places of both darkness and light. Sometimes it can be seen or heard or reported in the news, sometimes it is more spiritual in nature. Particularly when someone you may know seems to go off the deep end unexpectedly when you don’t see it coming and nobody can explain any reason for it. Then there are times when we see an unexpected kindness in places where it doesn’t show up very often and it seems to grow by being passed on to others because of a kindness which a stranger did.

No one seems to understand how either of these can be seen in our world. The darkness which rises on our television screens when people are killed for no apparent reason. The light which shows up when someone either gives their life to save another or when someone does something for people they don’t know and didn’t have to do it but they did.

How can both exist in our world today? Because of the war between good and evil or God and Satan. This is the reason for both being seen in our world today. Sometimes or rather most of the time, we hear about the darkness more than we do the light simply because it gets our attention and it makes a better news story. Oh, there will be a small story at the end of the news where you will hear about a kindly man or woman who does something for others and they try to make it seem as if kindness was truly rare in our world.

Sometimes kindness and love really are rare in our world, but I believe that is because it doesn’t sell well. Kindness doesn’t make good news or copy for a newspaper. Evil or darkness makes really good news stories regardless of the media which picks it up. Also, we tend to pay attention to bad news more than we do when we hear about something which is good but unexpected. Why? For the same reason that the media picks up bad news… we look at it as more interesting, even when it may be a tragedy like the school shootings in the past few years.

If we are trying to follow in Jesus’ footsteps in our life we should be doing as much as possible to spread some kindness, some light into the world. Not for fame or recognition but to bring the world’s attention to Jesus and His teachings. A small kindness may not go very far but sometimes it goes a lot farther than you think it does.

We are special to God


YouAreSpecialHave you ever needed help which people cannot provide? Most of us have been through exactly that in our lives, especially before we found out that we NEED Him! There are many times in life where each of us truly needs God.

In truth…we need Him every day. Can we get through the day without Him? Yes, but we will likely make more mistakes during those times while we aren’t living each day with Him, following Him through the day.

I pray that you will seek Him out while you are yet living on this Earth because one day you will face Him and you will give an account of WHY you chose to live without Jesus.

If you believe that you are good enough to get into Heaven without Jesus, you may try…but it won’t work! We are not able to be completely free from sin on our own. We are only human and our nature from a young age is to be sinful. If you don’t believe me, tell a three-year-old or a five-year-old child not to touch the jar of cookies. Even when you are still in the room they will be working out in their head how they can do it.

Then, when they do get a cookie or two, ask them if they got those from the jar that you told them not to get into. They will most likely tell you “Nope, I didn’t get any cookies”. Many of us who are parents have heard this many times, it is nothing new. We are born with a sinful nature and even when we are too young to know that we are telling lies, we know how to do it and we don’t need someone to teach us how.

joyBe joyful in the Lord because He is thy Helper and your strength in times of trouble. God knows your trials and the problems that beset you in your days because there is nothing which is hidden from Him. Amen

 

 

 

Halleluyah!


AngelsRejoice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your eternity is in the balance and the location of your eternal life is the reward or the punishment. Reward if you will choose to be saved through Jesus and repent of your sinful life, if you refuse to repent and follow Jesus then your eternity will be in the lake of fire, not just for a little while but  “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name..”  Revelation 14:11

Depart from Me!


That is a terrifying pronouncement that I pray that no one will hear, but there will be many of them because Jesus said that there would be.

“21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’  Matt. 7:21-23

Have you done anything in Jesus’ name or for His Kingdom? Have you given your life and heart to Him for your salvation? Today is the very day of salvation, do not wait because you do not know whether you will have tomorrow or the next day in which to do this. God loves each of us yet He knows which of us will give our hearts to Him and which of us will not. Make sure when you feel the calling of the Holy Spirit, don’t turn away and ignore it because you may not get another chance to repent and learn to walk with Him.

My life has been given to me to preach the gospel and if I don’t, then I will be responsible for those who could’ve heard it and did not. Jesus is enough for each of us because He is our Savior and King. We have all that we need in Him because of His riches in glory, no matter our position in life on this Earth. God knows our needs and He will provide those for us as we need them. Luxuries and “wants” do not fall into the need category.

Does it take a highly religious person to serve God? What about a person who doesn’t know Jesus, can they serve Him? Both of them can serve a purpose in His plans and His dealings with others but unless they are saved by their knowledge and their acceptance of Him as Lord and Savior, they will not actually benefit from their service in eternity. Even the king of Egypt was useful to God while He was liberating the Israelites from slavery because He used him to turn down Moses’ requests so that He could bring down the gods of Egypt in the process.

Yes, God can use many people and even animals in His purposes, such as the donkey in the story of Balim and for Jonah to be swallowed by a great fish. The donkey carried our Lord’s mother to Bethlehem and carried Him into Jerusalem on the day of His triumphant entry prior to His crucifixion. Anyone can be used by God for His purposes but it is our job to accept His call and follow His lead in life so others will see Him through us.

Monday

Who is Jesus?


John 8:12-29

12 Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is valid because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 But even if I do judge, My judgment is true, because I am not alone when I judge; I am with the Father, who sent Me. 17 Even in your own Law, it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18 I am One who testifies about Myself, and the Father, who sent Me, also testifies about Me.” 19 “Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”
20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts, near the treasury. Yet no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come. 21 Again He said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews began to ask, “Will He kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
25 “Who are You?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say about you and much to judge. But the One who sent Me is truthful, and what I have heard from Him, I tell the world.” 27 They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father has taught Me. 29 He who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.

Why is the title of my sermon, Who is Jesus? Well, I want to know Who He is to you! Is He your Savior? Is He a prophet or a man? Is He the Son of God? Is He all of these?

YES!!! Jesus is all of these and more!

But…how many people think that He was just a prophet like Moses? There are many in the Middle East who think this way. The Jewish people mostly think that He was just a prophet like Moses. The descendants of Ishmael, those who are Muslim, believe that He was only a prophet and a servant of their prophet.

Jesus is part of the Trinity and the Son of God and yet He was also human, which is why He could understand us and our temptations and pain and our limitations in this life. But, He was also God and He proved it through His actions like healing the sick, bringing people back from death, and walking on water. Jesus also proved that He was more than a man in that He was able to hear and listen to God and to do everything that His Father told Him to do.

We may try to do those things and truly we can hear from God in our prayer time and we can try to do the things which He tells us to do but can we do them completely? No, we can’t be completely in His will and do His will every day, all of the time and accomplish it without mistakes. We are human and because of this and because of our human nature, we can’t perfectly be obedient to God’s will each and every day of our lives! But Jesus could do these things because He was fully human and fully God too.

Here is another proof of Who Jesus was and is:

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

So…what are we to do with Jesus? Are we to keep Him in our hearts and never tell anyone that we know Him? Do we ignore what the Bible says about Him and live our lives as if Jesus and God Himself don’t matter in our lives today? Do you know Jesus?

If you do know Him then tell others about Him and what He has done in your life. Do you live your life without Him? That is a very dangerous thing to do. Have you accepted Him as your Savior but you haven’t told anyone about Him. Why?

Living without Jesus is dangerous because when your life is over and you are standing before Him…what can you possibly do to justify your life’s choices? If you have accepted Him and have not told anyone about His influence in your life then you are being disobedient to His command to tell others about Him. Being a Christian by giving your life to Him and repenting of your sins is a gift from God and it is your choice when the Holy Spirit convicts you of your NEED of Him. Choosing to live without Him is a foolish choice in this world so I urge you to choose Jesus as your Savior before it is too late to make that choice.