Category: Salvation

Do you need Jesus?


In our ever increasingly technological world there are so many devices and links and messages which demand our attention. How can we be attentive to each other as people? I have seen pictures of people who are supposedly having a dinner together and yet all of them are on their “smart phones” and not even talking to each other or even looking at each other! They may be “texting” each other but that is not a conversation! Are we, as people, becoming so insensitive to each other that if it doesn’t happen on the screen in front of us, we have no use for it and don’t even acknowledge it?

Many in the world don’t have cell service abundant enough to be this way. How would your day be if you couldn’t get messages or e-mail or cell service? Mine would be much quieter and yours would too. I know that I am using a medium which I am writing against, sort of, but it seems to be the only way to get a message to the world these days!

Peace With God is a website which points to the only real relationship that matters in this world and will give you the hope of a life in the next. The technology that we are exposed to and dependent upon today will not save you. Man-made religions and ones which have animals or the earth or even other men as the focus of their worship will not help you. Many people believe that Jesus was just a man. If He was then where is His skeleton in the grave that He was buried in?

He fulfilled so many prophecies with His birth and His ministry and His death and resurrection, with many eye-witness accounts of what He did after His resurrection, until there is no doubt about Who He is. Your life can and will be so much more meaningful, to you especially but also to Jesus! Especially when you have given your heart to Him. Jesus is the only way to salvation and an eternal life in heaven. We all have an eternity waiting for us, the decisions that we make here during this lifetime determine where we will spend eternity!

Romans 8:28-30 : 

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified;those he justified, he also glorified.

These verses point us toward Christ and the reason we are here now because it was through Christ that we received grace from God in order to justify us and allow us to be witnesses to the world for Him. If we are to enjoy an eternity with Christ, then we need to make the decision for Him now, during our lifetime! When death claims each of us and that can happen at any time, there is no second chance!

If you have not made that choice, please consider making it today. Eternity awaits and without Christ it will not be an enjoyable one, but it will never end. With Christ you will be with friends, family and many others who made the choice for life and you will be with them for eternity, but we will have so much more than that. I cannot name the things that we may enjoy because I don’t know the details yet. I just know that pain, suffering, agony, regret will not be part of the eternity that I wait for.

The world is in turmoil and trouble because of the lack of faith in God. We have pushed God out of every corner of our lives and we are paying the penalty for it. And it will only get worse from this point on! I don’t know when the world will wake up to this fact, but when it does it will likely be too late to change the course that we have put ourselves on. The prophecies contained in the Revelation of Jesus Christ tell that when the time for testing begins there has never been a time like it before and unless it is shortened, no life will survive. Read it yourself, it is not a fantasy but it is prophecy and according to God’s Word it will come to pass!

Negativity everywhere


Besides the news channels and websites, there is so much negative in and on the web. I thought that this collaborative network was supposed to be open and free of this kind of rubbish! Everywhere you look on the web these days, someone is saying something about someone’s religion or their beliefs or their nationality and most of it is not positive at all.

In keeping with the message of my blog, there were a lot of negative vibes around when Jesus was teaching  and all the way back to the beginning too. During the time that Moses was leading the Israelites  out of Egypt, there were many complainers and whiners, all sorts of negative comments flying about. How could he deal with it? Moses took all of the negative comments to God and prayed about it! Why can’t we do the same today? The reason that we don’t is because we have pushed God as far away from us as we possibly can.

Even the church has watered down His message so that it is more tolerant and easy to handle for those who want their own version to live by. That is not the way to get people saved! If we don’t show them and tell them what is in God’s word, without diluting it, how will they know? I know there will be many people who do not agree with me on this and I may get some nasty comments from this, but the point is this: If no one tells you that you are going to fall, what will happen? You will fall!

If I could see that there was a very thin sheet of ice or something that you were walking on and I didn’t warn you about it, I would be guilty of your death wouldn’t I? The same principle applies to life and the religion that we have a choice to follow. There are multiple paths that are in the world right now and many of them look and sound great. Many of them don’t require you to do anything. No changes in your life at all in most of these religions although some have dietary restrictions as well as restrictions on what you may drink and how many times you should pray. Others, only require that you be as good as you can be and ask that you be a morally upright person. The problem with these religions is that they all require you to do something to be accepted.

