Are you a follower?

Of the many people who attend church on a fairly regular schedule, how many are really following Jesus in their daily lives? The answer may shock you. According to a study done recently, eighty-three percent of the people in the United States said they were Christians. But, when they were questioned further and asked about their relationship with Jesus and their belief about salvation coming through faith in Him alone and about the authority of the Bible and its inspiration by the Holy Spirit, the numbers tumbled to around eight to ten percent.

What happened?

Many people think that if you are a good person and you attend church once or twice a year, then you will go to Heaven. Not true.

Do you believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God? That He lived a sinless life and died for the atonement which is given to every person that is called by God? Do you have faith in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit or the Trinity of Almighty God? Can you discern truth in the Bible and in your everyday life?

Or is there another pathway to get to Heaven through your works and donations? Jesus said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man comes to the Father except by Him. Believing in Him and giving your life to Jesus is the ONLY way to get to Heaven. There is no broad road to walk on with no holes and no rocks and other obstacles along the way. It is a path to follow by giving your heart to Jesus and asking for His forgiveness of your sins, repenting of them and turning your life around to follow Him.

This doesn’t mean that you can say those things, get baptized, and then go back to your old life. If you do this, then your heart was not changed at all and you are still living like you did before you heard about Jesus. Your heart hasn’t changed therefore you have not changed. It isn’t a magic formula, but you have to realize that you NEED Jesus in your life before something happens and you stand before God without Him.

God loves each of us and wants us to have a relationship with Him and the entire body of believers, and the only way to do that is by giving your heart to Jesus by believing in Him and asking Him to forgive you and make you whole. Why do I keep telling ya’ll this? Because, it is my job! Because the numbers shouldn’t fall from over 80 percent down to ten percent. Deception and lies are being spread abroad all of the time, even inside the church today, yet there are many who don’t see it or can’t discern it because they are not in God’s Word enough to be able to see when something is taught and taken out of context.

God sent His Son to Earth to purchase your pardon through His blood. He went through a scourging which left Him bloody and bruised, then He was nailed to the cross and withstood the shame and scorn of His people for six hours and then surrendered His Spirit into the Father’s hands. All of this was done to purchase us, our pardon for eternity and for our forgiveness. Would you turn away from something which is given to you without cost to you, but which Jesus paid for with His blood and His life?

Everything that could be done for each of us in order to purchase our souls and our place in eternity, has been done. It doesn’t require anything from you except that you believe in the One Who gave it all for you and that you repent of your sinful life and follow Him. Telling others with your life and your witness because we are supposed to tell others! Why? Would you be satisfied in Heaven without your children or your parents? Then tell them! Tell your friends and your co-workers, your students and anyone who will listen. If they won’t hear or refuse to accept Jesus, their blood is on their hands, not yours. It is God and His Spirit which will bring them to Himself, if they refuse then there is nothing else you could have done.

Be a follower of Jesus and tell others about what He has done for you. Satan will try to convince you to not follow Him, to go back to your old life, your comfortable life and your friends. When you stand in front of God after your life is over, which one of your friends will be there to help you? Will Satan stand there and say that you didn’t know what you were doing? No, he will be waiting for you to exit the room because he has a place for you…in hell.

Trust and faith

What do you put your trust…your faith in? When Moses realized that God was going to use him to deliver Israel from Egypt, what did he put his trust in? It wasn’t the stick that he had used as a shepherd, it was God! Moses wasn’t a magician who could turn the stick into a snake, God did that! God doesn’t use magicians because their magic comes from Satan and his demons!

With God all things are possible, to those who have faith in Him. Our lives and the fact that we live today on this Earth are not guaranteed, we did not evolve here, we as a species were created by God! The Bible is His Word given to man to write and keep records so that we would have wisdom and knowledge to know Him and how to be civilized in our society.

It does take faith in God to understand the Bible and to be able to grasp His wisdom there. It can’t be done if you just read it as a book, without faith or prayer for His Spirit revealing it to you the Bible is just a book. Which is why many people who don’t believe in God can say that they have read it and they don’t understand it. God’s wisdom in His Word is foolish to someone who doesn’t have faith and who doesn’t believe the words which are in it.

