Tag: Christ

Are you a broken vessel?


Does your life feel broken? Do you feel broken in your walk with God? Sometimes our lives feel this way but Jesus and His Father have not left you. If anyone has moved in the relationship, it is you. Even though you may not have moved very far, distance makes the relationship a little harder to feel from our perspective.

Is your relationship with God feeling empty or lacking in depth? Mine does at times. At the point where we are in history, our lives and our relationship with God needs to be fresh and refreshed daily. Walking with Christ daily from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep at night is a process and it is one that He desires from you. It is also one which will enhance your life with Him as long as you keep your part of the relationship active and alive.

In biblical times, when pottery became broken and useless, it was thrown away much as we do today with things that don’t work anymore. The pottery and the clay of which it is made can be used again, unlike electronic junk today. Pottery just has to be broken and wet to the point of being remolded and shaped into something useful again. In our lives, it is the breaking and remolding which causes us discomfort but it is necessary if we are to be useful to Christ.

A few verses which show this are found in the book of Jeremiah: “Arise, and go down to the potter‟s house, and there shall I announce my words to you.” Then I went down to
the potter‟s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?‟ declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter‟s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:2—6)

God can work with us as a potter does with clay to make whatever is needed and to make it better suited for the job. How can we help the Potter in making us a suitable vessel for Him to work into the shape that is needed? By keeping our lives on the path which is set before us and by studying His Word and asking Him to show us what He would have us to do with that which we learn.

I am not saying that we will become as wise as Solomon or as effective as Paul was but God knows what we can do and He will equip us to do that which He has purposed for us to do. All that is required of us is to obey Him and listen to Him. Just as Abraham and all of the other prophets did when they were chosen to be His servants, so are we to do in our walk with Him. All of the disciples which followed Jesus and were faithful to Him in their service while He was about His Father’s work did this as well. They listened to Him and to what He taught and then when He told them to go and teach others to do the same, they did. The commission that was given to them was passed to us as believers today and the church too.

We, as the body of Christ which is the church, are to go and make disciples of all nations. That includes those at our workplace or at home or anywhere else that we may be asked about the joy that is in us. I know that there are times when we don’t feel “joyful” but when you have Jesus in your heart, the joy will leak out whether you feel it or not. Those around you can and will see it.

What kind of vessel are you? Are you a pitcher to bring forth prophetic words, a bowl brimming with the Spirit of Truth, or a perfume vial filled with anointing oil? Are you a basin to wash feet, a fine goblet fashioned for the King’s table, or are you a large platter to hold the bread and meat of His gentle Word?
We are uniquely made in the gentle hands of Jesus, and He alone knows your color, shape, and purpose. Are you going to allow Him to mold you and shape you to do great works? Do others see the works that you can do but you are not doing them? Could that be why your life seems to be off just a bit?

We are at the beginning of a journey, one which will be wonderful for some and endless for all who have come to know Him. If you have not made that commitment in your heart to Jesus, do it today. He patiently waits for you and He loves you more than you can know. Living the life of a follower of Christ is not the easiest journey that you will make but it is the most rewarding. We don’t know and can’t imagine the life that we will have with Him in Heaven and we won’t know if the decision is never made.

Show Christ what your heart is made of so that He can live there and He will show you what you are made of and He will make you better than you are now. You will be a new creation when He comes to live with you, one which can do all things through Christ and with His power so that others will see Him through you and your witness for Him. The finishing touches won’t be done until you are born into your heavenly body and it will be there that your eternal life will truly begin!

What will the Church do?


“Men and women have become “lovers of self’ (humanism), “lovers of money” (secularism), and “lovers of pleasure” (hedonism) “rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power” (2 Tim. 3:2, 4b-5), and the church in general has moved in tandem with the trends of modern society. In many ways, the society in which Noah lived, as described in Genesis 6:5-12, was not unlike the society we live in today!”   The Rapture Question Answered: Plain and Simple (Kindle Edition). By Robert Van Kampen

At the time of the Great Flood during Noah’s time, people were going about their business and their everyday life with no clue as to what was about to happen. Even though Noah was preaching to them and telling them that if they didn’t repent, there would be consequences and yet they did not listen. It sounds a lot like today. Our world and those living in it are going about their lives with no care about who they are serving. Most may not be aware of what spiritual condition they are in.

