Tag: Jesus

Dad, what are you doing?


You may or may not know where Father’s Day came from, so I looked it up and found it. It came about because of a girl named Sonora Smart Dodd. In 1909, she was sitting in church listening to a Mother’s Day sermon when she had the idea of Father’s Day. She had been raised by her father after her mother’s death, so she wanted her father to know how special he was to her. To make a long story short, twenty-five years later, through her efforts President Calvin Coolidge designated the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day, then President Lyndon Johnson declared it as well but it took President Richard Nixon to sign the proclamation and make it permanent.

In God’s Word, there is one father that we know of who doesn’t have anything to say and yet he helped to raise and teach and nurture the Son of God. I am speaking of Joseph. In the story of Jesus’ birth, Mary and the angels have big parts to play; the wise men who are seeking the Child are prominent in the story too. Joseph is told that the Child is from God and that it is OK to accept Mary as his wife. Later on he is warned in a dream to take the child and flee to escape Herod’s soldiers.

Nowhere in the story do we hear from Joseph. I suppose if you are told that you are to be the step-father of the Son of God that would take your breath away. But there are many things about Joseph that we can only get from other scripture. Joseph loved Mary, which is what a father is supposed to do. Even though he thought she didn’t love him.

When he was making plans to divorce Mary, God showed him the divine plan in a dream: In a dream an angel appeared to Joseph, “Joseph, thou son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the baby in her womb is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20-21). “When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have relations with her until her son was born; and Joseph named him Jesus.” (Matt. 1:24, 25).

How much better would the world be if every father took responsibility like Joseph? He understood what God expected of him, and he was ready to obey! Even if the village that they lived in considered the child to be a child of adultery. Joseph believed God, obeyed God and accepted the responsibility that God had given him.

About fifty years ago, seventeen percent of the children born were raised apart from their fathers. In 1990, that number was up to 36%. Today, nearly half of all children in the U.S. are raised without a father in the home.

You know, in many ways, we as fathers and husbands, are to be the leaders of our team. The team being the family, we are expected to be the head of the household in all areas. That includes financial, religious, personal, etc. Every part of our lives and the life of our family, we do not control but we are to guide and help and nurture to the best of our ability and the ability that God has given us. That is our responsibility as fathers. We are to be like God as much as is humanly possible, just don’t ACT like a god!

Your wife will take care of that! She will bring you down a notch or two if you do!

Joseph was a devout Jew and made sure to do everything according to the Lord’s teachings in the Law of Moses to the best of his ability. He sought God and led his family to the Passover festival every year.

I read once that “A child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father.” (Austin L. Sorensen) Seeing God in their father is a child’s best way to come to know God as their Father. Let that settle a bit in your mind and think on it. Who else would a child look to if not his or her father? We all claim, if we know Jesus, that God is our Father but can you feel Him? Can you touch Him?

Those sensations of touch are necessary for children and only our earthly fathers can give us a hug or hold your hand or pull the fish that you caught off the hook. We are supposed to be the spiritual leader in our family, like the priests in the Old Testament. If your child sees you reading the Bible, then they will see that you think it is important, especially when the wisdom that you gain from it is applied in your life, to every part of your life.

You are able to instill faith in your children. You are able to show them what a loving father looks like and acts like. You can give them the ability to trust and depend on their Father in heaven, but you can’t give your children something that you don’t have. Before they will see God in you, you have to let Him into your heart and your life. He has to be the top priority and they have to see you seeking Him. When you do, your children will see it; your grandchildren will see it. They will know that it is important, that He is important to you and to them.

A preacher once asked some preschoolers to draw pictures of God. He was going to use them as illustrations for his sermon. At the end of the class, they came up with rainbows and men with big hands. His daughter told him that she didn’t know what God looked like, so she drew a picture of him instead.

Joseph was a quiet man in scripture. Strong in his faith, yet we never heard him speak. His example teaches all of us a lesson in righteousness, responsibility and a lesson in religion. God is our Heavenly Father and He wants nothing more than for you to be a part of His family.

