Category: Salvation

If not now…when?


The world is experiencing such turmoil from natural disasters and from wars and diseases that seem to change on a daily basis. There are many who are asking why, but all of this was foretold in the Bible. Of course, there are so many in our country and around the world who don’t put much stock in the Bible or the prophecies contained within it. So why would people of influence pay any attention to an “old book” as many refer to the Bible? Most are interested in what they can see and touch, not in an “old book” that Christians pay attention to.

If not now…when? When will people believe? God has placed so many signs in the heavens and in each of us as well as the world itself, yet most seem to ignore the signs all around them. The joy when a baby is born as well as the miracle of the birth, the eyes that each of us sees with that even the theory of evolution cannot explain. These things that we take for granted all of the time only come from God and His grace toward us.

Jesus came to live as one of us and He did so in such a way that He was able to die on a cross for our sins…all of our sins. He was and is the Lamb of God just as John the Baptist said but one day soon He will be coming back to rule the world as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I suggest that any of you who do not know Jesus as your Savior, please seek Him out soon and invite Him into your heart.

If you don’t know Him yet…why not? If not now, when will you seek Him to be your Savior?

Where does your help come from?


My help cometh from the LORD, Which made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/psa.121.2/56534

Amen

His example to the world


Amen

Consider our world…


For over one hundred years, give or take fifty, most students have been taught that evolution brought all of the species into existence including us. But if you buy a book like the Photo Ark and look at all of the colors and the range of species and everything that is even in just the amphibian branch of life…there is no way that our world has been around long enough to have brought that many different species into existence.

And that is just one branch of an enormous tree of life on this planet! The mind of God can think up all of those variations and differences but to even imagine that pure chance and natural selection is purely ludicrous. Even Darwin decided that there is no way to explain the eye in its formation because it has to work from the beginning or it isn’t an eye. There is no trial and error. God is the Creator and only He could come up with all of the diversity that is in the ocean and on land and under the ground. From an ant to an aardvark to a giant condor to the blue whale and everything that has been here on this Earth, from the largest to the smallest. Only God can do that.

Life on this planet is diverse in the extreme, yet every species has a specific place that they thrive in and a specific niche that they fill in the natural world. God designed all of this so that we would realize that chance just can’t produce the awesome world that we live in. Why did God do this? Because, as He said in the Bible, man cannot live without the knowledge of the Creator.

I have been reminded of the great love that God has for each of us, and to say that it was startling would be an understatement. It brought me out of a dream at three this morning. God does have a way of doing that sometimes.

When you feel or hear His calling in your heart please don’t turn away. He is the Creator and He knows you better than anyone…even yourself. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life”. The key words here are “God so loved the world” and “whosoever”. God doesn’t pick and choose because He loves everyone and whosoever believes in Jesus as their Savior will have eternal life in Him and with Him. This is as deep as the theology goes. Seek Him while there is time because none of us are guaranteed to have tomorrow.

He lives!


Our Savior is not in the grave, He is at the right hand of the Father. This is the major difference between Christianity and all other religions. The other difference is that our “religion” is a relationship and not just a belief. Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior but I also have a relationship with Him because He came and died on the cross for your sins and mine. No other religious leader in the history of the world can claim this and all of the others are still in their graves.

God gave us faith to see a future with Him even when we can’t see it with our eyes. It is our faith that allows us to believe and know that our Savior lives! Jesus is the only way to heaven because it says so in God’s Word, so don’t turn away from His call on your life when you feel it, believe it, and know that He has provided you with an everlasting gift through your belief in Him.

Your eternity with God is a gift from Him to each of us through our faith in Jesus Christ. It is not a “religion” that someone made up or thought up or even dreamed up. In the two millennia since He went back to heaven there have been millions of people who have died for their faith in Him. Nobody would die for a lie, although in some cultures over the centuries many have given their lives for a “cause” that has no merit that compares to having faith in Jesus.

God loves you!

Keep focused on Jesus


Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/1ti.6.12.KJV

Amen

What difference can you make?


Can you imagine the difference that you or I can make in the world? Most of us don’t think that we can make a difference in the world. Yet, some of us do go into the world with a dream of making a difference. Some of those start political careers. Some start ministries to reach people who need to know Jesus as their Savior. Some begin to get people together and start a movement that will bring change to our society in one way or another. Which of these do you fit in? Which one will make the biggest difference in the world?

Most of us could not answer that last question because we just don’t know. Jesus’ ministry only lasted for three years but it began changing the world before the first century was over and it hasn’t stopped since. The mother of Moses did not throw her boy in the river to be drowned but she put him in a basket and he was raised as an Egyptian prince and later came back and freed the Israelites with help from God of course. His life had an effect on the lives of millions of people.

