Category: Religion

Can you be useful to God?


UsefulVesselThere are questions about whether we can be used by God in this life, particularly when many of us are kinda broken in our lives. Some of us due to broken homes or broken marriages or families, then others are broken due to their jobs being stressful enough that they can’t leave the stress at work. Then there are some who experience trauma in the form of physical trauma from being in a war zone and sometimes the trauma is mental from many different sources.

So, in many ways, almost all of us are broken in one way or another. Some of us are more broken than others, but with God all things are possible. I mean, even a small piece of a crayon will still color a picture if you can hold onto it. God has a way of using your brokenness in ways that we can’t imagine and He can use it to His Glory! We may not think that we are useful, but I can guarantee you that God can use your gifts and your talent in ways that you haven’t thought of yet!

Each of us has many gifts and talents which God gave to us. Sometimes we don’t find out what those talents and gifts are until we are forced to by our circumstances. Occasionally, those circumstances take us to a point where we can only look up to God and ask Him to show us what we can do because we don’t feel like we can do anything. Then, there are those times which we have all had when we are down and depressed and feeling as if the whole world is crushing us and all we want to do is…let it.

Sometimes we are so broken in spirit and in our lives until we look for a way out, any way out and God is the only One who can actually help us become better, not only for us but for Him too. Can we be useful in God’s Kingdom even when we feel broken and useless? Yes, but it takes prayer and dedication to Jesus, as well as the study of God’s Word to bring you into a real working relationship with Him.

We are His Creation and He knows each of us far better than we know ourselves. He knows what we can do and the gifts which each of us has even if we haven’t found those gifts yet. So, don’t move away from God and service to Him and for Him. Seek Him out in your daily life with Him, learn from His Word, pray about your role in His Kingdom and then you can take your place in whatever He has laid out for you.

What is your focus?


What do you really want? Life and energy flows where you focus your attention in the world. God has given each of us enough energy and ability to accomplish everything that He has for us in this life. So what is your focus? Health and happy family life? Or has someone convinced you that you that your life can only go so far because God has limited us to be in this body.

God never said that. He created humanity to be an immortal being, but our ancestors listened to Satan and his lies and temptation and followed him. If they had only followed God, they and we would be in a far different world than we live in today. Although, God knew that they would be tempted and go along with Satan’s lie, so He made a plan, a way to cure the curse that our ancestors laid upon humanity.

The problems which we have today…the drugs, the guns, the wars, the cancers, etc. All of these are because we are still following demonic thoughts which we don’t realize are being put into our brains by demons! All of these “human problems” are there because of our minds listening to the wrong spiritual authority!

Even Christians think along the same lines because we think that we are thinking these thoughts on our own and most of the disease laden thoughts are placed in our minds by principalities under the direction of Satan. How can we get these kinds of thoughts out of our heads? By reading God’s Word every day throughout the year, every year! Keep God’s Word in your mind and think about it, meditate on it and then you will know when a thought creeps in which doesn’t line up with Scripture.

Make sure of your status as a Christian also. There are many people who claim to be Christians, even claim to believe in Jesus, but there are many churches that are closing their doors, why? Because many of those who claim Christian belief aren’t attending church. Belief in Jesus and thoughts of success and reward are not the same thing. Prosperity and fame are what the rest of the world looks at in their definition of real success.

Success in the eyes of God is believing in Jesus and following Him in this life, regardless of the problems or the blessings in our lives. We have a God who says:

          “My thoughts are not your thoughts,
               neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
          For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
               so are my ways higher than your ways
               and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9)

God doesn’t think like us, regardless of how much we try to make Him into a human being. He isn’t, He is our Creator and so much more! The “new age” Christianity says that we have the power to change our lives for the better just by thinking of what we want in this life. Really? I have been thinking about all the debt that I have had over the years and instead of bringing wealth into my life, I have more debt. How does that work? IF you want to believe this hocus-pocus type of “universal energy” is God, be my guest. But, don’t look in my direction after you die and say “He told me that this worked!”; because I did not.