Can we have a daily Sabbath?


Can we have a daily Sabbath? Can we enjoy a time with God as the focus of our attention and nothing else? In today’s world and the society that we live in with everything being instant and with no time for listening and waiting, can we slow down enough to hear His voice? If we heard it, would we listen?

The answer to these questions should be a resounding, YES! We must make time for God in our lives on a daily basis, because if we don’t we will miss out on the most important relationship that we have available to us. Just as with any friendship, there has to be a time of conversation but we also have to listen too. God’s voice is not the booming voice heard in movies or on cartoons. It is still and quiet and we need to quiet our minds in order to hear it and understand the meaning behind it.

God doesn’t need us, but He wants us in a relationship with Him on a daily basis. He doesn’t want us to come to Him once per week or just when we are hurting. He wants us all the time and we should want Him too! He does allow us to live on the earth and be what He intended for us to be and He is the Creator, so why can’t we give Him some attention daily?

I think that we don’t give Him daily time because we don’t think that we have the time to give. We do have the time but we usually put other priorities ahead of God, when He should be number one! I imagine some people might want to know why He should be number one so I will tell you, because you are breathing!

He created the earth and the trees and everything else that allows us to breathe, and He created you! He has a purpose for you and once you find that purpose, you will know.

Our Creator wants us to love Him because we are loved by Him, not because we have to but because we want to. Many people in this world refuse to acknowledge Him which is sad and it is because of Satan‘s influence in the world. He has convinced scientists and most of secular society that God doesn’t exist and that he doesn’t either. The problem with this is that it is wrong and when history comes to an end, we will all find out the truth but it will be too late.

There will not be a party in hell, but it will be hell for those who don’t or won’t believe what the Bible has taught for thousands of years. It is like believing in gravity, whether you believe in it or not it is there. Not believing in it won’t nullify its effect. If you don’t want to believe in hell, that is fine, but don’t blame anyone but yourself if you end up there one day.

The only way to salvation is through belief in Jesus and the sacrifice that He made for us, acknowledge that you, like everyone else, are a sinner and ask Him into your life. This is the easy part, the hard part comes with living your life through Jesus and His life through you.

Are we pushing an agenda or trying to bring people to Christ?


In the charged atmosphere that our country is in, what are we doing as representatives of Christ? Are we representing Christ to the world? There are many who see the church as a radical group that is pushing their agenda on people who don’t want it. In this scenario, the church is being compared to zealots and terrorists because of the way the message of a few congregations gets attention from the media. Sensationalism in our society is all the rage because of so-called “reality TV” so anyone who has an opinion, especially one that is going to get attention, will get air time.

Even the man-made religions of Islam and Scientology get far more favorable time than most churches that follow Jesus. Is it because we are living in the times prior to His return? I don’t know for sure. Many people wonder when that might happen and the fact is that no one knows except God. When the time is right, it will happen because it is prophesied in His Word. That belief is based on faith, but not blind faith. It is faith in a risen Savior and in the prophecies which have already come true that are in the Bible.

Christ is the answer to all of life’s questions because He is the author of life. He is the Creator and our redeemer and the only “agenda” that I am preaching if that is what you call this.

In life and in this world there are many troubles. Some are caused by us, some by natural processes like earthquakes and hurricanes, and many of the wars and diseases that afflict mankind have their cause in Satan and his demons. I know that there are many who will not believe this because they put about as much into belief in him as they do in Bigfoot or “little green men”.

Humans are hated and despised by Satan because of our status in God’s eyes, especially those who have accepted Christ as their savior. The rhetoric that is being debated in the media about Christians and their belief that is based on the Word of God against sinful lifestyles.

In many ways we are very much like children who cannot get along. One group goes to one part of the playground, another to another area and none of them play together. Our pride and selfishness gets in the way of being the people that God intended for us to be. We have our own views and opinions of how “religion” or lack of it should be done and we are stubborn enough to not allow others to influence us.

Why are we such a stubborn people? Because we want things our way, we want to do everything on our own, like children even as adults.