The truth is that none of us, not one person on earth is good enough to be perfect in our performance regardless of what we are attempting to do or be! We cannot adhere to the Law of Moses perfectly without breaking even one of the laws. No one is perfect enough to adhere to all of the requirements of any religion, it is humanly impossible!

That is why Christianity is the only religion which allows for our imperfection and provides us with righteousness through the sinless Son of God who died in our place and took the punishment for us all. So that all we have to do is..believe in Him and ask Him to come into our heart and our lives! When we do that, we are changed into “a new creation; the old has passed away and behold, we are made new”.

The negative part of your life at that point is over and you have a positive life from that point on. I am not saying that your life will be perfect and without problems from that point on. Satan may make your life harder because you may bring many people to Christ in your life and he knows it, so he will try to make you fall and stumble, but Christ will be with you to strengthen you and get you through those trials. Because of that, you will be stronger in your faith and able to be what God intended for you to be!

God loves you, each and every one, and He knows exactly what you can do and what you will do when you are His child. Your future is in His hand because He knows the end and the beginning, and all of the points in between. Give Jesus a chance in your life and make your life His from this point on!

Do you act like a child?


“When I was a child, I spoke as a child and played as a child; when I grew up, I put away childish things.” (paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:11)

This is something which we have heard from preachers for years, but what exactly does it mean?
To us, as Christians, it means that when we finally grow up, regardless of what age we may be when we do, we should act like it!
Do we act like it? Have we grown up? Are we, as adults, really grown up?
1. Most of us are not.
• We do what we want to do, when we want to do it, if possible. Then, we get mad if we can’t.
• People see themselves as good, but what about the thoughts that we all have. Are they good all the time? Would you want Jesus to read your thoughts every day? He knows what you think whether you have given your heart to him or not.
• Does it bother you that God knows every thought that you have? If it doesn’t, you might want to check your relationship with Him.
2. Can we fix our character, our heart or our soul on our own? Of course not! We can’t pull off something like that, only Jesus can do a soul-cleansing restoration on your heart and soul!

Many times, we believe that we are in charge. We start our lives wanting to be in charge of our life. “I can do it myself!” How many times have parents heard that? At those times it is cute, for a while, but when children get older it is called being rebellious. It tends to cause ulcers and grey hair and lost hair too.

The point is that, when we think that we are good enough to run our lives by ourselves, we are taking the throne away from the One Who is supposed to be there! We are doing the same thing that Satan tried to do when He was cast into outer darkness. He wanted to put himself on the throne which God was on or to put his “throne” above God’s. We can’t do that, although many people do just exactly that!

People that think they have plenty of time to get around to God do it. People who don’t believe that there is a God do it. People who have made their own version of “god” do it. This happens all over the world, every day. Billions of people think that they know better than God!

Can we be that ignorant? Are we? Many people think that they have all of the answers for their own problems and for the world’s problems too. You see them on television and on the internet every day. If they base their advice on God’s Word, and use its wisdom to advise people, then maybe they do have the answer for mankind’s problems. But, if they are using their own wisdom or some wisdom from man, such as Buddhism or Scientology, then they are mistaken. Even the Koran is only from a man, it was not given by God. God would not condone killing others because they won’t accept Islam as their religion. That sounds like it came from Satan himself.

The answers to our life’s problems lie in giving our hearts and our minds to Christ so that we can become more like Him. Following Him in all of our ways, every day and in all things. Give the day to Him before you begin it so that He will be in your mind and heart and direct your steps and words during your daily routine. It isn’t hard to do, but it is a conscious decision that we have to make. A decision that comes only when your heart is filled with the Holy Spirit and you have taken the Word into your mind. One sermon a week listening to someone preach doesn’t equip you for service to God, you have to do that daily!

I know that many people think that daily walks with God in His Word is what the preacher is supposed to do. It is what we are all called to do as Christians, to be followers of Christ. Walking with God daily is our responsibility because if we don’t, we won’t get to know the God who came to save us. Reading the Bible is the best way for us to get to know Him because it is His way of communicating with us and telling us about Himself.