God loves us and HE does want the best for us, but there isn’t a scripture anywhere in the Bible where God tells us or the Israelites to just sit down and think about what you want and it will be provided! If the universe granted wishes like that, there wouldn’t be any poverty or hunger in the world. God is Holy and righteous and there is no shadow of evil in His Person, but that does not mean that He won’t use evil in this world to accomplish His purposes. He used the Pharaoh in Egypt and Babylon and Assyrians as well to accomplish His purposes, so why not?

 

Sermon for today


1 John

Learning about the Son of God and Who He really is.

The apostle, John, wrote this book and the three which follow it. He did this to show to the churches Who Jesus was and is and to bear witness of Him. John saw while learning from Jesus, that satisfaction in life only came from Him. The Author of Life was the One which John was speaking and telling the churches in Asia about and he tells us today that Jesus is the Only pathway to eternal life.

The life and essence of Who God is was manifested in the person of His Son, Jesus the Christ. The only way for you and I to get to know God is through learning of and getting to know Jesus. God revealed Himself in Creation but most of us take that for granted as “nature” and nothing more. God also revealed Himself in the Bible, His Holy Word, but many people pay very little attention to that today as well. God’s final and most complete revelation of Himself was through the person of Jesus His Son.

This is why John refers to Him as the Word of Life. Why is this important? Because in the beginning, God brought much of creation into being just with His Word.

John even says it in his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” John 1:1

In the same way we can learn of God’s character and everything that we need to know about Him by learning about and reading the words of Jesus in the gospels. Your words reveal your character to those around you and in the same way, the Bible reveals God’s character and the Living Word, Jesus, reveals even more about God’s character. To know Jesus is to know God!

Have you come to know Jesus as your Savior? He came for that express purpose, to set those free who were captive to sin and their own lusts in this world.

The apostle John walked and lived with Jesus during His ministry before His crucifixion. He saw the miracles and heard what Jesus said and did on a daily basis, he knew Him. Jesus can be just as real today for you and me, if we will get to know Him through the Bible and the gospels. A sermon on Sunday morning is not enough to truly get to know Jesus, yet that is what many people base their salvation on. Why is it so important that we know that we are born into God’s family? Because if you are just playing church, then you are what Jesus called the Pharisees…a child of the devil! You are like a counterfeit dollar, a counterfeit Christian, one who acts “saved” but has not been born again.

Just as a counterfeit bill will be exposed when it is tested or when it arrives at the bank, a “Christian” who is not born again will be exposed when he or she stands before their final judgement. They may have done many good things in life and seemed to be a genuine Christian, but they will hear Jesus say “Away with you,I never knew you”. If you aren’t sure about your salvation, read 1 John 5:9-15 carefully. Seek Jesus through prayer because He will not turn you away.

John wrote many things in these letters and he wrote them to make sure that those who called themselves a Christian could be sure of their salvation. Not wondering if they were saved but knowing it absolutely! Are you in that position? Do you know without a doubt that you belong to Jesus and that HE knows you?

Yes, it is possible to know without a doubt that you know Him and that He knows you too. Belief in Him is the first step toward this and then walking with Him daily. Reading the Bible is required to get to know Him and the Father, yet most people in America don’t. They read devotional readings which have a verse or two, sometimes a chapter here or there, but it is reading God’s Word daily which brings your spirit and His into fellowship close enough that you can almost feel His hand on your shoulder.

God loves you and belief in Jesus and His atonement for your sins is the answer, the secret to life itself. Not the life which the world would pat you on the back for, but eternal life! The Life that we are promised in Him after this life is over. That is what we should be striving for more and more as we get older, but it is also what young people need as well. Why? Because if they aren’t learning about Jesus and hearing from or reading His Word, then they may never learn about Him until it is too late.

Disenchanted with religion


I got an email this morning with a link to an article which is disturbing, but very likely normal for the generation called millennials. After I read the article I noticed that the author had a point at the beginning of the article. Anyone, whether a teen or a young adult would question their faith in those instances. Many of us do, whether we are from the “baby boomer” generation or any of the later generations.

My point here is that when you find that your priest or your pastor or even your church doesn’t live up to the standards taught in the Bible, find another place to go. Read and study your Bible and do it at least once a year. I read through the Bible at least once every year and I find that when my reading plan is finished, I feel good about it but after a few days away from reading the Bible I feel empty.