God loves us and He has promised to come back and make the world new again and since He can’t lie, then He will do it. When? I don’t know, but if you look at the prophecies in the Bible telling about the condition of the world just before His return then we aren’t far from it. I won’t be foolish enough to give a date because only God Himself knows that day and hour, and it isn’t written in His Word.

The world around us is changing dramatically in scope and in what we are trying to do in science and medicine. The Internet has enabled us to communicate around the world in seconds. Life is easier in some places and harder or even impossible in some other areas, yet God hasn’t abandoned us. We are His creation and this small planet is our home. When He comes, it will open many eyes to His existence and also to their regret because they didn’t believe in Him.

Search Him out diligently, seek Him in the Scriptures and at church, pray for His guidance and direction in learning about Him in the Word. Because, when your life is over there are no do-overs and you will meet Him, but in a very different way.

Problems in our lives

How many problems do we all have today? That question alone could fill up many pages of text. Suffice to say, all of us have problems of one kind or another. Some of them are of our own making, some are caused by the economic conditions in the world today.

So, what can we do about our problems? Not much really. Individually, we have to notice what is going on before it becomes a problem. The same is true for states and nations, but that doesn’t always work. In our lives, as short as they are, problems are going to be a part of them and there is no reason to think otherwise.

Sounds pessimistic doesn’t it? Jesus told His disciples that we would always have trouble (tribulation) in this world but to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world. Will that help in today’s climate with wars happening all over, earthquakes and hurricanes happening in places where they haven’t in a while if ever? For some people, no it won’t because they don’t want to give their hearts to Jesus. They don’t want the peace which comes with knowing Him.

Why don’t they want this? I haven’t got the slightest idea. Jesus and the Holy Spirit give me the strength to get by and get through the problems which come up in my life and they can do this for you too. I don’t have the problems that many people have with their health, but I can’t work because of my disability (at least not at an 8 hour a day job). I preach on Sunday and I give these sermons here when the words come to me, but that is about all that I can accomplish.

It saddens me that I am like this, but I like to think it was because I was making a difference in some people’s lives and Satan tried to stop it. It didn’t work. I am not letting this get me down and you shouldn’t either! I have days where I am depressed, but I do my best to read in the Psalms and give it to God and let Him take care of it. I can’t get rid of the depression on my own, but He can.

Your problems may have to do with money or lack of a job or an illness, but God can take care of them all if you will let Him. God doesn’t move at our pace, He works in His time which is why we sometimes try to help Him get things done. That is the wrong thing to do because it just postpones His answer! He will let you give it a try, and He will give the problem back to you if you think you can do better, then He will sit back and watch. When you figure it out, then He will ask you in a small voice (if you are listening), “Are you ready for my solution yet?”.

God loves each of us more than we can imagine and since He lives outside of time, He can see down the road, so to speak, what is coming and what is best for us. He wants us to wait for His best! We just get impatient. It is important to add here something that I learned a LONG time ago: DON’T ASK GOD TO TEACH YOU PATIENCE! You won’t like His class on that at all!! Learn it at your own pace, teach yourself patience through the reading of His Word and then listen to Him and wait.

I promise, it will be worth it.

Sonrise!

Are you a follower of God’s Son? If you are, then you know why I titled this post the way I did. We, His church, are waiting for Him to rise in the skies to claim His bride! Will we see Him that day? Yes, we will! Will the rest of the world see Him? Not likely. Why? Good question.

The reason is because when He comes for the church, there will be a trumpet sound and the church will disappear, those who have fallen asleep prior to His summons will be first and the ones who are alive will be next! The change will be such an instantaneous event that if you happen to be talking to someone who is a Christian, it will happen in the blink of your eyes. If you are not a Christian, their clothes, shoes, watch, any jewelry that they have on will be in a pile in front of you.