It is a sad situation that we find ourselves in, especially concerning the times that we are living in and those that are approaching rapidly. The church and those who profess to have Jesus in their hearts are also on the edge of a precipice, one that could calve out from under us like ice from an iceberg. Is the body of Christ, His church, ready for it? I am not sure if we are. Even if we are not in the time of the Tribulation right now, the testing will come. Some of those who teach that the church will not enter this time are clinging to  the rapture of the saints before the time of Tribulation which is coming and that may be the correct view. No one is sure about this, yet.

What will we do? What can we do as the representatives of Christ? Pray and seek Him, then follow Him and keep our eyes and our hearts focused on Him and His Word. If we don’t do those things, the world and our place in it will be sealed because either we will keep our faith in Him or we will lose our faith in Him and fall away from the church. Those that lose their faith will have the same fate as those who didn’t have any to begin with.

Those who stand by with Christ as their Savior and persevere with their faith intact, will be rewarded. What are you going to do when the church that you have attended most of your life denies that the tribulation has begun? I am not sure what I will do. The only thing that we have to hold onto is Jesus and His Word with our faith as the anchor.

The time  has come for us to be watchful of the times and the prophecy concerning them. It is a concept and a problem for the church because many don’t teach about prophecy and the book of Revelation and we need to be. Because we need to watch and be informed enough to be able to know what God’s Word says about the news that we hear and see everyday.

Are you good enough?


In our world today there are many people who think they are in pretty good shape to get to heaven. They don’t steal, they aren’t committing adultery, they don’t cuss, and they haven’t killed anybody (yet). So, they consider themselves to be pretty good but those that I listed are just four of the Ten Commandments. What about the other six? They mostly deal with pride and selfishness. How are you doing on those? What about having anything take God’s place, which is the first commandment? Is there anything or anyone which you value more than God?

Most everyone has trouble with those at one point or another. Everything that we have is a gift from God whether we purchased it or He brought it into our lives. Your children, your wife or husband are all gifts from God, you may not be happy with them all the time but neither is He happy about us and our choices, which is why we have the ability to choose. God wants us to have the choice and the ability to choose Him as an act of love not because we had no choice.

When we were still sinners and blind to the truth of God’s love…did His love for us still exist? Of course it did! Even the smallest detail regarding sin is a sin. The thought you had about someone having more than you do…is a sin. The envy that you feel toward someone you may not even know is a sin. Any word or thought that we say or think that is hurtful or to spite someone is also a sin. Speeding on the highway, taking a pen home from work, using something that is not yours without asking, these are all sins and we will be held accountable for them unless we repent and ask forgiveness.

The world and every created thing in it exist regardless of our position in it or our comprehension of it. The sun and the moon rise and set, the tides come in and flow back to the sea and the seasons change just as God said that they would from the beginning. Animals, birds, fish, and insects all live according to God’s plan because they don’t have a choice regarding what they are or what they do. They glorify God by living and reproducing. We should glorify Him in our walk with Him daily and by our character that everyone sees daily because to some people that may be the only reflection of Christ they ever see.

The same is true in our lives. We wake up and go to sleep at night. We dream, we wake in the morning, eat breakfast and get ready for another day. This is a ritual which will continue until we retire or we die whichever comes first. The true novelty of life is that it shouldn’t be a novelty; we should live it as real as it is and thank God every day that we have that privilege. The life that we are given to live is for God’s glory and His purposes. Whether we choose to work for Him and with Him is our choice but our life will be much greater for it if we choose to walk in His ways and follow His purposes.

While we are here, regardless of our vocation, we should use our time and energy to witness to people by our lives and what they see of Christ through our actions. Remember, the pay for God’s work may be small compared to what others get in this world but our retirement plan is out of this world! No one on earth could possibly measure what the streets of gold or your mansion in glory would be worth. The wonderful presence of God Himself and the fact that you will be with Him for eternity is also beyond anyone’s comprehension.

Our life will be more than we can imagine when we are in His presence and we will be for eternity if we are His. I can’t comprehend one thousand years or one million and eternity is far longer than either of those which is why Christ said that we live like flowers, here today and gone tomorrow. We have to allow Him to work through us while we are here because we only have a short time on this earth, and yet if we belong to Him we will have eternity to learn from Him and to be with Him daily. Heaven will be a place where we will experience freshness and joy all of the time because we will never be tired or run out of things to do, ever!

Even the apostle John couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing when he saw the vision of heaven and the angels and even God Himself. We truly haven’t a clue in regard to what is in store for us and our loved ones in Heaven or even when the earth is remade in the image of the paradise that it was in the Garden of Eden. I have left out reference to scripture in this morning’s sermon because the whole Bible from beginning to end declares God’s majesty and the magnificence of His creation. The sky, the trees, the birds and all the creatures that have ever been on the earth as well as the universe declares His creative power and wondrous love for us. He created all of these things for us to marvel at and consider because He is God, period!