I don’t feel better until I start reading it again, from the beginning all the way through. I used to wonder “how can someone do that?” After I read a book, unless it was a really good book, I usually don’t read it again, because it is like watching the same movie over and over. The Bible is totally different! It is alive through the Spirit of God and it reads you too. I usually find something new or get a better understanding of a scripture after I read it over again. I see or understand a part of it which I didn’t get before, that is why I read it through over and over again.

No, none of us are perfect but if we strive to live our life as a reflection of Jesus, then our life will be much better and it will be our witness for Him for everyone to see. One of the most disturbing problems in our country today is the low numbers of young people attending church services. It seems that by the time they reach puberty or maybe a little older, they decide that church is not for them.

Some parents are responsible for this as well because I see too many drive up to a church, drop their kids off or have their parents bring the grandkids to church and they don’t attend. Your children learn and do the things which they see you doing, so don’t blame them or the schools for their bad behavior when they get to college!

While it is true that many of our church leaders and celebrities and even our elected officials haven’t set a very good example for children to follow, it is their parents who are mostly responsible for how they turn out. If you read your Bible and pray and go to church then your children will pick up on it and usually they will follow your lead. Why am I bringing this up? Because if children don’t learn about God and Jesus and salvation at home, nobody else is going to teach them…especially the schools and colleges!

Don’t make God seem to be a punisher of your sins and don’t harp on how sleazy the TV shows are either. We are not holy even as Christians, we have been given the righteousness of Jesus through our faith in Him! God loves every person on Earth, but He doesn’t like their lifestyles sometimes or the “god” that some worship. The creation around us points toward God and His Son in all that is so perfectly set up and working in it. We are not an accident nor is the universe or our solar system, it was created for a purpose…God’s purpose, and we are too!week-of-creation

How do you know Him?


First, you have to get to know Him

Getting to know your Savior isn’t hard to do but you have to figure out if He wants to know you too! Have you felt drawn to Him in a church setting or when watching a religious program? If you have then you need to get your Bible and read a bit about Him in the gospels and Acts. When you feel His Spirit calling to you from His Word, don’t shut the book and walk away, ask Him to come into your heart and free you from this burden of sin.

Whether you have ever felt that you needed Jesus in your life or not, consider the fact of life after death. If you have never thought of it before, consider that God doesn’t lie. When you read about being condemned to hell in the Bible and it says that this punishment is for eternity…that is what it means. This is not a joke!

God loves each of us deeply but if we don’t take advantage of the salvation offered to us through Jesus His Son, then we are being foolish and following Satan’s steps saying “I will do it myself”; but you can’t! We can’t do anything to bring salvation to ourselves. If that were possible, then Jesus died and was raised again for no reason and God doesn’t do anything for no reason!

God knows you intimately. He designed your DNA and He knows exactly how you are going to act in any situation. What you will do, what you will say or not say, how much you will give at church or if you don’t give at all…He knows these things about you better than you know them yourself. He will come into your heart and redeem you from the sinful life that you have lived before, but only if you are willing to ask Him to do so and you really mean it!

God doesn’t create people who can’t know Him, but it is your fault if you don’t. The world around us testifies to His glory and His power, you don’t need a church or a pastor to tell you this. The stars in the sky and the sun and moon also testify to His power and glory, but if you think all of that just happened because there was a huge cloud of dust in space then you won’t get it.

I watched a show that I have never watched before last night called Lucifer. If you have watched it you know what it is about. Satan came to Earth and paraded around as a man, consulting with the police and helping them find criminals. My point here is this: without them knowing or realizing it, they told a true Biblical statement last night. One of the characters was talking with Lucifer and accused him of causing people to go to hell and he very plainly told this person that it wasn’t him doing that it is each of us choosing to do so! Of course this person didn’t believe him but in the end of the story, he ended up on a “hospital bed” in hell thinking that he had another chance at life.

You get to choose whether you are following Jesus and decide to live your life according to His teachings or you can follow your own ideas and never give Jesus or God another thought. Go fishing or hunting on Sunday morning and don’t worry about reading your Bible and praying for your family. But at the end of your life whenever that may be, you will stand before God’s judgement and testify that you refused to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and you will be cast into hell! You will know that your example has very likely doomed your children to hell as well because you did not tell them about Jesus because you didn’t know Him.