That day will be a terrifying day for most of the world, at least the ones who haven’t given their hearts to Jesus. Those of us who have will be in His Presence in Heaven and will be there for eternity. There will be a drastic change in the world and it will not be pretty nor will it be enjoyable. I can’t tell you when this will happen. Some say it will happen prior to the arrival of the anti-Christ and the peace treaty in the Middle East. Then there are some who say that we won’t be taken up until about halfway through those seven years. Which one is right? I don’t know.

The only person who does know is God and it is up to Him when this happens.

Your trip to Heaven could be any day, just like mine though. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. If our soul is required tonight, then one or both of us will be in front of God tonight. This time is foretold in Matthew 24 and in Revelation so it is not as if we don’t have written warning, because we have had that for right at 2,000 years.

The time has come for us to make up our minds individually if we will follow Jesus or just keep doing our own thing. Some people are wondering why is it taking so long? God is trying to give as many people as possible the opportunity to come to know Him and give their hearts to Jesus. He is patient, but according to the prophecies it seems that time is running down. In my opinion, this is the last generation before His return. That could be next year or another ten, maybe even twenty years but I don’t think it will be that long.

Please, seek Jesus while you have the chance in this life.

Are you satisfied..with God?

You know, it sounds like a very silly question doesn’t it? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about His satisfaction with us? Actually, it really is a give and take relationship…a two-way relationship between you and God! Why wouldn’t we be satisfied with Him? Maybe He didn’t answer your prayer the way you thought He should or maybe something happened to you or a family member and you prayed to Him about it and got no peace about it or no answer at all.

God is not a genie! He is the Creator of the entire universe from the largest galaxy to the smallest particles of matter! He doesn’t have to answer your prayers the way that you want Him to! Especially, if your ideas and your wants conflict with what He has waiting for you! God loves you more than you know, but you need to realize that He is in control and learn to be satisfied with Him!

Satisfaction with God is not something which is automatic because we are not satisfied with out own lives most of the time. Being satisfied with God is knowing that He has your best interests in mind and knowing that He can see the future of this action or this prayer and He is going to work in your life for the best outcome, no matter what! Granted, there are times when the best outcome may be to bring you home to Heaven rather than allowing you to suffer here on Earth. We may not have the ability to heal your problems, but God can.

Although, sometimes His way of healing happens to include your travel to Heaven to stay. The connection between believers and God has to do with your Spirit which changed you into a born-again, sanctified Christian is always in communication with God, even if you are not. The Spirit living inside you is part of the Trinity and it is that part which is always in touch with God, as long as you haven’t quenched the Spirit’s influence or grieved the Spirit in any way.

The question about those two things weighed on my heart for a long time until recently, so I will give you the definition that I received. Quenching the Spirit is concerning something that God wants us to do and we don’t do it, grieving the Spirit is when you do something that is against God’s command or purpose in your life, like drinking a beer or smoking a joint especially when someone else may see you do it. You have grieved God’s Spirit in your life and you have ruined your testimony in front of someone else who knows that you claim to be a Christian.

We are complicated beings made in God’s image with a physical body, an immortal soul and if you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit residing inside you to teach you, comfort you, strengthen you and guide you through whatever life throws your way. In order to live that kind of life, you need to learn about Him and His ways so you can listen to His voice and recognize it as God. The only way to do this is by reading God’s Word so you will know what His voice, His Word sounds like. It will always involve a relationship to either Himself or Jesus and it will never seek to do something which is against a command in the Bible.

Learn His ways by reading His Word and praying about what you read. Go to a Bible teaching church, regardless of the denomination, so that you will hear from His Word and not just someone’s ideas about God. Being satisfied with God and His provision for your life is something which we all need to do, even though it isn’t easy sometimes. It is a learning process just as being a Christian is. Yes, you can become a Christian by giving your heart to Jesus, but you have to learn to walk with Him on a daily basis and learn from Him and the Word so that you can be an effective witness to others.

