Category: Salvation

Days…


There are days that I feel fine, then there are some days that I feel like not getting out of bed. Even Jesus had days that He dreaded but He knew that His mission and purpose was to fulfill the will and purpose of His Father. That is the what we, as Christians, should wake up to each day. Sure there are days that feel like a struggle from the moment you wake up, even before your feet hit the floor but God can give you the strength to get through this day and maybe tomorrow too.

He knows where your life ends and on what day that will be and He has planned for it. Have you?

Most of us live our lives as if we are going to live forever here on this Earth but that isn’t so. We prepare for retirement and many years into our future when we don’t even know what tomorrow holds. Only God knows what is going to happen even five minutes from now. We can’t see into the future even that far and that is enough to make me glad that He can see it and He has planned for it.

I was reading Jonathan Edward’s “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”, his sermon that sparked an awakening of religious fervor in colonial America. The words that he used and the length of his sermon would’ve angered many people today considering the fact that it was about four hours long or more at a time when air conditioning wasn’t a thing. He told of God being angry with us to the point of our lives being compared to hanging from a moldy rope over a boiling pot of flaming oil (his description of hell). Is God angry with us enough to threaten us with this kind of punishment? He is if we don’t choose to give our lives to Jesus and repent of our sinful ways. It is our sins that take us into that pit of hell. It is our decision to reject Jesus as our Savior that sends us to that place. God doesn’t want to send us there but when we reject Jesus we are placing our life and our future on the side of Satan.

Our days are numbered and only God knows how many we will have. Some of us may live a long life and some of us may not see tomorrow morning so make sure of your salvation before the night comes. You might wake up in His Presence and you will need Jesus as your advocate and Savior when you do.

Wisdom comes from God


The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Proverbs 23:24 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.23.24.KJV

Amen

Are we all guilty?


Every human after the fall is guilty of the same sin that Adam was guilty of. The sin of disobedience. Those of us who have chosen not to believe in Jesus for your salvation have disobeyed the call of God. If you have felt the call of God in your heart, it doesn’t matter if it was at church or a radio program or on the TV, then you should answer that call. Some people will answer and ask Jesus into their hearts and some will refuse.

So…are we guilty or not? Yes, we are all guilty of being sinners before we come to Jesus for our salvation. Can we be redeemed? Yes, even for the most heinous crimes imaginable and for the least crimes as well. Every sin, no matter how small, is equal in God’s sight! Sometimes we look at these things, meaning sins, with the wrong outlook. Stealing a pen is still stealing. Looking at a woman/girl with lust in your heart/mind is still adultery even if you never touch her. Your mind can conjure up all sorts of imaginings that you may not even be physically capable of doing sexually but it is still a sin in your mind. Our minds are the places where everything that we do and say or imagine comes to pass. That is why we should “capture every thought and bring it under the control of the Holy Spirit“.

Do we do this as Christians? Many times we don’t do it immediately so we have to ask Jesus to forgive us and give us the strength to capture it quicker when it happens again. It will happen because not one of us is perfectly able to do this. Jesus did but He was totally submitted to His Father’s will for His life and there isn’t a person on Earth capable of doing that today. Some may think that they can do it but they are being deceived by Satan.

Each of the Ten Commandments has been broken by preachers, teachers, carpenters and shepherds all over this world. It doesn’t matter what your occupation is but if you consider yourself a Christian and your heart has been changed to the point that you don’t do the things that you used to do…you will still fail in some way. We are human. Yes our heart belongs to Jesus and we read and study God’s Word but our mind can be tricked so easily into thinking something or imagining something that we shouldn’t. It takes prayer, every day, and seeking Him more than just once or twice a week to be successful in your walk with Jesus.

I pray that whoever reads this short message will seek Him out and give their heart to Jesus. Ask Him to come into your life and change you so that your life will be useful to Him from that point on. Then your eternity is secure and your life can be more than it has ever been or even more than you could imagine.

Be patient with each other


5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: Romans 15:5 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/rom.15.5.KJV

Living as a believer, we should be patient with each other. Many times in the world that we live in, we are too busy to be patient. Think about what the Lord has given you by His grace, even when you don’t deserve it. Why did He do that? Because He loves you!

God is with you


2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:2 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.43.2.KJV

You are chosen!


Each person who has given their lives to Jesus Christ was chosen to be saved by God. Have you ever felt His touch on your heart at a church service or while listening to a sermon on television? If you have felt that at any time in your life…that was when God let your heart know that you have been chosen. Why were you chosen? Because God has something for you to do and it is something that only you can do! There is someone that only you can reach for Him or maybe it is a ministry that He has given you and it is one that only you can accomplish.