Unless they actually seek out Jesus on their own, without your example or your leading them to church they will follow you right into hell. Unless God has His hand on their lives, each person that you have come into contact with cannot say that you exemplified the love of Jesus in your life. Don’t turn away from Him. Make sure that your life and your witness for Jesus makes a difference in someone’s life.

TaketheGospeltoAll

Strive for God’s Peace


thePeaceofGod

Amen

Christianity and religion


These two words are not the same thing. Religion covers many different types of worship, while Christianity is only one of the many. Why am I writing this piece? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

So, which are you following….Jesus the Christ or a religious observance of a lifelong habit?

We can make a religion about anything and we can be religious about anything and it doesn’t have to be a true religion at all. It can be a hobby or your family or your job, it can also be going to church because you have done it all of your life. Sunday morning comes and you do what you have always done, eat breakfast and get ready for Sunday school and church.

But, what will you do when that isn’t enough? What will happen on the morning or the night when Jesus comes for His Bride, the church, and you hear about the devastation on the news the next morning? What about your faith and belief in Jesus then? Will you be angry at Him or with yourself because you didn’t read the Bible and didn’t take the messages seriously?

These are questions which need answers and need them NOW!! Why? Because, He could come tomorrow or tonight or next week, we just don’t know the day but there are no other prophecies which need to be fulfilled before He comes to get the church! If you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine, but what will you do when you find that your habit of going to church wasn’t enough?

Being in church because your grandmother says you should go is not going to save you. Sitting in a pew and listening to a sermon, and maybe reading the verses which the preacher tells you to read is not enough. Going through the motions of being a Christian to please other people’s idea of who you are doesn’t cut it with God! HE can see your heart, your true self and He knows if you are REAL or not.

God sent His Son to live as we live, to teach His disciples the way to know God and to be saved by belief in Him and then die on a cross and rise again on the third day. After His resurrection, He taught them for another forty days and then told them to go into the world telling others of the gospel and baptizing them in His name. They did their part even when they were stoned, beaten, whipped or locked in prison and then most of them were killed while doing what Jesus had told them to do.

The only disciple which died of natural causes was John who wrote the book of Revelation. Will you read and believe in Jesus the Christ, your Messiah and Savior? Give your heart to Him and seek your salvation through belief in Him and follow Him every day until He does return!

IamtheWay

The shed blood of Jesus Christ


1 Peter 1:13-21
13 Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

17 And if you address as Father, the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

john_3_16_17_scripture_memory_card-raf7013e639264b87b918bea9971565b3_vgbaq_8byvr_540Sin deceives you because its roots are from the deceiver, Satan. Sinful actions can and will destroy your life in many ways and in the end of this life, it will bring eternal death which is eternal banishment from the presence of God.

The only way to save yourself from sin and the consequences of it is to believe in Jesus and the blood which He shed for us, each of us, on the cross. The Son of God gave His life for you and for me…He didn’t have to but He wanted to do it. Because He loved each of us far more and deeper than we can know or comprehend.

He redeemed us from sin through His blood shed on the cross for you! The only action needed on your part is belief in Him and the atonement bought by His blood.

Colossians 1:19-22 King James Version (KJV)

19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Do you understand what God has done for us? For you and for me? Each person who has ever lived in this world, before the Flood and up until now, is born with a natural bent toward sin! I mean you don’t have to teach anyone to lie and you know it as well as I do.

Tell a toddler not to do something or eat something and you can see their wheels turning trying to figure out how they can get away with doing exactly that! If you are able to catch them right after doing it, whatever it may be, ask them if they did what you told them not to do. Even with crumbs from those cookies on their clothes they will tell you no, they didn’t do that.

In life you see many people behaving exactly the same way, even if they are supposed to be grown-ups. Why is that? It is because until you have a changed heart through the Spirit of God living within you, you are a sinner from the day you are able to decide to do something which you were told not to do! God’s will for your life is to glorify Him in all that you do and the only way for us to do that is to believe in Jesus and the atonement that He bought for us and ask God’s forgiveness based upon that belief.