I am bringing this message of praise and adoration before you because it is necessary to realize God’s presence and who He is. We are coming to the end of the church age and our time on earth will soon be done so the time to make your choice regarding who you will serve and where is now, not tomorrow or next week.

What would you say to a person who thinks they are good enough to stand in front of God and declare that they are eligible for heaven? Are you sure about your salvation? If you or a friend of yours thinks “I hope I can get into heaven when I die”, unless your “hope” is in Christ you won’t! If you are counting on your deeds to get there, you will be sorely disappointed. Our righteousness is as filthy rags without the blood of Christ because nothing that we can do on our own will ever be good enough.

John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Give our life to Christ and ask Jesus to save you from your sins today. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow or even tonight so the time is now. Once you do that and are sincere in your repentance there will be no doubt about where you will go after you die. You will be with Him and then your life will really begin!

Can you see or are you blind?


When we sleep or just close our eyes to the outside world are we like little children who think that because they can’t see anything, they are invisible and the world is too? There are times that I would like for that to be true but, it isn’t. When we were blind to the truth of God, did His truth still exist? Of course it did!

The world and all of the created things in it exist regardless of our position in it or our comprehension of it. The sun comes up and the moon rises, the tides come in and flow back to the sea, seasons change and the wind blows. All of these have been since the beginning when God put them into motion and they will not stop until He causes them to.

The same is true in our lives. We go to sleep at night and dream, we wake in the morning, eat breakfast and get ready for our job, and this is a daily ritual that goes on until we retire or we die whichever comes first. The novelty of life is that it shouldn’t be a novelty; we should live it as real as it is and thank God that we can do so.

The ground under your feet and the air that we breathe are real because God made them so. We did not and cannot create anything that He did not create first; a painting or sculptures are only as real as our imagination and our talent allows us to make it. He created the stone and the paint pigments that are used in its creation by us if we have the talent to do so. God Himself sculpted Adam from the mud and breathed His life into him and afterward He said that it was very good. Adam’s own decision to not follow God’s instructions caused all of us to pay for his mistake but God knew that was going to happen before it happened. He had a plan then and He has a plan for all of us today through Jesus and the work that He did for all of us.

The life that we are given to live here is for God’s glory and for His purposes. Whether we choose to work for Him and with Him is still our choice but our life will be the greater for it if we do choose His ways and purposes. While we are living and working in this world, regardless of our vocation, we should use our time and energy to further His kingdom as much as we are able. The pay for working for God in this life may not be profitable as our world views it, but the rewards in the next life are beyond measure by any standard that anyone on earth can fathom.

If you died today, where would you go? I hear many people say, “I hope that I will go to heaven”. If your hope is in Christ and your faith is in Him too, you will. If you are counting on your own deeds to get there, you will be disappointed. Our righteousness is as filthy rags without Christ because nothing that we can do on our own is good enough. Give your life to Him and ask Jesus to save you from your sins today. Once you do that, there will be no doubt about where you will be after you die. You will be with Him. Then your life will really start!

 

Just as you are


It doesn’t matter what you look like or where you live, Jesus loves you just as you are. He has always known you because He knew all of us before we were born. He knows and knew ahead of time who will come to Him and who will not. He also knows the gifts that He has given you and how to teach you to use them for Him and for the glory of God.

You are special to Him, it doesn’t matter who you are or your status here on earth. If your family has lots of money and status and fame, you are special to Jesus. Not because of who you are or because of what you think you have in this world, but because Jesus values you because you are you!

The “stuff” that we and our families gather during our life and on a daily basis doesn’t matter at all, especially with eternity hanging in the balance. The only real stuff that matters is what you choose to do with Jesus and whether you accept His gift for your life! God loves you and truly wants you to come to know Him and His Son, Jesus.

Once you make that decision, your life here will be forever changed in ways that you can’t imagine if you have never given your life to Christ. If you think that you are a Christian, but are having doubts, ask Jesus to clear things up for you. Ask Him to show you exactly what He wants you to do and what you need to read in God’s Word. Once you find the meaning and purpose for your life through Christ, eternity is your destiny because you will have that long to serve Him and to find out more about Him.

If you have access to a Bible, read Romans chapter 8. It has plenty of information for new Christians and for those of us who have gotten a bit rusty in our faith as well. For example: Romans 8:28 says: 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

God loves you all and wants you with Him, please come to Him before it is too late. You won’t regret this decision, I guarantee it!