God loves us more than we can understand but the way that we can learn about Him is by reading His word. Getting to know our Father better is one of the best things you can do for your relationship with Him, the better you know Him, the easier it is to recognize His voice when He speaks to you. I can’t imagine a more satisfying relationship than having one with the Creator of everything! He created us all for that, the least that we could do is return the love toward Him.

God knew you before you were born and He knows when your last day on the earth will be. Knowing this, He still chose you to be a child of His and all He is waiting for is your agreement with Him and your asking Him into your heart and life. God’s grace toward us is loving and eternal and doesn’t depend on anything that we may believe that we have to do, God doesn’t need our help in making us righteous. He works His changes in your heart and your life gradually and carefully, but sometimes those changes may hurt a bit.

We don’t agree with the pain and suffering that we have to endure during the time of God’s changes in our hearts and our lives because, even as Christians, it hurts or it is uncomfortable. That’s life! Jesus didn’t say that He came to make our lives easy. He told the disciples and us through them that we would have trouble and pain in this world, but He also tells us to take heart because He overcame the world and through Him, we can too!

There are many people in the world that are hurting every day and in more ways than we can imagine but God knows about each of them and His Spirit is with them through it all. He will draw them to Himself and if they answer the call they will have His strength to carry them through whatever they are being put through. Many people don’t acknowledge that call on their spirit because they are hurting too much or they are high on drugs or they are drunk, but God knows their hearts. He will keep drawing them until they tell Him to go away, if they recognize that it was Him to begin with.

Other times, which happens more often that we would like to believe, they don’t hear His call in their life. People are so caught up in what they are doing or having to deal with until they are spiritually deaf. Satan loves it when we are so caught up in our lives and our jobs or with our family that we can’t even hear God calling to us. That is when he will crank up the volume in our life so that we are even more involved and there is no way God can get through. But, God knows your heart and He knows whether you will hear Him at some point and it is at those times, whether you like what is happening to you or your family or not, that you will hear Him! You may wonder why this is happening at that point but it is because God has something that only you can do and He will not let you ignore Him.

I can hear many people saying that we are not predestined but God says that we are. He can raise up a ruler or bring him down for His purposes and He can do the same with us. He is the Creator and can do anything that He desires to do and if that means breaking down your will in order to build you up to be the person that He knows you can be, then that is what He will do. Give your heart to God before He has to allow that to happen in your life, so that He can use you in a more fantastic way than you could ever imagine! Won’t you call on Him today?

Our world is (mostly) lost


There are many who, I imagine, would agree with that statement and many who would disagree as well. But, from a salvation point of view, it is true. Many people, billions of them in fact, are lost. They are looking for something, yet they don’t know what it is, and they are looking in the wrong places. The look to things or people or religions that offer no real hope. Nothing proven to be a future hope, just feelings of belonging to something that is temporary. Life itself, the one that we all live on this planet, is temporary. It may seem to be an arduous task to live it, however you may do so and wherever you may live and yet the time that we have is but an instant.

Eternity lies before us, all of us, regardless of the place we may go to after our physical death. We should choose whether we will serve our own lusts and desires in this life or will we give our life to Christ and do the work that He has for us to do. Many people think that living for and through Him is boring and not fun and that couldn’t be more wrong. Once the Creator has taken up residence in your heart, He is with you regardless of what you are doing or where you may be. He sees and knows the things that you do before you belong to Him and it grieves His heart to see you going through so much heartache without Him.

To be useful to Christ doesn’t take going on a mission trip or being a pastor. Just doing little things for people who haven’t know Him, but they know that you do, will have a BIG impact. Even if you don’t do those things every day, just once a week will get them to thinking. When we act like Jesus toward others, that is when they see Jesus in us, and many times they will want what they see.

I learned this morning that a wonderful man of God went to his reward and went to his eternal home yesterday. He was over one hundred years old but I know that he won’t look it when I see him in eternity. I didn’t know him personally in this life, but I will in the next one. His name is George Beverly Shea and I don’t consider him to be dead at all. Just as Jesus spoke of Moses and others as being alive and not dead, I consider all those who have gone to their reward as being alive forevermore.

Regardless of what you may have learned in college, this life doesn’t end when your eyes close in death. That is only the death of the physical body. Eternity is for all of us, the place where you spend that eternity is up to you!