God chooses the time of your calling and the way that you are called because He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows when your life will end but He also knows that you can do so many things for His Kingdom. There is some person, maybe a child or a grandchild, that only you can reach…only you can touch their life and cause them to seek out Jesus for their Savior. Why would they do this? Usually it is because of something that you do or say or maybe how you live your life. If God calls you to be a preacher or a teacher in the church then it could be something that you say to someone in your congregation or your class or even how you live your life. It is your testimony that can let people know Who your Savior is.

Each person who has given their lives to Jesus over the past two thousand years was chosen for a specific talent that each of them brought to God’s Kingdom. Some were chosen because of their influence on those around them. Some were chosen because of the message that they would be responsible for and where that message would go. But each of us was chosen because God loves each of us and He calls us to be His messengers to one another. Make sure of your place in His Kingdom while there is time to do so.

Seek the Lord and learn of Him


5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. Psalm 130:5 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.130.5.KJV

By His Obedience…


19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:19‭-‬21 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/rom.5.19-21.KJV

Jesus went to the cross, knowing the punishment that was ahead of Him in order to save us from our sins. Why? Because He loved us before we were lovable…that’s why!

Fear God…


13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/ecc.12.13.KJV

Solomon wrote this and even he didn’t follow his own wisdom. We should do this, especially those who are in the church and have given our lives to Jesus…but most of the time we don’t. We listen to a sermon, we hear the words and the wisdom of it and yet we don’t take it to heart. “Good sermon, preacher!” is our normal reply after the sermon but thirty minutes later we couldn’t tell you what the sermon was about. Why?

Because we are not listening with our Spirit and our spiritual ears. The wisdom from the sermon or even the words that we are reading from the Bible are being seen by our eyes but they aren’t comprehended spiritually by our heart and our minds. In the words of Jesus “we are hearing without understanding“. This is a BIG problem in the church today because even though we claim to be Christians, and we may be, we aren’t learning and maturing as Christians.

It’s like we got a present from God, our salvation, and then we sat down with it and never opened it or used it the way we were supposed to. Even after years of being Christians we are still “babes in Christ” and that is not how we should be! Once you have your salvation you should learn about Jesus and grow in your salvation so that you can tell others about Him and what He has done for you and for them. Jesus came here to die for our debt of sin to be paid in full and make our heart clean from the stains of sin.

Obligations


There was a workday at our church this past weekend but I couldn’t attend. The need for getting groceries early because of the heat and our lack of an air-conditioned vehicle seemed greater than the need for one more set of hands at our church. Yet, on Sunday morning I felt as if I didn’t belong there because I didn’t do my part the day before. I prayed for their safety in the heat and for our revival coming up but it still didn’t seem to be enough. Why? 

The spirit of “guilt” was affecting my conscience I suppose. Nobody said anything to me about my absence but I still felt out of place. Was it Satan trying to get to me for not being there? It could’ve been.

In spite of our salvation, Satan can and does get into our heads and he can make us feel things that aren’t an issue as if they are. That is how he can split a church over trivial things that shouldn’t matter that much! Many times we make problems bigger when they shouldn’t be actual problems at all. That is his work. He tries to make our lives miserable even when we are serving the Lord. This is when we should recognize that he is behind it and just tell him to stay out of the way in the name of Jesus. 

God carries us through each and every day whether they are good or bad days. Our problem is our own minds can and will listen to Satan’s lies making little things seem to be much bigger than they are. Seek to do the will of God on the good days and the bad days. Read His Word and learn of His Wisdom because your own wisdom can get you into trouble far quicker than you can imagine, especially with Satan’s help. If you think you are above listening to Satan, he will prove you wrong and in a big way. He can place thoughts in your mind that can cause you to think things that you wouldn’t otherwise, so be careful.

God loves each of us and He has given us a way to tap into His strength through the Holy Spirit but we have to initiate it through prayer and by knowing His Word well enough to use it for our defense. Read His Word each day, pray about what you have read and ask Him to give you His wisdom so that you can understand the meaning behind what you have read. It is our obligation to know His Word so that we know His voice when it speaks to us as we read it. It is our obligation to do what His Word commands us to do so that others will know about the Savior Who came to give each of us a chance at eternity. Make sure that you know Him and that He knows you before your time here is through.