Category: Salvation

To sin or not to sin…


I want to apologize for not publishing any posts yesterday. I got caught up in taking care of my home and I didn’t even have my own Bible study time.

Now…this is something that I read a little earlier this morning and I thought about sharing what the Bible actually says about that three-letter word…sin.

“I realized that if I, as a Christian, died living in active sins and came before God, I would be judged and condemned to Hell because after putting on the perfect garment of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, I had dirtied my robe and had refused to repent of active sins.” This belief is not Biblical at all even though it is taught and preached in many churches. The teaching that should be taught is that IF you have given your heart totally to Christ and you are saved by the Holy Spirit and changed from the person you were into a “new creation”, even that un-intentional sin is forgiven. IF however, you have not been saved as a new creation and you are living in a state of active sin, then you will go to hell.

There are many who believe that they are saved by their knowledge of Jesus and they’re “going through the motions” like going to church and prayer and occasional reading of the Bible. This is not salvation, it is knowledge of Jesus and that is all. This is a deception that has been placed into many sermons and misquoted by many so there are many who actually believe it. You are not a Christian by association and you don’t become one just because your grandmother said that she has been a Christian all of her life.

Being and becoming a Christian only comes to each of us when God touches our heart and breaks it spiritually so that we know that we need Jesus. At that point, we will seek Him in prayer whether we are driving our car or we are in a revival, or wherever we may be. We KNOW that we need Jesus and we need Him NOW! Don’t turn away from that knowledge when it comes to you. God touches you and me for a purpose and because He loves each of us.

The honor of prayer


The fact that we can come into God’s Presence and ask for anything is beyond awesome and humbling, yet many people don’t take advantage of it until something in their life is going sideways. The fact that we, as Christians, have the entire Trinity of the Godhead willing to hear our prayers even about dumb things is astounding! God loves all of humanity enough that He hears whenever someone begins to confess and come to Him for repentance and salvation. I can’t even imagine the depth of love that is required for Him to even be tuned into the human race in that way!

We have the honor of being able to go into the presence of God, the Creator of the Universe and everything in it. Have you ever considered our privilege, that we can do this? God is much more than any personality or leader on Earth. He is Holy and perfect and the Creator of all, yet we can even come to Him and ask about our lost keys or our glasses. It sounds crazy but He wants to be involved in your life and mine, even in the little things. All that we do and have has come to us because of His grace and blessing toward us because of Jesus.

We have so much simply because of the grace of God and yet we act as if we are spoiled children. We want more and we want it now! God loves us and He will only grant to us those things that He deems worthy for us to have. Degrees and education are great but have you considered that the apostles were not “learned men” yet they started His Church and their teaching, inspired by the Holy Spirit, has changed the world and it is still being changed until that day when the Church is taken up.

Come to the Living Water


Jesus, the Living Water, came to us to redeem and refresh and bring Life to everyone who will believe. The Son of God was separated from His Father while He hung on that cross for you and for me and for the whole world. He had never been separated from God the Father but for those few hours that He took our sins…He was. During that time He took the sins of the entirety of the human race and He bore those sins and their consequences on Himself. The pain, the heartache, and the guilt of ALL of humanity’s sins.

He also endured the rejection of His people and all of the punishment of the scourging and the nails and the agony of having to raise Himself up, on His nail-pierced feet in order to breathe and to say the words that needed to be spoken before He gave up His spirit. He gave His life so that we could have an abundant eternal life with Him. It isn’t a promise of wealth or privilege, it is much more than that. It is the promise of eternity in His Presence. Don’t turn away from Him when you feel His call on your heart and your life. Drink deeply of the river of living water from Him.

Life and a mayonnaise jar


The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and fills it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “YES”.

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – God, family,

children, health, friends, and favorite passions. Things, that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else — the small stuff.” he said.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “There is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you…” he told them.

“So… pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Worship with your family. Play with your children. Take your partner out to dinner. Spend time with good friends. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap. Take care of the golf balls first — the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled and said, “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.

So no matter how full your life is with Facebook and Twitter and Tik Tok and all of these other places that people flock to today…always leave room for friends and family.

Know that I am God…


Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/psa.46.10/7415

Amen

Prayer…


Everyone is so connected these days. When I was growing up, we had to come home to make a phone call or use a very antiquated device called a “payphone”. Life was very different during the seventies. We need to remember this in this connected world we have now: God is never out of reach.

Prayer, for a Christian, is a direct line to our Savior and therefore to God Himself. We can talk to Him at any time and from any place. No antenna is necessary. He is always available to hear our prayers and He can answer them as well if you believe. God is waiting for those who will come to know Jesus as their Savior and He knows who will believe and who will not.