What will you do with the time that you have? The decision must be made while you are here because there are no “do-overs”, we don’t get to come back and fix things and do better next time. The dress rehearsal is the life that you are living and you only get one.

 

After Easter, what now?


The services are over, the message is done. Have you accepted Jesus as your Saviour yet? There were “passion plays“, re-enactments of Jesus’ hours before His crucifixion that touched many people’s hearts and their minds with how well they were done and put together. Yet, did anyone really get the message found in them?

Jesus came to be the sacrifice for all of our sins. Not just those of the people who He preached to and His disciples preached to and carried the gospel to in their journeys, but for all of us, especially those who had not been born yet! His message and His sacrifice was for you and me and everyone else on this world, all we have to do is believe in what He did and Who He was so that we can have eternity with Him.

Many people who I have heard say that is too simple. It just can’t be that easy. The problem that they have is that they are making it harder than it is! Accepting Jesus doesn’t make your life easier! It doesn’t take away the suffering, the bills, the heartache of life that we have to live but it does make it easier to bear because we have Him and His strength to bear it with.

God loves us enough that He sent His Son to become a man and die a very cruel death to pay for all of our sins so that we would not have to pay the penalty for them. Many people don’t think that there is a punishment for not accepting Christ, but God’s Word clearly says that there is. Some may be punished more than others, depending on what they did in their life on earth, but the punishment is real nonetheless. It was designed for Satan and his demons but by rejecting Jesus and the offer of eternal life, we will be cast into it as well. We have free will to do what we choose which is why we sometimes get into trouble that we shouldn’t be in. If we didn’t have that free will, we would be unable to truly enjoy our lives. We would be like puppets and that is not what God wants! He wants us to freely give our love and service to Him because of His Grace that has been extended to us.

It is our own choices which place us there, not God. He won’t change our choices while we live, only we can do that and it is our individual choices which will condemn us to an eternity in hell or to live in paradise with Jesus. The choice is up to each of us, which one we choose to follow during our life will determine the life we have in eternity.

Life is..?


Life is…? What? Hard? Easy? Difficult? Mostly, life is all of these. Occasionally, all of them at the same time!

The wind blows, the trees sway.

The river and streams run and tumble and play,

But the rocks are still, yet they are shaped,

By wind and water too.

Life is like that as well. The things that we experience shape our lives and how we perceive life. Can we do anything about the life that we live? Sometimes, but most of the time we just live it. Is it hard to “just live it”? Not really unless you live in poverty or in an area that has been under a drought for a long time or in a war torn area of the world. Life is not easy, regardless of where you live or what you believe in.

The society and cultures that we live in, regardless of the country, shape our opinions and our lives as well as our characters. Is there any way that we can be good enough to be human and be kind to one another? Yes, we all have the capability and the moral compass within us. Whether we choose to be that person or not is our choice. We are free to choose, for good or evil, how our actions affect those around us.

Most of us would like to be liked by our colleagues, so we choose to be likeable and friendly. Others in society choose to be selfish, caring only about what is good for them as individuals and nothing for anyone else. Thankfully, those who are selfish make up a smaller portion of society, but they do get most of the media attention so we hear about them most often. I think that is why we are so fascinated by reality shows. When cameras are around, at some point the selfish person will show up when they are least expected and usually it is the person who wasn’t selfish to begin with.

We are a group of contrasts, always changing as we get older. Sometimes for better, sometimes not so much. Age doesn’t always bring wisdom, it should but life has a way of teaching you lessons that you really don’t enjoy and whether you get wisdom from these lessons or not is still up to you. We are ruled by our choices in life and in eternity. I know, many people don’t really believe that there is an eternity but it is mentioned in the Bible so I believe it exists, and it is a very long, long time!

How can we make a difference in our life and in other people’s lives now and into eternity? By living the life that we have like it is going to end tomorrow! Telling and showing others the One who came to give them life after this one! It is not a hard job, but it is one that is not very popular right now. Some of the lessons contained in God‘s Word are considered “hate speech“, bigoted, elitist views of salvation, the list goes on and on.