God knows this and He knows us and our ways. He also knows what is best for us but until we decide to follow Him, we will be stuck doing it our way. We may get some things done in our world, but what about after we leave this world and stand before Him? Will anything that we have done matter at that point? If it was done for Him it will, if not then the question becomes “What did you do with my Son, Jesus?”

The answer to this question may not mean much to you now but when eternity is before you the answer will make a great deal of difference. We do not know how many days that we have in this life and I know there are many who think they should do all they can to have fun before they die. Have you considered what happens after you die? Many people think that once you die, that’s it, but it is not.

We all have eternal souls and where we spend eternity hinges on the answer to the  previous question. Your life in eternity, whether in heaven or hell, is determined by your answer toward Christ. Did you accept Him as your Lord and Savior or did you reject Him? You place in eternity depends solely on the answer to that question, think about it.

In what shape are you in?


I am not talking about your body shape, I am speaking of the shape of your relationship with Jesus? Are you good friends? Do you speak to each other on a daily basis or do you only call when you need something?

God loves you as no one on earth can and His love is unconditional. He doesn’t require you to do anything to earn His love. He does ask that you ask Jesus into your heart and your life, but He will never force you into a relationship with Him. God doesn’t do that, regardless of what other religions say with regard to your acceptance of their version of “God”.

When you become part of God’s family, you are a part of it but yours is a unique part. Unique in the way that you are because there is no one on earth with your abilities and God knows what you can do, even if you don’t, yet!

The Bible is a collection of stories, true, but it is also God voice speaking to us and telling us how much He loves us. He speaks to us through the poetry and the history of the Jewish people but He also speaks through the letters and the prophecies, the wisdom contained in the book of Proverbs. Many people don’t realize that God spoke and is still speaking through the words contained in this book. But it is so much more than a book. God’s love is expressed all through it from Genesis to Revelation. It is expressed angrily as a jealous God would but it is also expressed lovingly as a father would to a child that he loves.

The anger that is expressed is the kind that a parent would have toward a child that is doing something which might hurt them or cause them to be killed. It is not a hateful anger nor is it an anger which is comparable to our anger, it is a type which I cannot fully describe to anyone unless they have a child which they love. When that child runs out into the street or touches something which might endanger their life, don’t you feel a little angry and anxious because you may have lost your child?

That is the type of anger that most closely mirrors what God expresses and yet He loves us with an unbounded love, one which we cannot fully comprehend. When you are looking for something and yet you don’t know exactly what that something is, you will find your answer in the Bible and nowhere else! You may try to find it in another religion or a job or by using drugs or alcohol, but when you wake the next morning feeling hollow and still wanting something to fill that space, God is the only One who can.

“I have lost my way” is what I have heard some say about not going to church or that they have been gone too long. God knows where you are! He never left you, you just looked away from Him, that is all! Just like the grass looking greener on the other side of the fence and the cows stretch to get at it not knowing that the grass is the same.

God loves us with a love that none of us can understand or comprehend in our human way because He is our Creator. He is as far above us as we are above a bacteria so our feelings and His feelings are totally different and yet He cares for us as no one else can, like a father caring for billions of His children.

Giving your life and your heart to Him and becoming one of His children in a real sense is the best decision that you can make with your life. I do not want anyone to think that being a Christian is easy because it is not. The old self is still there, as are the temptations of your previous life. The world and all of its temptations as well as Satan and his demons will bring up things and people that will cause you to stumble and fall from your life as a child of God. At which point you have to decide to ask God to forgive you and turn back to Him, following His lead just as a sheep follows its shepherd.

In saying this I don’t mean that we are considered sheep, but in some ways we are. We are like children and sheep, we don’t know what is best for us so we have to be shown or taught what to do. Many people don’t like this idea, they are very independent and like the two year old that everyone has heard say “I can do it myself”; but even the two year old gets into trouble before long and comes running to mommy or daddy.

Our Father is the ultimate daddy because of Who He is. He won’t give you everything when you ask for it, but He will provide for you a life and the ability to serve and glorify Him here and in the life to come. Even if you don’t subscribe to the “afterlife” idea, it will be because God refers to it many times in His Word.