When you give your heart to Him and truly ask Him to forgive you and make you His, you are a babe in Christ and just like babies we all have to grow and learn. Being a Christian is not automatic and it isn’t the easiest job to learn either, but it is well worth it! Satisfaction with Him will come as you learn more about Him and mature in your faith. Put your trust…your faith in Him like you see children trusting their parents or like your dog trusts you and you will learn quickly that it is the best relationship that you have ever had!

So much…so fast…

What can we do? It seems that life, daily and around the world, is moving too fast. We start a new year and then six months have gone by, almost in a flash. News, shootings, wars, politicians vying for your vote and trying to tear their opponent down. Why is all of this going by the way that it is? Is it because we are getting older or is the world around us speeding up? Maybe the ruler of this world is causing everything to happen in such a way that we see it happening and it is just too much to grasp.

I think it is because of all the information channels which we have at our fingertips. We have Facebook, we have the Internet and all of it’s news sites, we have cell phones which can get online anywhere at anytime, and we still have the news and news papers. Although to us in this day and age, the television and the newspaper are out of date the minute they print a story or when it is broadcast.

At the beginning of the 20th century life moved a lot slower than it does now. In 1916, the world was involved in World War 1, the Ford Motor Company had made cars available as long as you didn’t mind it being in black, a few people had an early version of the telephone. For the most part, people still traveled by horse and buggy and most people were farmers or ranch hands if you lived out West. There were still a few territories which had not even become states yet. It had only been fifty years or so since the Civil War had ended.

Now we are only one century from that point and where are we? Everyone seems to be doing their own thing, regardless of whether it is the right thing or not. Cell phones with cameras are in everyone’s hands today, so nothing is private anymore. You can be recorded doing anything, anywhere at any time. There are very few farmers anymore, food is produced by corporations and shipped in from all over the world, except for a few local markets. We have been through at least four wars since the first world war and the second was worse.

We have had much strife and endless society problems since the “new century” began, but have we managed to do anything constructive in the last fifteen years? Not really.

I have seen over five decades of life and yet that is just the beginning of life for many. Over that time, there have been many problems in society, in our country yet when you consider all of the promises that have been made by various politicians…nothing has really changed for the better. Why are we still dealing with so much racism and hatred? Is it because of true racial problems or are they magnified by those who wish to keep us at each other’s throats? I believe it is just that!

We have taken God’s Word from education and that is against God’s ways, because He said that we should train our children by His Word. We have taken prayer out of schools and the pledge of allegiance too, all in the name of “political correctness”. Just so others, even if it is only one person, are not offended in some way. All of this political correctness began early in the last century but it really gained traction in the ’60’s and has become like a chain on every part of life today.

The only way to get our country back on the right track is for there to be a national revival. Come back to God’s house and learn from Him what is required, what is needed. God loves each of us, yet we have pushed Him away to the point of receiving judgement from Him and it seems very likely that we will get just that.

Turn ye back to the Lord! God has not given up on us, yet we have walked away from Him. He changes not, but we have moved away from Him and we, as a nation, seem to think that we can make all things be right on our own. We NEED God! I pray that anyone who reads this will repent from their sinful ways and return to Him before it is too late.

Amen.

What is important to you?

There seems to be many people who are running around searching for something which makes them feel good. The travel to places which are beautiful, they go to sports arenas and watch football games and baseball games, some go to race tracks and watch professional drivers run around in circles. Many go on trips called vacations to places that they do not live, to see things for a few days and live there for those few days, sometimes in the lap of luxury. Then what?

You come home. The excitement and the newness of living has worn off. You are sitting in a house, a home, with the same people who went on the vacation but..something is missing. You feel restless, unsatisfied, nervous, anxious, what do you do? Many who can afford to will be off on another trip, somewhere. Anywhere but at home, in a place that is boring and uninteresting.

Contentment is hard to find, unless you have allowed it to find you first. Contentment is a state of mind where you know where you belong and to whom you belong. You don’t have to be married to be content, but it doesn’t hurt! Paul wrote “I have learned to be content in whatever state I find myself in” Philippians 4:11 , wouldn’t it be great if we could all find that place?