The point of all of this is that we only have a limited amount of time to let others know about Jesus. Our lifetime is only a small part of eternity and compared to eternity it is but a puff of smoke or mist. The message that we have is one that is very important to those who need it and will listen. If you don’t think that you need it..well, prayer is an option, searching for the answer in God’s Word is another option, but religion is not. Religion, regardless of which one it is, can get you and anyone else a place in hell quicker than anything because it is not religion that saves your soul, it is belief in Jesus‘ sacrifice for you that saves you!

Open the Word, seek the wisdom contained in it, ask God to reveal Himself to you. Then let His light shine through you to others so that they can see Him and want to know Him too. Truly God is in control, otherwise our world would’ve ended long ago. Get to know Him while you can.

 

 

How does society shape your beliefs?


In the western part of the world, consumption of material things, selfishness, greed all play a part in our society. Whether we like to admit it or not. Many people look at their religion in the same way. They want it to be their personal religion, not a religion that everyone follows but something that is uniquely theirs. The problem with this is that when you “choose” your religion it is like a pair of jeans or a shirt in your closet, it is yours alone. No one else has to believe in what you believe and that is fine because that is the way you wanted it anyway. There are many religions that have sprung up in the past one hundred years like this. The preferred religion of Hollywood, Scientology, was created in the past eighty years and yet claims to follow beings who are trillions of years old. It also claims many of the same things which are exclusive to Christianity and yet it says that one day you can be like a god. Really?

No person on earth has ever been a god except one…Jesus. He is the only prophet, Priest and King who can claim this title because He is the only person to have been resurrected and Who now sits next to His Father, ruling the universe and watching over everything until the time for His second coming is fulfilled.

I know that there are many who don’t want to hear this and I understand that it upsets your personal life and belief in the “god” of your choosing, but listen to this argument and if you don’t take it to heart then I have done what I set out to do, tell you about the One who can show you the way to eternity.

Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth as a baby and grew up as any other child does. The only exception to His life is that He was always in contact with His Father. They likely had many discussions about His mission and His purpose on earth, although we don’t know of it. The only parts that we can be privy to are in God‘s Word. Some of those narratives are more detailed than others but suffice to say, His mission began when His cousin baptized Him.

From that point on, He went all over and around Judea or Israel, teaching, healing those who were ill, telling the religious leaders that they had missed many things in the prophets because they did not or would not recognize Who it was that was speaking to them.

His followers, the twelve disciples who were the closest to Him, also took up the message after His resurrection. He told them to take the message of salvation to Jerusalem and to all of the world and that is what they did. Even the Pharisee called Paul who was trying to get rid of the sect that they called “the Way” became Jesus’ disciple who would take the gospel to the Jews and the gentiles. It was he who wrote nearly half of the New Testament.

The world would be a very different place without Jesus and the Bible as well as Christianity. Many of the laws and moral teachings that we take for granted came from the Bible. Our world has been irrevocably changed because of its influence so it cannot be ignored or pushed aside. Think about it, read it, check the facts contained in it, then let your heart decide!

What can we say to Atheists?


There are many things which are not right in our world. Many people die each day of starvation, disease, war, gunshots. anger, heart attacks, etc., the list goes on and on. The question in many people’s minds is this: “Why does God allow all of this suffering?”; “Why doesn’t He step in and fix everything that is wrong with the world?”.

There are many answers to these questions, most of which atheists and many other people really don’t want to accept. God allows this suffering because it is part of the human condition. We live in a world that “fell from grace” when Adam sinned in the Garden and the suffering is part of that fallen world. To answer the second question is very simple and easy: He will fix everything when He returns.

These answers are unacceptable to most in our world because they believe that God shouldn’t allow suffering. But, the suffering that we go through is only a shadow of what will be if we are unwilling to accept Jesus into our lives and hearts. The suffering that you will experience by being out of God’s presence for an eternity will be many magnitudes above the suffering that you or I would experience here on earth.

The suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross when His Father turned away from Him is exactly what we will experience, because we will know the presence and the love of God before being cast into hell. Knowing the love that He has for us, for even a brief time, will be painful to be separated from it.

During the crucifixion that Christ suffered to pay the penalty for each of us, Jesus did feel that separation and loss. Many people will say that He only felt it for a few hours so how could that have meant anything? The Son of God had never before been separated physically or spiritually from His Father. They had always been together from before time began until that moment on the cross, so an hour or even a minute’s time of separation would have been painful for both the Father and the Son. Yet, it had to be done because He was the only sacrifice pure enough to take care of the penalty for the sins of mankind.