Humanity, the ungrateful child


A wealthy man had a son whom he loved very much.  He gave him gifts.  He spent every moment of the day teaching and caring for his son.  But as the boy grew into manhood, he turned away from his father and came to despise him – yet his father continued to support him hoping that he would come around.  He paid his bills, furnished him with a home and wrote to him.  But, instead of being grateful, the son ripped up the letters, ended all contact with him and cursed anyone who dared mention his father’s name in conversation.  However, he never stopped taking his father’s support.

Sadly, this ungrateful son illustrates humanity.  God is our heavenly Father and many of us imitate the son’s attitude.  God spends every moment with us, whether we know it or not:  giving, teaching and caring – yet, many turn away.  In spite of this, God still continues to care for us with the desire that we will come around.  He supplies us with the riches of the universe, things that cannot be measured in wealth (like sunshine, oxygen, gravity, atmosphere, environment and more); He has paid our bills (Christ on the cross) and written to us (the Bible).  We may curse God – but isn’t it ironic that we still expect Him to continue supporting – which, as the perfect Father, He does.

What would happen to us if we woke up one day and the sun had dimmed to one-tenth of its output? Or if the magnetic field which protects us failed and we were exposed to the radiation of the full spectrum, not just the visible light that we have come to know? Would we blame God or would we pray and repent, asking for His protection again? What would we do in that situation?

In the current condition that our world is in, we would look for all sorts of scientific reasons for what was happening. We would also attempt to find ways that we could protect ourselves, but if something like that happened to our world the only one who could do anything about it would be ignored. If any of the situations that are outlined above happened, the only One who could do anything about it would actually be blamed for it.  God is the only one that we should be turning to, not Allah, or Buddha or anything else. God loves us all, far more than we would ever understand. He is outside of time, for He created time. That is why all of time is seen by Him, today, yesterday and tomorrow are all there for Him to see. He knows exactly how long each of us has to live and serve Him, and He knows if or when we will come to know Him personally.

Our Lord created everything and everyone who ever lived or ever will live on this earth. He also created those who were supposed to be born but weren’t for one reason or another and even though He is in control, He doesn’t because He wants us to have the freedom to choose. Whether it is the choice to live for Him or the choice to have a baby or to finish school and become a doctor or whatever you want to be. Our lives would not be what they are if He controlled us to the point of not giving us that choice. He even gave the angels the right to choose to serve Him or not, that is why Satan was cast out of Heaven. He chose to become greater than the Most High, knowing that he could not but that was his choice.

We are, as a people and a planet, blessed to be cared for by the Creator of the universe. Our “frail, blue marble” of a world would not be so perfectly positioned if it were not for His hand. If you consider for a moment that when we breathe and move around in our homes or on the street, there are trillions of chemical reactions and cellular processes which occur all of the time just to move you. If all of these did not work perfectly every day, you-we would die! For instance, in our brains, there are more than one hundred thousand chemical reactions happening every second. So in the time that it took me to write this, over ten million reactions have taken place just during the last few sentences and that is only one of the organs in the body.

The point of this is that we had to have been created by a Creator who loves us and knows what we will do and what we can do. We did not come to be what we are and where we are because of evolution. Random mutations and accidents do not create life as we know it, God does! Bring your heart to Him and offer your life as a sacrifice so that He can use you, you will never regret it, I promise.

Are you selfish or living for Jesus?


Is it possible to be selfish and a Christian too? Yes, if you aren’t living for Jesus and for His purposes in your life.

Our selfish side is still there regardless of whether we are Christians or not. If we have not given our heart to Jesus, that part of our “old” self is and always will be there. But, there is a way to tame that part of you. Prayer and reading God‘s Word will give you the ability and the tools to be able to resist the temptation of being selfish.

Our life, especially when we are living for Christ, is about so much more than just us. It is about getting the message of Christ and what He did for us, while we were yet sinners and before we were born, out to a world that is searching for answers. The only truth that is available is from God’s Word and if they will not receive it then the fault is their own. Our job is to get the message to them, it is the Spirit‘s job to bring that seed to fruition and call them to salvation.

That is why the commission was given, to the twelve disciples and by extension to the rest of us, to go into all of the world teaching and preaching the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. When we do that, we are doing the will of Him who saved us and of the Father, our Creator.

He loves us enough to do these things and much more on a daily basis, like allowing us to live and see our children grow, to come to know Him and to know that we will be with Him. Those are just a couple of things that our Creator gives to us. Just imagine what He gives us that we don’t realize who it came from. Your job, your friends, your children every good thing that we have in this life came from Him. All of the bad things which happen to us are either caused by bad choices which we made or came as a result of Satan‘s handiwork.

