Love came to take your place. Love paid the price for your sins. Love gave Himself for you and me and every person on the Earth. Love is not involved in games or entertainment or racing or cars or in any wealth building venture. Love is Jesus Christ, Love is God coming down to take our sins, Love is this small word which is bigger than all of the universe itself because it is the substance of God Himself.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:1-5 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.1.1-5.KJV
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.5.9.KJV
Have you ever wondered about the night that Jesus was in the garden? Most of us know the story about Him going to the garden and asking the disciples to pray with Him. He was asking the Father if this cup could pass from Him and He was sweating drops of blood because of the stress and the fear that His humanity felt. He had very likely had an idea or vision of what was coming in relation to the crucifixion. But…even before His crucifixion, He was scourged.
The “cat of nine tails” was usually dipped in resin and then drug through broken glass or pottery and it had metal tips on the ends as well. This whip was about 2 ½ feet long and the Roman soldiers who wielded it did not like being in Judea nor did they like Jews. Most of Rome’s soldiers were well muscled as well so taking all of that into account, Jesus began dying from the loss of blood at least an hour before He was nailed to the cross.
By the time Simon the Cyrene began helping Him carry His cross, Jesus had lost enough blood that He was very close to losing consciousness. So, His death began much earlier than being nailed to the cross. He had felt the betrayal of one of His disciples. He had heard Peter deny knowing Him three times and even though He knew that it was going to happen, it still hurt Him emotionally. Just a few days prior to His “mock trial”, many people had hailed Him as their Savior, their Messiah, coming into Jerusalem. Yet, many of those same people had been paid to bring false accusations against Him during His “trial”.
All of these combined to bring His Spirit to a very low point, so it is not surprising that He cried “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” when He was on the cross. We think about all of the miracles that Jesus performed while He was teaching and preaching during His ministry and those are proof of Who He was as the Son of God. Most of us never consider that Jesus was born as a human baby to a human mother. His limitations and His emotions and fears and His doubts all were part of His humanity so He could identify with us in every way. He knows your depression and fear and heartache. He has felt bruised feet and hands while He was a carpenter with His human father.
He felt hunger and fatigue during His time of testing in the wilderness for forty days. He felt alone even among thousands of admirers because of His mission which was coming to an end. Jesus felt all of these things which we feel but many of us don’t consider this when we read the Bible or listen to a sermon. Because the Bible doesn’t give details about His emotions or His feelings most of the time. So why do I write this now? Because we should think about our Savior’s time as a human being. Every feeling and temptation which we feel or have felt, He experienced during His life on Earth. That is what makes Him so easy to relate to and easy to believe in simply because He lived as one of us until He went back to His throne in Heaven.
Make sure of your salvation and your belief in Him while there is still time because after the church is taken away, choosing to become a Christian will be much harder to do.
Everything that He went through on this day, He did because of His love for humanity.
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8 KJV
https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/act.1.8/34722
Shoes in Church
I showered and shaved……………. I adjusted my tie.
I got there and sat……………. In a pew just in time.
Bowing my head in prayer………… As I closed my eyes.
I saw the shoe of the man next to me……. Touching my own. I sighed.
With plenty of room on either side……… I thought, ‘Why must our soles touch?’
It bothered me, his shoe touching mine. But it didn’t bother him much.
A prayer began: ‘Our Father’…………. I thought,
‘This man with these shoes has no pride. They’re dusty, worn, and scratched.
Even worse, there are holes on the side!’
‘Thank You for blessings,’ the prayer went on.
The shoe man said…………….. A quiet ‘Amen.’
I tried to focus on the prayer……. But my thoughts were on his shoes again..
Aren’t we supposed to look our best? When walking through that door?
‘Well, this certainly isn’t it,’ I thought, glancing toward the floor.
Then the prayer was ended………… And the songs of praise began.
The shoe man was certainly loud….. Sounding proud as he sang.
His voice lifted the rafters…….. His hands were raised high.
The Lord could surely hear… The shoe man’s voice from the sky.
It was time for the offering…….. And what I threw in was steep.
I watched as the shoe man reached… Into his pockets so deep.