The world that we live in is in a fallen state due to the actions of Adam and Eve. That fallen state and the “ruler” of this world, Satan, is the reason for the suffering and the other problems that happen everywhere. Of course, people add to the suffering because of our nature. The Bible says that our thoughts are continually toward evil and left to ourselves we will do what our nature and our thoughts dictate.

Trusting in God and accepting the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, asking Him to forgive us and make each of us more like Him is the only way for us to break out of the sinful mold that we are born into. The mini-series that many watched during March has started a wave of people looking for answers and they are found in the Bible, not in stuff that we consume or in man-made religions which have no real answers to life in general.

Study and read the Bible, question the things that you find in it, learn about the One who can make you whole. Because without Him, we can do nothing that has a lasting value. The things that we do here in this life are only temporary, the service that we can do with His strength and through Him is eternal. Think about it.

Easter, is it meaningful to you?


The passion of Christ, His crucifixion and resurrection…what does it mean for us, for you?

In our daily life and our lives in general it means the difference between having hope for eternity and having no hope at all. Your life and the meaning of your life while you are here doesn’t mean much to the world in general. Most people or countries don’t care anything about us as individuals. We are just numbers and revenue in the form of taxes and consumerism.

To Christ we are important. We, each of us, are important enough that He came and died for us so that we could have eternal life. But, it was not just for our benefit that He came and died, it was for the Kingdom of God and for His Glory. The work that we can do through Him and the work that He can do through us is the reason for our salvation and for His sacrifice.

So, why does life seem to be without hope to most people? Even if they are or claim to be Christians? It could be that they have not given themselves totally to Christ. Many people think that because they have asked Jesus into their lives and their heart that that is all that is required. True, for you to have eternal life that is it, but an abundant life and the eternal rewards that you will receive for the work that you do as a follower of Christ is what you do beyond that.

For Easter and its Christian meaning to have real meaning for you, your life in Christ has to have or be meaningful. I am not speaking of being a mother or father or of your job, those positions are important because your Christian life can shine through those areas as well. To be meaningful in Christ your life in Him must show to the outside world in some way that others will see it and want what you have.

The mini-series that is on the history channel, “The Bible“, this year is one couple’s way of doing that. Each of us can be more or do more with the strength and wisdom given to us by God and that is what I am speaking of in this writing.

Many people wonder, “Does God give me a gift or the wisdom to do these things?”, the answer to that is Yes! In the Bible, there is a passage that says (paraphrased) “ask of God and He will give you wisdom” James 1:5; each of us is unable to do the things that we do in the ministries that we have unless we have the ability and the wisdom from Him to do them.

The writing that I have been doing for these past five years or so would be impossible for me to to without the words and the wisdom that God gives me. I don’t have it in me to create this much or for it to make sense the way it seems to unless these words come from God and not me!

Easter is a time to celebrate Christ’s sacrifice for each of us, not to celebrate spring or chocolate or colored eggs. The celebration that we see each year is a pagan celebration of spring, that is all. Celebrating the love and compassion that God has for us and that through His Son, He could make a way for each of us to be reconciled to Him is what we should celebrate and truly be thankful for.

The love that God has for each of us is the reason that He came and sacrificed Himself for us to reconcile each of us to Himself, there was no other way to do it. Your life..our lives can have so much more meaning and purpose through Christ and with Him working through us. Give Jesus a chance to come into your heart and make it His home because once He does your life will never be the same!

Feed your faith!!


Background: Romans 10:17

Learn to feed your faith and starve your doubts. The doubts that you have can truly affect your life so eliminate them by getting into your Bible and in a Bible teaching church!

If you don’t come to church, read your Bible, and pray, then you have no shield of faith for protection from Satan. Sometimes college students go off and let some ungodly, unbelieving man make fun of their faith. And they fall apart like a house of cards. That’s because they don’t have a strong faith in God. Feed your faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,” and it will be like a shield to you to protect you from all the fiery darts of the wicked world that we live in. It gives the believer certainty, certainty about what they believe and Who you believe in.