Contentment, what is important to you, these two are not exclusive, they are the same. Have you found your place, your “happy place”, the place where you are content and fulfilled with where you are and who you are? Sadly, some people never find that place. Many search for it their entire lives and don’t realize it until they are on their death-bed. By then, it’s too late to enjoy it. I see it in many of my friend’s lives and some of my classmate’s lives as well. Over the years I have watched many of them chase after something which is elusive like a puff of smoke.

A few have found it, but some are still looking even after their children are grown and they are retired from their jobs. Why? Your job doesn’t usually give you contentment and sometimes neither does your family. It seems that many people are content until one or the other is gone, the job or the family and children. Then what do you do?

We identify with our jobs or our family during the productive years of our lives and then when we get to a point, whether young or middle-aged or past 65, where we have the option or maybe we have been forced to “retire” from work, we find that our identity was our contentment. Now that we are past the point of being productive in work or raising a family, life is a big question mark now. Who am I? What do I do now?

Seek out your Savior! If you have not done this during your so-called “productive years”, then truly you need to make it a point to do it today! Why? Because, that place where you have placed your contented feelings during your career or while raising a family is now empty. It was supposed to contain the Holy Spirit all along! Ask Jesus to come in and clean out the space which has been occupied by life and all of its busyness and place His Spirit in there!

That is where Paul got his contentment from. He was a murdering, hunter of the followers of “the Way”, until Jesus stopped him and got in his face. If you have felt the call of Jesus, but you have pushed Him aside, it isn’t too late. Seek Him out in scripture and in a real Bible teaching church, then ask Him to come into your life and clean out the cobwebs and the left over stuff from your life. When He does, you should begin to study and read His Word!

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t understood it before, with His Spirit helping you, the meanings will be clearer. If you can’t grasp something that the Bible says, ask Jesus to make it plain to you so you can.

Then, the things which are important will rearrange themselves and begin to line up from His perspective and your perspective will be lined up with His. That is contentment and being in that place is more rewarding than any “vacation” or any amount of fun that you could have before. I don’t mean that you have to stop doing those things, just keep your eyes focused on Jesus first. Take Him with you, learn to love things from His point of view. He is the Creator, so enjoy His creation, and when you do it in that order…contentment will come to live with you.

Seconds, minutes, hours….

We are very attached to our measurement of time. We seem to obsess over how little we seem to have, but the issue has always been with us. From the moment of our birth until the day that we die, the seconds, minutes and hours tick by whether we use them or not. Yet, we complain about not having enough. We have 86,400 seconds allotted to each of us every day. What you do with them is up to you. From midnight to sunrise there are approximately 21,600 seconds which most of us sleep through (if we sleep until 6 am).

From that point on until midnight the next night, you have 64,800 seconds until the next day begins.

Looking at our days like this, it seems that we waste more time than we thought we did. Is there anything that we can do about this? Not really. We have to sleep, we have to eat at some point, and many of us have to drive to and from work every day. By the time you factor in all of that, most of your day is spent.

Jesus said that we should work while the day is here, because the night comes and no man can work. There are many who do work night shifts, but in His day the only people who did so were shepherds who watched over their flocks at night. During the night hours, the only other people who are out are criminals who steal, kill or otherwise commit crimes. Today, there are the police and firefighters who are also working during the night, along with nurses, doctors and emergency medical personnel.

Why am I writing about time here? Because, we all have a limited amount of it in our lifetimes and we must be about the work that we are assigned by God while we can. It is true that we may have other jobs to perform as well, but if you are a Christian then you have a job assigned to you to let others know about His love for them! They need to know because they will be sent to hell and if you have the chance to tell them and you don’t, then you will have to answer for it.

I don’t mean to frighten anyone, and you won’t lose your salvation but you may lose a reward in Heaven for not telling the people who you could’ve and you didn’t. Compared to eternity, our life passes by like a second on your watch. We should be trying to do all that we can to tell those, particularly those who you count as friends and relatives, about the love of Jesus and that He died for them! If they don’t accept the gospel and accept Him or they tell you that they are already saved, then you have done all that you can to help. It is up to the Holy Spirit to convict them and bring them back from the far country.