Are there any “nots” in your life?


Have you ever wondered whether you are good enough for God? Have you asked Him if you are good enough to get into Heaven? The answers to these questions are simple: yes, you are good enough for God and no, you are not good enough to get into Heaven!

Well, why not? Why am I not worthy to get into Heaven? It is because of our human nature and the fact that we are sinners from the time that we know right from wrong.

Can we change? Yes, but not on our own. Only by accepting Jesus into our lives and allowing Him to change us from our heart outward can there be any lasting change. This kind of change makes a difference not only in our lives but through our lives we are able to touch others because of it.

The change in us will be evident to others and they will want what we have because it gives us hope and peace. A peace that those in the world cannot understand.

Your life can be so much more than it is with Christ in it and yet, many people don’t want Him in their lives. To me, that doesn’t make sense but that is how life with Jesus is. If you have Him you can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want Him. If you don’t know Him, you can’t understand why anyone would want to.

Celebrating Easter


The idea that a rabbit has anything to do with Jesus’ resurrection came from a pagan ritual. The truth and the reason that we celebrate Easter is the resurrection of Jesus after His crucifixion! It has nothing to do with the spring of the year or eggs or rabbits but it has everything to do with your salvation!

Jesus died to ransom you from the penalty of your sins, regardless of what those sins are! It doesn’t matter if it is a lie that you told your Mom or your boss or your wife/husband, even that is a sin. It may be considered a small sin but in God’s eyes and in His universe this is no different from murder. Sins are just that, sins, regardless of the severity or consequences in our world! To a holy God, our God, sins are all the same regardless of the effect they have in this world.

This is a hard message to hear and to learn but it must be said because there is an eternity at stake and it is yours and mine! Think about what God might feel. He created all of us as His children, to learn about Him, to decide on our own to love Him because of what He does for us on a daily basis. Then, when we decide not to love Him and sin against Him, He feels it like a knife every time. Not just from one of us at a time but from everyone on earth!

We won’t be perfect even after we accept Christ as our Savior but we will have His righteousness to cover those sins that we do commit! We will still sin but we will know it, the Holy Spirit will let us know and we will want to follow Jesus’ footsteps toward the Father. If you haven’t allowed Him to change your heart and your life, please consider this…the fires of hell never go out and after your life on earth is over you will live forever regardless of where you are.

The eternal life that you live will have much more meaning and purpose if you serve Him now so you can serve Him then. If you choose not to allow Him into your life while you have this time on earth, (since we don’t know when our time ends we may not have another chance), your eternity will be very different from what it could have been!

Satan doesn’t care about you or your life other than getting you to choose not to follow Christ, as long as he can accomplish that he feels that he has hurt God more each time one of us chooses our own way instead of God’s way!

Our Lord’s model prayer


 

Our Father, which art in Heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,

On earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us

Our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the Glory,

Forever.

Amen.

“Our Father”, we acknowledge that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all of us, as well as all of Creation itself. He is the Father of Jesus, our Savior and redeemer. He alone deserves our praise, not some god that man has fashioned from his imagination or from some part of creation itself.

“Which art in Heaven”, with these few words we are telling God that we know where He lives and we realize that He is above all, our thoughts, our ways and our sins. But, we are also acknowledging that we are, in spirit at least, there in our thoughts and in our longings.

 “Hallowed be thy name”; we know that God is holy and we humble ourselves before Him. Because of Who He is, we can do no less. We can’t comprehend God anymore than a bacterium can comprehend us!

“Thy Kingdom come”; here we are telling God that we want His Kingdom to come and we are acknowledging that it is and will be His Kingdom that we want to be a part of it with Him!

“Thy will be done”; we know that God’s will is sovereign and over all. His will is over all of Creation and nothing happens outside of His will. Jesus said that not even a sparrow falls from the sky without the Father noticing it. Because He is in touch with His Creation to that extent, how do you think He feels when we push Him away?