Again, you must actively, consciously clothe yourself in the armor of God. How much are you dedicating yourself to being in His Word, learning how to wield your Sword? If you are doing this only on a weekly basis, the destroyer can get to you!

If you don’t open God’s Word and read it at least once a day, you don’t have the shield with the faith to wield it against everyday things which rob you of your faith in the One who can and does save you. Yes, this is about you and God, because He wants to know you and He wants you to know Him! Only by hearing the Word preached and getting into the Word can you know Him. Only by reading the Word can you recognize God’s voice and His way of speaking to you. He does love us all, each of us individually so there is a reason for what He does and how He does it. Our Savior asks us to come in and eat with Him and He waits for us to invite Him in as well.

Jesus does stand at the door and knock, patiently waiting for you to let Him in and He does this every day. Believers and non-believers are in this situation because many of them seek Jesus once per week and then leave Him at the church when the sermon is over. You have to take Him with you everywhere, every day, not just when things aren’t going your way or when you think you are “good enough” to do so.

Clothing yourself in the armor of God means that you get into the Bible so that the Spirit can use it to teach you what He says and what you are to do. The armor of God only protects you if you have it on; going to church on Sunday for thirty minutes or an hour doesn’t take care of the rest of the week! It reminds you of what you are to do and who you are to be with daily, but the cares of the world and your daily routine gets in the way or at least Satan lets you believe that.

Once you decide to trust and believe in Christ for salvation, wholehearted surrender and Christ-likeness becomes a goal to achieve with the help of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of believers. The only way to have the fellowship of believers is to be in fellowship with them, regardless of whether they are family and friends or not. The Bible says, “And we should not be forsaking our meetings, as is the custom for each person, but plead with one another all the more, as long as you see that day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25

The “sword of God” is His Word and if you don’t learn it and how to use it to counter the things that you hear and read every day, then Satan can get into your mind and change things just as he did to Eve in the garden.

Then, there are many who will say that the thief on the cross didn’t do these things so why do I have to do them? The thieves on the cross were divided in their view of Christ. One of them extended the condition, “…if you are the Christ, save yourself and us” (Luke 23:39). The other placed his faith in Christ, asking, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (vs. 42). Christ’s response was the best news a dying man can hear. “Surely I say unto you, today you’ll be with me in paradise” (vs. 43).

There was no way this dying thief could have told others of his salvation. He was saved by recognizing Christ as who He said He was—the only One who could save him from his sin. He also showed Christ that he believed in Him as who He was, so it was the belief…the faith of the thief that saved him. Their death was imminent so they had no way of getting baptized or of learning the scriptures, but that is not required, yet belief in Jesus is!

It is true that they didn’t have the opportunity to do the things that we can do, but we are not to use the thief’s inability to do these things as an excuse for us not to do them! As long as we can do what Jesus wants us to do then we should, the Lord is coming back and He will require of each of us an explanation of the words and thoughts that we have had as well as why we heard the Gospel and did not act on it. Don’t be part of the crowd which is cast away because they didn’t act  or believe in what they heard before He came!!

Our God loves each of us as shown by Jesus’ sacrifice for us, even before most of the world was even born! No one can claim immortality without belief in and surrender to Jesus! Your life here is meaningless without Him in it, guiding you daily to do those things which He would do if He were in your shoes. We can be the feet and hands of Christ in a world that is going dark, but we must carry His words in our hearts and our minds to do so. We must tell others what Jesus has done for us and for them, so that they will know.

Many people have died during the course of writing this sermon and the time that it takes to give this sermon many more will die. Will any of them be on your mind or conscience? Were they your responsibility to give account of the joy that is in your hearts? Did they see the joy and peace in your life that Jesus brought into your life, and if they did, what evidence did you give them of Who was responsible for that joy?

These are questions that we all must answer, whether we will have to answer for them in front of Jesus or in front of the people that we see every day, I don’t know. Jesus gave each of us a job to do. How well we perform that job is our daily responsibility. It is not an easy task, because each of us has our own gifts and strengths and weaknesses too. But, with the power of the Holy Spirit living in each of us, we can do the job that we were given. Whether we choose to do that job or not is our choice, but in the end we will have to account for that choice. Which choice will you make?