Time is precious and it is coming to the end of the church age as I type this. It is true, we may have another ten or twenty years, but in my heart and according to all of the prophecies which have been fulfilled I am not sure how much time we really have left. Do what you can and then give the matter over to God.

In His Service.

Prayer..is it necessary?

Some religions require you to pray a certain number of times each day, but is that enough? Are we praying for the right things or are we just reciting prayers that we learned as children? Prayer is a two-way communication not just a request line! Saying the same prayer over and over again doesn’t work, because you aren’t speaking to God if you are just repeating words which have no substance or meaning.

God is our Creator and He is interested in your life every day, not just when you are in trouble or you feel the need to get in touch with Him. Prayer is like talking to your Dad or your Mom, except that God can actually do something about a problem no matter what it may be!

The reason that I am writing about this is that it seems that many people use prayer as an emergency line. When something happens that they can’t handle, they cry out to God for His Presence right then! God hears these prayers, and He will answer them in His time not yours. He is God, not a bell boy or a genie and He doesn’t do your bidding regardless of how much money you gave to the church last year!

God loves each of us and He hears our prayers, what we don’t understand is that He wants a relationship with us. One that is in communication on a regular basis, not just when something in your life is going wrong! As it says in Numbers and Exodus, when you teach your children His statutes at rising, when you are walking along and before bed. God desires to hear a word or prayer from you when you get up, thank Him for your rest and for allowing you to get up, as your day progresses thank Him for your success during the day and when the day is through thank Him for strength to get through another day.

These prayers don’t take long to say and they don’t have to be complicated, they can even be as simple as “Thank you, Lord, for today” or “Thank you for waking me this morning, Lord.” It sounds like a trite, simple prayer but isn’t that the kind of prayer that you hear your children saying when they are young? God likes those prayers too, even if they are coming from you and me.

So much yet so little…

madewholeinHeaven I have written about this topic before, but maybe under a different name or title. Why do we see “stuff” as our measure of success? Yes, I have heard the adage about the one who dies with the most toys wins, but it isn’t true! You could have all of the money, fame, toys, real estate that one person could never use all of it and enjoy it yet when your death comes you will not take any of it with you. Oh sure, you could be buried in your favorite car or your leather recliner if you wish, but when you are standing in front of God to give account of your life…you will be there alone if you don’t have Jesus as your Savior.

Many people seem to think that life ends when you breathe your last breath here and its true that your physical life does end. But, we are beings made up of a body, a soul and a spirit and after your body dies, the other two live on into eternity. Where they live in eternity is up to your decision now, while your body still lives! A life lived here of 80 or even 100 years seems to be a long life, but compare that to 1,000 years or even 10,000 years! Ten thousand years is just the beginning of eternity! Even after one million years, eternity hasn’t started good yet!

So, what you do with your Savior does matter! If you accept Him and repent of your sins, then your next residence will be a sure and wonderful place to live. Toys, grown-up or not, don’t follow you into eternity. Money doesn’t mean much when you live on a street which is paved with gold. The gates of the city of Jerusalem in Heaven are made of solid pearls and other precious stones which are not found here. Your soul is worth more than ALL of the money on Earth which is approximately 300 to 500 trillion dollars the last time I checked on Google. I know that wasn’t a scientific search, but as I said it is an approximate amount.

HELL-105818653518 Consider the alternative: If you haven’t given your heart to Jesus or repented of your sins, then your eternity will be in the same place as the angels who rebelled with Satan. Punishment in a lake of fire which never goes out, for eternity. God doesn’t send you there, you do by making a choice of doing things your way and believing the lie that if you are good enough, God will let you in. Our religious lives and all of the works that you can do and the money given to the poor are not good enough! If you haven’t cleansed your heart by asking Jesus to come into your life and saving you and then repent of your sins so that you can become more like Jesus until your death, none of your religion or your position in the church will matter!