There are many stories like his in the Bible and in many other history books. Some of the stories are about people who didn’t seem to have influence or power but before their life was over God had used them in mighty ways. God has a plan for each of us even before we are born but the only way that we will find out about it is if we will seek His will for our lives and that only comes by faith and by reading His Word. God’s will is found all through the Bible, for His people, and for you too if you will listen to Him while you read it.

Some people try to discredit the Bible or the stories in it as myths or fables but most of them have found that when they try to do this, God always has the upper hand. He always shows us that He is in charge even when we don’t believe in Him. Even when we don’t want to believe in Him. Usually, that is when He shows you some truth that can’t be explained away other than with faith.

So…is it possible for someone from a small town in Mississippi to touch many lives with the message of salvation in Jesus Christ? It is because you are reading it or at least one of the stories that I have put here. Jesus came to Earth two millennia ago and His ministry only lasted for three years but with twelve disciples plus Paul, salvation and its message has been printed in nearly all of the known languages of the world! Most of the world knows His name and His message of salvation. Believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation and you will be saved!

That is all that the thief had to believe in and Jesus told him that he would be with Him in Paradise that day! No baptism, no ministry needed, no amount of money had to be given because let’s face it the thief couldn’t do any of those things. Don’t wait until you hear the news of the rapture of the church…give your heart and your life to Jesus today!

Amen

Love the Lord…


and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Deuteronomy 6:5 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/deu.6.5/2938

Amen

Joy comes in the morning


For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalm 30:5 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/psa.30.5/79900

Amen

What does God want from me?


This is a long post but it needs to be said. I pray that everyone who reads this will do so prayerfully.

That is the question that many people seek the answer to sometimes for many years before they find the real answer. God doesn’t need anything from us because He is the Creator and the sovereign Ruler of the universe. When we read the Bible, whether we are reading the Old or the New Testament, there is a recurring “theme” that you can see if you are attentive while you are reading it. You will find it in every book of the Bible and it is that God demands our obedience. When God says to do this or says do not do that, He isn’t really testing you although it could feel that way. He wants our obedience. Period.

Just as the test that He placed in the Garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God planted it there for a reason and that was to see if mankind would follow His instructions to the letter. Was the tree supernaturally powerful? Did it have some strange knowledge to bestow on mankind? Yes, it was supernatural because “their eyes were opened when they took a bite from its fruit”. Yes, in some way it did give them the knowledge that they should be ashamed of their nakedness but it was their disobedience to the command of God that started them down the pathway of sin and its consequences. This was only the first instance of disobedience but it started the ball rolling in a manner of speaking.

We are only three chapters into God’s Word at this point but the die is cast from this point on. Did Adam and Eve regret their decision? Of course, they did! While they were in the Garden, they didn’t have to work for their food at all. It grew on every tree around them. None of the animals were dangerous because Adam was their caretaker. But after they disobeyed God, the animals feared Adam and they had become more dangerous because of their fear of him. God had killed two animals to make clothes for Adam and Eve and before this time the Bible doesn’t even speak of the death of any animal. But blood had to be shed to cover their sin.

How long had Adam and Eve been in the Garden? We are not told their ages until after they were sent from the Garden and even then we don’t find out until after Seth is born. Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, so that could’ve been how many years they had been outside the Garden. So you could look at it as there was no aging while they were in the Garden of Eden. It was their disobedience that brought aging into their lives because God had told them that “if you eat of the tree that I told you not to eat of, you will die”. Aging is a slow death. Not as slow today as it was back then, but that is the best way to look at it.

My point is that once disobedience began in the Garden, we have never been able to undo its effect on our lives. God has always wanted and required obedience to His laws and His commands but most of the time we only partially obey Him. He asks us to give a tithe (10% of our income), we give 2 or 3 percent if we give at all. He asks us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, yet many of us don’t even know our neighbors. Jesus asks His followers to take up their cross and follow Him and we can’t even figure out what that means! It means to crucify yourself daily and follow Him doing His will while you are able. Most of us choose not to crucify any part of our old lives even after we have given our hearts to Jesus. We just continue on with our lives, but maybe we don’t cuss as much or drink or smoke like we did before but would anyone who sees us every day know we are a Christian unless we told them?

Every book of God’s Word has a story of obedience or disobedience toward God’s commands in it. For most of mankind’s history, we haven’t been very good at being obedient. A small percentage of us may be obedient up to a point but there are very few who are totally obedient to every command of our Lord and Savior. I needed to write this more to myself than to anyone else because I know that I haven’t been obedient enough in my life and for that, I have asked God’s forgiveness. Maybe you should too.