Now, many religions teach that you can work out your salvation by yourself but that is not true. If that were possible, Jesus died for nothing! No amount of gold or silver or any amount of good works that you or I do in this world can bring salvation to your soul, only belief in Jesus can do that and accepting His atonement for your sins. If you can’t or won’t do that, then you have condemned yourself to hell.

Please, don’t go there, because hell was not made for humanity at all. It was made to punish angels who rebelled against God’s rule and authority including Satan or Lucifer if you know him by that name. Because of deception and our own stubbornness, many people are going to hell and it won’t be a party or a friendly place to be for eternity at all.

Make sure of your salvation in Jesus soon before the church is taken from this Earth, because it is going to happen soon. Plan on being part of that company.

 

Resting in God’s Presence


In our world today we live almost twenty-four hours on and get very little actual rest even when we do sleep. Many of us have trouble sleeping, as I do, and take medication to “help us along”. In reality and physically we are sabotaging our restful periods because our body feels that if we don’t take something to push us into sleep, then we won’t get much if any!

I am determined to give prayer and some exercise a try to NOT take anything to help me get to sleep or to stay asleep. We aren’t supposed to be dependent upon pills to sleep but today with all of the electronic screens around us, scientists have confirmed that we are responsible for our sleep being unrestful and infrequent. God never designed us for all of the technology which is available to us today. We are supposed to put them down and give our brains time to wind down at some point, but do we?

Many of us do not. Young and old have e-readers and phones and laptops and flat-screen TV’s either in our bedroom or near us all the time and the light from those screens has an effect on us that people in the past generation didn’t have to deal with. Just twenty years or so in the past, we didn’t have e-readers and cell phones with screens, we didn’t have laptops and tablets which we could play games on or read books on. Since all of these came out there are more prescriptions for sleep aids and more ways to help us sleep than there ever was before.

God loves each of us and gives us a certain amount of energy to get through our days work, then we are supposed to wind down and give our worries and our problems to Him and get some restful sleep. I pray that you will try to do this just as I will, and hopefully we can get some true and honest rest without medication. Amen?

Do you know God’s name?


OnlyJesusIf I asked this in church or on the street, most people would just look at me funny. They might ask “What do you mean ‘do I know God’s name?’? It’s God! Well, yes and not exactly.

Names in the ancient Near East often functioned differently than names do today. In addition to identifying a person’s family or lineage, names were thought to reveal the nature of a person as well as some of their character. God’s name in Hebrew does that in many ways and there are fifty-two names referring to God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Many times we read in our English Bible the name of God translated as Jehovah but in the Hebrew it is YAHWEH, although you will not find this written out completely because it is the Holy Name of God. It will be abbreviated. God’s names and the names for Jesus and the Holy Spirit all point to their nature, their innate character being distinct from each other and yet One as the Godhead, Three in One.

Each of them has a specific purpose and power, yet all of them are God. So how can we learn to recognize God in all of these names? By studying the Bible, praying about His nature and His character, seeking Him in Scripture and in everyday life! This is what we are supposed to be living out in our lives as Christians and followers of Jesus after all! So why do people seem to freak out when God’s true name is brought up or the name of God is shown as Adonai, the Lord? Because His nature and character is pure and holy, that is at least one of the reasons!

I won’t go into all of God’s names or the names of Jesus, but all of the names in Scripture describe His character and His attributes, just as many names of people in the Bible described their position or their family tree. Why bring God’s name up now? Because we have abandoned our respect and honor of His name, because we don’t revere names much at all anymore.

God loves us with a love that is boundless and deep and He has this for each of us because He designed each one of us to be or rather to have character traits which reflect Him. Whether we do so or not is our choice because until we choose to follow and believe in Jesus, we can’t reflect God in our lives. Before we are saved by Jesus, we are tarnished by sin, no matter how much good we try to do on our own.

Yes, donating lots of money can help many people in certain situations, if it is given to the right organization. But many who do this are doing it for tax purposes, getting something in return for their “help”. But, does it translate into more eternal rewards? Not unless you are doing it out of love through salvation by belief in Jesus.