 “On earth as it is in Heaven”; we acknowledge that one day God’s will for us will be done on earth as in Heaven because He said so. The prophecies in God’s Word say that this will happen, therefore it will! There is no debate nor argument for or against this; God said it so it is done!

 “Give us this day our daily bread”; He will sustain us with His power and with our life’s work so that we can live for Him daily. If we choose not to live for Him, we are not forced but if He has a plan for our lives, circumstances will work toward getting us in line with His will eventually. Jonah found this out and we will too if we try to change things!

“Forgive us our debts”; we are to ask for His forgiveness for our sins humbly and willingly because we are guilty of being sinners.

 “As we forgive our debtors”; this is the hard part to digest because it simply means that we are forgiven in the same way that we forgive others. Once you have asked Jesus into your heart and life, you are forgiven but you are to forgive others too. If you can’t forgive others, how can you show that you have been changed into the likeness of Christ?

 “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”; God doesn’t lead us into temptation, Satan does that by enticing us with things which he knows that we will pay attention to. If we are being led by God on a daily basis we will not be led into temptation, but we will be given the strength to resist it!

In delivering us from evil, God will deliver us from the evil influence of Satan and his demons by His strength as long as we are relying on Him and not our own.

 “For Thine is the Kingdom”; we know that the Kingdom to come is the Lord’s and if we belong to Him, we will share in it. How could you not want to share in an eternal Kingdom with God?

“The power and the Glory, Forever”; God has always been, period. He is omnipotent or all-powerful. He is the Creator of everything from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy and everything in between! All of these things that He created show His wonderful majesty and awesome power! Our God, His Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three in One and between them and their influence in our universe everything works, PERIOD!

This is just a small part of what Jesus said while He was here, but what a mighty impact it has had. Many people pray that prayer as their prayer but it is supposed to be a model for us to pray, not a memorized prayer! We don’t have to pray exactly the way this prayer is laid out, but as long as we acknowledge Who is in control and give Him our petitions and problems and have the faith that He will work things together in our lives for our good and for His Glory, we only need to lean on Him in prayerful dependence with faith like a child.

He loves us more than we can comprehend. The only thing that is required from us is to love Him, we don’t have to but don’t you want to! God gives us all that we ever need or that we could want, not out of necessity but out of love for us. He doesn’t supply all the money that we want but He does supply our needs, because He knows each of us far better than we do.

 Give your heart and your life to Him and all things will work together for your life in His will and for the good pleasure of Him who sustains you.

New creation, same old body


How can I be a new creation after Christ has entered my life? Is it possible that I let Him in by mistake? The answers to these questions are: you can’t and you didn’t!

We can’t be a new creation on our own, but by the power of the Holy Spirit who came into your heart when you truly accepted Jesus, you are. It is not something which will be heralded by angels or by some miraculous healing, but it is a transformation of your spirit. You become aligned with one of the Trinity and by His power you are a new creation!

The second question from above is not possible because unless God calls you spiritually and you respond by giving your heart and life to Jesus, you can’t and you won’t be His. You may go to church and be a deacon or a Gideon, you might even become a missionary overseas but you will be doing these things under your own power and not by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That being said, I do not mean that you aren’t a good person, but you can be a “fan” of Jesus and not a follower. By that I mean the same as someone who is a fan of a particular sport. You are a true fan but you don’t play professionally. You know about the sport or the person Jesus, you have heard and read many parts of the Bible, but until you let Him into your life and your heart and truly become a follower like His disciples were, you are just a fan and nothing more.

It is wonderful to be a fan of Jesus, but until you can say truthfully that you love Him and know Him from His word, that is all that you are. You are not a new creation because you don’t have Him in your heart! This is a hard truth that many in the church today have a problem with and many who have been in church and who have left also have a problem with it. Being a member of a church and attendance every time there is a function at the church doesn’t do anything for you spiritually anymore than being in a garage makes you a car!

Until you can ask Jesus into your life and your heart and live that way daily, not just on Sunday, you haven’t changed! Until God calls you to be that new creation and you answer that call by asking Jesus into your heart, you aren’t a new creation!

