Category: Salvation

Lonely in a crowd


There was an article which was asking the question “Why have teenage suicides gone up 76 percent in the past decade?”. One reason is information overload. This is the first generation which has had constant access to the Internet on a device which they can carry in their pocket. Am I blaming the smartphone for this? Yes, actually I am. It is not wholly to blame of course. Parents who use electronic babysitters to calm their children also are part of the problem. So why are teens feeling so left out and lonely? Because they don’t engage and talk to each other anymore.

Have you ever watched a group or even a family in a restaurant lately? Most of the time they aren’t talking to each other. They are all looking at their phones or texting or scrolling through Instagram or Facebook. Technology is to blame for the lack of interaction in our society because it is like a drug. And we start children on this “drug” sometimes before they can even talk! People don’t feel a connection to their family or their friends because of the detached nature of the relationship. You can’t hear uncertainty or fear in a text, there is no way to relate to an emoticon speaking to you.

All of this technology was supposed to help us not enslave us to it to the point of not being able to spell our words and our emotions. Young people use text abbreviations such as BRB rather than spelling the words and they use them in writing papers in English class and wonder why their grade is not higher? English teachers are having to attempt to undo the damage caused by more than a decade of message-speak. Will they ever be able to undo it? Not likely.

God did not intend for us to be slaves to technology but we are in today’s world. In many countries where there isn’t a rampant embrace of technology, Christian faith and Christianity in general is growing. Because of God’s written Word. People are reading it and praising Him because of Who He is and what He has done for them. Technology can help in this of course, but when we depend on technology more than we depend on God, we have become idol worshipers. Even when we make “our god” statements we have made God in our image and reduced Him to a little “g”. Still an idol because He said in the giving of the Ten Commandments, that we should not make a graven image to represent Him or any other created thing to worship.

The Ten Commandments Exodus 20:1-17

(Deuteronomy 5:6-21)

1 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (This is the first commandment)

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

When we turn back to reading the Bible and learning from it, in church or in our homes, then our nation and the world will become the people that God intended for us to be. Pray for your children, teach them from God’s Word, learn from it while you teach them and help them to know that God loves them and has loved them since before they were born. Seek Him while there is time in this life because when this life is over, there are no second chances.

The light of salvation shines through you…


Let others see Jesus in you, so they will want to know Him as well.

Show your faith daily


You don’t need to work for your salvation, but your works will show everyone your life in Christ Jesus.

Let His message fill you…


Not only that it will make your life better, but so others will see Jesus in your life as well.

When the death angel came…


As long as you believe in the blood of Jesus saving you, it will. Don’t turn away from His call in your life.

Profound wisdom


Don’t read the title and think that is how I feel about the words that God gives me because I really don’t feel that way. I just know that there is no way that I could come up with the words and the sermons that I preach at my little church without His input by the Holy Spirit. If that makes me a fanatic or a “crazy Christian” then I totally own that.

God created the Earth and the entire cosmos out of nothing and I do believe every word in His account of creation. Because God is the embodiment of Love which we can’t comprehend and everything which has breath praises Him in some way every day. My post today is not a very big one or even a very profound one but if you think about it…it makes sense.

God created man, Adam, from the ground and formed him with His hands. Then God blew the Breath of Life into Adam and he became a living soul. Look at two words, which I have found this by a friend of mine on Facebook: EARTH and HEART. Spelled with the same letters but only the H moves. Now here are two more words which God uses in the Bible to get us to “be still and know that I AM God”…LISTEN and SILENT, again same letters different arrangement.

God tells us to listen and be still (silent) to hear and know that He is God. The Earth is our home and it is the heart that God judges and looks at in order to know you. Simple but powerful wisdom contained in similar words with the same letters just arranged differently. How awesome is our God?

Where two or more are gathered…


Amen

Share each other’s burden


Because a burden shared is easier to carry.

Me, you and Jesus


Paul wrote something very poignant in Galatians 2:20, it says 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is so much wisdom contained in this verse and it applies to every person who believes in Jesus as their Savior and lives it every day. Yet many of us don’t really think about how we are supposed to go about this. What does “crucified with Christ” mean exactly? How can I learn to live daily with Christ living inside my heart? Do I really have the faith that it takes to live like this? The process of living a crucified life is not just accepting Him as your Savior but living His life, His way by the faith that He has given us to believe in Him for our salvation. It truly isn’t as simple as it sounds.

In Luke 9:23, Jesus told His disciples this very principle. It says If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Still a bit confusing, right? Following Christ is what we as Christians are supposed to do but what does “deny himself/herself” mean, especially in today’s world?

Being “crucified with Christ” and “denying” yourself are mostly the same thing. So what exactly does Jesus mean by this? When we are saved, genuinely saved, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and changes us from the inside. But…our old nature is still present and there will be a struggle from day one over which side will “rule the day” in a manner of speaking. Starting your day with prayer and reading of God’s Word is the best way to start your day, every day. But, then there are days for each of us which has many interruptions in them such as work, school, errands, etc.

You get the idea. Denying your self is referring to the person that you were before your salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which makes a permanent change in your spiritual and your daily life. Some people may find that denying their “old self” is a bit too hard to do but if you just read God’s Word and pray about His work on you, whether it is in the morning or evening, the habit of denial of self will become easier. But doing this has to become a habit and it strengthens your faith and whether you think so or not, it will make your Christian life better. I didn’t say it would make it easier because the devil will keep on bringing up your sins and he knows exactly how to do it.

He will be whispering in your ear (mind) about all of the things that you were doing and enjoying before you gave your heart to Jesus. This will likely happen almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. You will need to be grounded in God’s Word so you will have the faith and the Word to be able to send your temptations and the tempter packing.

I know that many of you don’t really want to take the time to read the Bible on a daily basis but it helps a lot when it comes to resisting temptations that will come. There is no guarantee of any sort which says that Satan will not tempt you unless you don’t belong to Jesus in the first place. Why would he bother if you don’t belong to God in the first place? Even if you have spent most of your life in the church but you have never asked Jesus to come into your heart and save you, Satan doesn’t need to try to make you fail at being a Christian because you aren’t one anyway.

Is it possible for someone to be in the church that long and never give their heart to Jesus? Unfortunately, it is possible. There are many who have grown up in the church from the time they could walk until adulthood but they have never felt the need or the conviction to seek Him as their Savior. Taking up your cross, as Jesus said, is part of being a Christian. Living your life with Him and denying your old self so you won’t be tempted or at least you won’t fall for the schemes of Satan to cause you to fall into temptation.

Living this way is not something that just happens when you accept Jesus as your Savior. You have to learn His wisdom from the Bible and practice it each time a temptation comes along. Most of us aren’t told this bit of information before we accept Jesus or afterward. We are expected to learn it but if you don’t know what you need to learn how can you go about it? Read John’s gospel and the book of Romans because they are the foundation of your Christian life. Both of these books have good information on how to walk with Him and learn from His Word.

Love your neighbor


This seems almost unheard of today, but we are supposed to be doing this in Jesus’ name. Live according to His Word.