I saw what was pulled out………. What the shoe man put in.
Then I heard a soft ‘clink’ as when silver hits the tin.
The sermon really bored me………. To tears, and that’s no lie.
It was the same for the shoe man… For tears fell from his eyes.
At the end of the service…….. As is the custom here.
We must greet new visitors, And show them all good cheer.
But I felt moved somehow……….. And wanted to meet the shoe man.
So after the closing prayer…….. I reached over and shook his hand.
He was old and his skin was dark….. And his hair was truly a mess…..
But I thanked him for coming………. For being our guest…
He said, ‘My name’s Charlie………… I’m glad to meet you, my friend.’
There were tears in his eyes……… But he had a large, wide grin…
‘Let me explain,’ he said…………. Wiping tears from his eyes.
‘I’ve been coming here for months…… And you’re the first to say ‘Hi.”
‘I know that my appearance………..Is not like all the rest.
‘But I really do try………………..To always look my best.’
‘I always clean and polish my shoes…Before my very long walk.’
‘But by the time I get here……..They’re dirty and dusty, like chalk.’
My heart filled with pain………… And I swallowed to hide my tears.
As he continued to apologize………. For daring to sit so near
He said, ‘When I get here………… I know I must look a sight.’
‘But I thought if I could touch you…Then maybe our souls might unite.’
I was silent for a moment…………. Knowing whatever was said
Would pale in comparison…I spoke from my heart, not my head.
‘Oh, you’ve touched me,’ I said…….’ And taught me, in part’
‘That the best of any man…………..Is what is found in his heart.’
The rest, I thought,…………… This shoe man will never know.
Like just how thankful I really am…That his dirty old shoe touched my soul.
Live each day as your last, for we never know our time here on earth. Love and Peace My Friends and remember that it is not how we look on the outside but how we look within.
Do you love Jesus? I don’t mean a little bit or as a friend, even if He really is your friend. I mean a deep, abiding love like you have for your spouse or your children!
2 Timothy 3
1 But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, 4 traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!
This is a perfect description of our world today, even the world inside some churches. People who believe in Jesus or even think that they do are in the same boat as those who are described by Paul. In today’s society even those in the church, are lovers of self much more than they are of Jesus. But, we should all be His followers and lovers of Him just as He loved all of us enough to go to the cross and pay our debt for our sins.
So, why do we choose to say that we are followers and believer’s in Jesus and yet we have no respect for Him and no real love for Him either? We are just living in the last days before the time of the Tribulation, that’s all. Why are the church and those who make up the church acting this way? Mostly it is because of the society we live in and how we have learned about our Savior. Just as it says in the Bible, “Things continue on as they always have”, we have gotten very apathetic about Jesus’ coming again.
Most of us were brought up in a church, regardless of the denomination, and we’ve heard about Jesus and all of the stories in the Bible all of our lives. So, we believe that we are Christians mostly by osmosis.
Except it doesn’t work that way. Your heart has to be convicted of your need for Jesus. Not just because you want to join the church one Sunday but because there is truly a conviction inside that you are sinful and there is no other way to fix this sinful problem except by giving your heart to Jesus and asking Him for His forgiveness for your sinful ways. The problem with this in today’s church is that there are too many people who don’t believe nor do they think that they truly need Jesus as their Savior!
Many believe that they are good enough to get into heaven even without giving their heart to Jesus and repenting of the sinful things that they think about and do on a regular, sometimes daily basis. Many have made their own version of Jesus in their minds and he doesn’t mind their sins nor does he convict them when they do or say anything that the real Jesus would not allow. This is modern idolatry. There is no statue or figure representing the “god” that they believe in because their idea of “god” is in their mind.
During this time just before the Trumpet sounds (even though we don’t know when that will be), all of us who believe in the real Jesus and have accepted Him as our Savior need to be watching for the signs and reading the Bible. Why? Because we can discern the prophetic signs in the news better if we know what is foretold to happen. God is sending out signs all over the world but if you don’t know what has been foretold, you won’t notice them.
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
2 Timothy 1:9 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/2ti.1.9.KJV
The Living Message of Christ 