Oh, but when you do answer His call on your life, everything changes! Your life takes on a new meaning, your relationship with everyone becomes more meaningful, your whole character changes because you are not the same anymore! Your heart and your mind will begin to reflect the attitude and the person of Christ and everyone will know it, even if you don’t say anything about your decision.

God wants all of humanity to come to Him. Whether we choose to do so is our individual choice. It is not forced because love cannot be forced. He won’t make you love Him because that is not love. Choose Life from the Sustainer and the Creator of all life because when you do, you will be a new creation! All of the old habits won’t have the same hold on you, your friends will either like the “new you” or they won’t. Give Jesus a chance in your life and your heart because He is the longing that we have been searching for and didn’t know that He was it!

What we should be doing


praying-hands-258x300In our time alone with God, when we are not alone but with the Creator of everything, we should be praying. Our lives are merely His to work out His will on this earth, regardless of how we feel about Him or even if we acknowledge Him at all. If by some chance, you know Him but don’t pray much, He is waiting patiently.

All of the gifts and blessings of this life come from God. Satan has a hand in all of the bad things which happen to people, but only so far as God allows him to go.  God is in control and always has been, so there is no reason to worry about your life or what you will eat because God feeds the birds and He cares enough for you to do the same in your situation.

There is so much more that God can and will do for you and all that you have to do is ask Him into your heart and life. When you have done that, I am not saying that your life will be rosy from that point on, but He will give you the assurance that His love brings and the strength to carry you through.

The Apocalypse of 2012?


In reference to the end of the Aztec calendar, maybe but not likely the end of the world as we know it. At least not yet! Nobody knows when the world will come to its end but the alignment of planets with the center of the galaxy won’t bring it about.

The end of the world as foretold in the Bible is also in our future and it is foretold in the Koran as well but trying to cause it to happen will not work. Praying that it will end tomorrow or the day after that won’t work either. It will be when it will be and nothing that we or anyone in the world does will cause it to begin sooner.

God can and does see the end from the beginning so only He knows when the end will come. The book of Revelation tells about many things which will happen at that time but the timing of the 70th week of Daniel is up to God and no one else.

The world and many people around the world are expecting something to happen this year. Something may happen, but we don’t know what or when because only God knows that. If there is a person who comes on television or the Internet and says that the world will end on such and such day, don’t believe them.

The future of our world is in God’s hands but Satan is in control on earth, at least as far as God will allow him to be. We have more to fear from those who hate Israel and Christians than we do from the doom-sayers that are pointing to global warming and the other possible scenarios that some say “may happen” this year.

A revival in this country and in the world itself should be our priority right now. Make sure that your heart belongs to Jesus because in the end, whenever it comes, eternity will depend on that one decision alone! Search the Bible, ask God to show you His wisdom and open your mind and heart to the Truth that is in the scriptures. He will never abandon you or forsake you but you have to be willing to ask Him to come into your life. He will not force you to do anything, it is your decision alone so make the one that will benefit you rather than condemn you.

God doesn’t want anyone to perish apart from Him but if you choose to go through life without making the choice to accept Jesus as your Savior, you will. It doesn’t matter if you were raised in a Christian, church-attending family because association doesn’t mean anything unless your heart has been changed and filled with the Love of Christ. Many people who have filled pews in churches will be in hell because of that one decision that they failed to make because they thought they were religious enough the get into Heaven.

That is the biggest lie ever to come from Satan…the one that says “all I have to do is join the church and I will have my “fire-insurance”!” Religion doesn’t save your soul, regardless of which religion it is. The worst disaster in history won’t hold a candle to the time of Tribulation that is coming. No amount of religion will save anyone from that time, only by accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior will you be able to stand in that day! I don’t know when that time will come, no one does, but it is not far off. Your personal meeting with God could be tomorrow since we are not guaranteed any number of days or years, so don’t put it off any longer. I pray that everyone who reads this will pray and read the Bible in order to at least have an idea what they need to do.