We are in a war between the two, Satan and God, which we know who wins in the end! Our life should be in service to Him who is and who was and who is to come. The Alpha and Omega, the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace, Jesus who is the Son of God but who is God as well. To be in service to Him is to be in our Father’s will, regardless of the occupation which we have to use to get paid in this life.

Signs from God? They are everywhere!


The first sign from God that anyone should notice is that you are reading this, you are alive and breathing! God gives us the air that we breathe, even if we pollute it. The sun is up and the earth is still turning on its axis, nothing in the universe changes without God knowing about it or allowing it to happen. Babies are being born (God puts all of the molecules together so that we work correctly). Sometimes I really wish that He had more control over the PC’s that we use, but that is a discussion for another time.

The heavens and all the wonders of the universe are there for all to see and marvel at, and He put it all there. God’s Son, Jesus said that no one knows when the end is to come, not even Him or the angels in Heaven only the Father. So, I don’t think anything dramatic is going to happen on the twenty-first of this month in spite of what some are saying.

Our lives are here for a purpose and that is to do the will of He who put us here. The only way to find out His will for your life is to read His Word, the Bible and then ask Him! He will answer.

God loves us all and wants none of us to perish, but when we try to impose our will in place of His we are going to make things worse, not better. The creation doesn’t know better how to run things than the Creator! Our lives are easy compared to what they could be, if God chose to make things hard but He doesn’t. I know that there are some bad things happening in the world right now and God knows about them too. Satan is responsible for the majority of the bad things that are happening to the world. The powers and principalities (demons and spirits under Satan’s control) are the responsible parties that cause people to do the terrible things that they do.

I am not advocating the old saying that “the devil made me do it” by what I said. What I am saying is that unless we are following Christ and His will for our lives and putting on the armor of God by reading and studying His Word, the devil and his crew can and will do anything that they can to make things bad or worse for us than it needs to be. God loves us and wants us all to come to know Him. Please give Him a chance to show you just how much He loves you, won’t you? He is coming back so be ready when that day arrives by giving your heart and life to Him now. Your life will be so much more than it is if you do.

The Way, the Truth and the Life


The only person that fits that description or has ever fit that description is Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Lord. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Mighty Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Living Word of God….all of these names and more have been written about Him and He is all of them but He is also a carpenter, our Creator, the Messiah and the Son of God.

Wow! Can you imagine! He is waiting for you to come to Him and ask Him into your life as Savior and Lord. How awesome is that! He knows you better than you do and has known you since before you or I were born. There is no other who can do what Christ and His Father can do, no matter what has been told or by whom. He is the only One who can save you into an eternity of love and peace.

Our God is truly awesome and He is in control even if the people in our government don’t believe it. I am praying for them and for our country and for Israel. The beginning of the prophecies leading up to the Tribulation has already started to come to pass and it is going to get worse. Read and study the Bible. Pray about what you read and ask God to open your eyes to the Truth. He will answer your prayer.

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,…” 1 Timothy 4:1

Listen to God’s Word and what it says about this time in history. Other times have been bad, but nothing like what is going on right now and it will get worse. I am not trying to scare anyone and I am sorry if this frightens you but this time referred to in prophecy is not a time that will be enjoyable. Please come to Christ, He is patiently waiting for you.

Jesus loves you!


The Christ, our Lord and Savior loves all of you, don’t ever forget that! He came here as a babe, grew up, lived his life as a carpenter then fulfilled His calling from His Father to sacrifice Himself to pay for our sins. Everyone’s sin, not just Israel‘s but everyone in the world from the beginning to the end.

I know that Christianity is not very popular right now but if you truly need hope, it is the only place to turn. Islam, Buddhism, Hindi, or most any other religion doesn’t really give you that because of the nature of their teachings. God sent His Son as the Lion of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, to bring the good news of salvation to Israel and the world. This is what was done, but since His people wouldn’t accept Him as the Messiah, the good news went to the world after His resurrection.

He is coming back and according to prophecy and the signs of the times, it won’t be very long. We have waited for nearly two thousand years and the time of the church age is drawing to a close. Once that happens, the world is really going to get ugly. The book of Revelation is not fiction nor is it metaphor. John may not have understood exactly what he was seeing at the time, so his descriptions sound very far-fetched, but the prophecies contained within it will come to pass. Believe in Jesus and what He did for you so your future will be assured and in Heaven.