Prayer is a lifeline that connects us to our Creator and our Father in Heaven and we should use it to thank Him for today and for all of the blessings that we have been given every day. It doesn’t matter if you are one year old or one hundred and one, God gave you all of this time to serve Him and we should thank Him for it. Many of us have aches and pains and we wake up with them and go to bed with them every day but don’t blame God for them. Thank Him that they remind you that you and I are human and with these trials, however hard or easy they may be, we are made stronger in our faith if we trust Him to get us through each day.

Prayer is useful in every circumstance, whether it is thanking Him for your meal or praising Him for the blessings that have come your way. Even when trials come in the form of cancer or COVID, seek Him as your Physician and your trial will be made more bearable because you know that He is there working toward your best outcome.

Live in peace with those around you


Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Hebrews 12:14 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/heb.12.14/36056

Amen

Beauty…


…if you want to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. Dolly Parton

This bit of wisdom can be applied to many things. In life, in business, in your marriage, or in any other relationship if you want to see the beauty of it then you have to live through the tough times as well. This is something that seems to be missing in our culture and in the way that we, as a country, have learned to handle trouble. If you watch the news at all, you can see that we don’t handle trouble very well today. When there is an argument about anything, someone gets shot and sometimes killed because of the argument. Which was probably over nothing.

We have not learned, nor have most of us been taught, the power of faith and prayer and being submitted to God. In the last forty years or so church attendance has dropped quite a bit and with this “pandemic” many people have used it as the reason to just stop altogether. Why? I would think that during a time of trials we would need God even more. Some are choosing to stay home and “watch church”. Have you ever noticed how the entire family acts when this is done, especially today? Everyone has their phone out playing games or watching videos or texting. Nobody is actually paying any attention to the sermon on TV. They couldn’t answer one question about the sermon.

We, as a nation, have lost our most valuable resource and that is the time that we spend worshiping our Creator. Reading Bible verses is okay, but do you ask God to show you what they mean to your life? The beauty of a relationship with God is that He loves you more than anyone else and He wants to know you by what you talk to Him about and how you pattern your life after His Son. He already knows you in minute detail but He wants to hear you ask Him for the things that are dear to your heart. Not games or cars or a new phone every other year or so, but a real relationship with Him. Why? Because you are special to Him.

God created each of us to be like Jesus but He also gave each of us a mission that nobody else can do. Every father has a mission to raise their children to know Jesus by being an example of Him to them. They are to read the Bible and tell their children about what they find so interesting in God’s Word. We, as parents, have this responsibility given to us by God when we are called to be part of His family. We have a responsibility outside the home too. The people that we work with and the people that we meet should know that we are Christians without us telling them.

Jesus should shine out of our life in such a way that there is no mistaking that we belong to Him. Is this hard to do? For some it is, particularly at first. When you are a new Christian, you want to go around telling everyone about this wonderful Savior. But…your old friends just want you to come back and be like you were before. When you felt convicted of your sinful ways and you asked Jesus to come in and cleanse your life so you could follow Him, your heart was changed. You aren’t the same person that your friends knew. You are different. But you have to work as keeping this change fresh and alive. That is what Jesus meant when He said to “take up your cross and follow Me“.

We have to push the old thoughts and feelings away every day. Study God’s Word and wash your mind with the Living water of His Word so that your thoughts will become more like His. A chapter every day can do this, you don’t have to read a whole book in the Bible every day. But most new Christians are not even told that they should be doing this. They go down and accept Jesus, then get baptized and while they are standing there dripping wet and new in their faith…the church fails them. Most aren’t mentored into the Word, they are like a newborn child but everyone expects them to figure it out on their own. Would you do that to your baby? Think about what Dolly Parton said, “to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain”. Teach them, show them, help them to be more like Jesus one step at a time.

The blessing of the Lord


24 The LORD bless thee and keep thee:

25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

This is the blessing of the Lord for the children of Israel but it can be applied to the church today. If we will do His commandments and be His children as the New Testament says. That does not mean that we only go to church on holidays nor do we only pray to God when we think we need Him.

Walking with Jesus and God the Father is a daily walk. A daily practice that we should do gladly because God chose us before the beginning of the world. We are and have been chosen to be His representatives in this world and until that day comes that the church is taken up…I will be writing here and putting the words that He gives me out here so that others might find Him and come to know Him as their Savior.

Psalm 1


Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1:1‭-‬6 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.1.1-6.KJV