Tag: Salvation

Have you given your heart to Jesus?


Those who can’t believe or won’t believe are the ones that we need to pray for today. Their life has no purpose and no hope, at least spiritually, for a future. Because they refuse to see it or believe it, even when there is evidence for Him and His creation.

Many of you look at the Bible as a book and it is but it is also more than a book, it is the Book written with inspiration from God to us…all of us, not just Christians. Your life and everything in it, good or bad, is known to God. He knows the weaknesses that you have and the troubles too and it is likely that He has helped you through some of them during your life but you didn’t know it. Now, God doesn’t push His way into your life and your heart, He only asks patiently for you to let Him in.

The problem with many people is that they think that they have it all figured out and that they don’t need Him, period. They think that science and medicine can fix most any problem and if they can’t fix it then they can make it tolerable until you die, right? Okay, lets say that you are right and I am wrong. You will never know if you are right because if you are then after you die, that’s it, there will be nothing after death period. I won’t either so neither one of us was disappointed when we died, it was like being switched off and put up for storage. No harm done. Hmmm……but, what if what I have been saying is TRUE?!!

From a perspective that neither of us has experienced yet, lets just ponder this hypothetically. Lets suppose that there is a life that we go onto after this one, not one like being re-incarnated, but one where you are rewarded for your life on Earth with the rewards being dependent upon only one requirement: That you gave your heart to Jesus.

Let’s suppose that the Bible and all of its words and prophecies are true, just for this hypothetical. Even in the Old Testament, some of the prophets went to Heaven without seeing death. Some of the writers wrote about a life in paradise or Heaven. Then you have Jesus speaking of paradise or of a place of punishment for those who choose iniquity over their acceptance of Him. All of this seems to point to there being a “life after our death”.

Okay, now there is switch. Instead of being placed in a box and stored in the ground until eternity or until the Sun destroys the Earth, now we actually close our eyes in death and we stand before God Himself with books open which show all of our life, every word and thought and every deed that we did, good or bad. How is your book going to look? Thick with thoughts and actions that you enjoyed during life, but standing before a Holy God it doesn’t look so good now does it? I don’t mean that you have been a rapist or a murderer or some other heinous crime, but according to God, every word and thought which comes out of your mouth or your mind, has to come from your heart, and all of them are written in your book.

God’s books are not like our computers, they don’t crash and lose their data. So, how does your moral, good life look from that standpoint? Knowing that every thought, no matter whether you acted upon it or not, is there and that you will have to give account for those thoughts and actions…how does your life without God look now? I am not coming to this place to condemn you or your belief or lack of belief. I am just trying to point out that, at the end of your life, where will you end up? Standing in front of God with just your “self-righteousness” wrapped around you, how will you feel in front of a Holy God and the Righteous Judge? I would feel totally unworthy and would be on the floor begging for forgiveness. The problem with this is that after your life here is finished, you don’t get a do-over or a get out of jail free card. We have all been given the lives that we have, regardless of the length of them, to realize how sinful we really are and to ask Jesus to come into our lives and change us into what He knows we can be.

If that isn’t done prior to death, then Judgment comes to you and then you live out eternity with the one who enticed (tempted) you to do or not to do those things which would have brought you to salvation. This is the second death that is spoken of in the Bible…eternal separation from God and all that is good and Holy.

If you have given your life to Jesus, even if it was during your last moments on Earth, then you will stand in front of the throne of God but you won’t be alone. Jesus will be there and when the books are opened, the only things which will show up are those things that you accomplished in life after you accepted Jesus as your Savior. They will be shiny and bright because what you did afterwards was done through Him and with Him in your heart. Yes, there may be some dark spots that you forgot to ask forgiveness for, but they are covered by His blood and you are wrapped in His righteousness. Then, you will be admitted into Heaven and eternity will begin.

Building a relationship


It seems that in the culture that we have today, people don’t seem to do this much anymore. Why? Living your life alone is something that is only enjoyable if you really don’t like anyone else except yourself. Yes, there are people who are just made this way and that is fine, but what about the rest of us? A relationship is a wonderful partnership between two people who love each other, in God’s eyes it should be between a man and a woman but today that definition will get you labeled as a “hater” or a Christian! Heaven forbid!

The generation of seventy years ago, ancient history for kids today, learned that you made do with what you had and you worked at the life that you had together. Something which we need to get back to as soon as possible. Life is not something which can be thrown away and a relationship isn’t either, but our culture is such that if it doesn’t work in the first few weeks or months then its time to get someone new. And if there is a child involved then the anger and frustration over the failed relationship is poured into that child’s life. Then the cycle will be repeated over again with somebody else and so on.

Why not decide, while you are young enough to do so, without a child to get in the picture, to ask God to show you who you are to be in a life-long relationship with? It is something that we seem to have forgotten, but God does want to know what our lives are like and He will help you in these important decisions if you will ask Him to.

Relationships begin with a foundation, just like a house, and that foundation should be your relationship with God. First, cultivate a relationship with Him, learn about Him by reading and studying the Bible, pray and ask for wisdom because He will give it to you through His Word. All of these things are the things which our grandparents and great-grandparents did, if they were Christians.Marriage - Expression of Love Christianity has not caused the problems that we have today, religion has done that.

A relationship with God is not what religion is about. You can be religious about almost anything. You can even be religious about not believing in God or religion at all. But, to build a relationship with someone who you love, you have to know love and God is love. He is the foundation that all lasting relationships are built upon. My grandparents were married for sixty years and my marriage has lasted for over twenty so far. God has blessed us with this and it is all that is needed and He can bless you too.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you.” In other words, put God first and everything else will fall into place, there may be some potholes and some rough spots along the way, but for the most part…things will be good.

Have you come to Jesus in repentance?


You know, there are many people who attend church and some who don’t attend any church who know about Jesus but they haven’t repented of their sinful life or their sins in any way. Many of them think that by being in the church or on a church roll that God will dismiss the things that they have done and forgive them anyway. That is NOT what the Bible says or what any of the gospel writers taught at all! Believing in Jesus is the way to salvation but refusing to repent of your sinful ways is just a slap in His face which will not be tolerated nor forgiven!

Coming to Jesus with a broken heart knowing that what you have been doing is against His laws and commandments and asking for His forgiveness is the way to and the beginning of salvation. Once you have taken that first step by asking Him to forgive you, then you are ready for the Holy Spirit to come into your life and your heart and change you into the person that He needs you to be. As the Scripture says, “you are a new creation, behold all things have become new” and it is true!

Your old life and ways won’t have a hold on your heart anymore. You will want to be more like Jesus and to follow Him every day. Oh, this desire to be like Him and follow Him won’t happen immediately but it will happen when you study the Bible and pray with Him and to Him daily, bringing your problems and fears to Him. Because, Satan will try to derail your walk with Jesus by bringing your old life up and your friends will come around asking for you to go with them to places that you know you shouldn’t be going now. Temptations like these will happen sometimes on a daily basis at first, but once they realize that you belong to Jesus, your friends might just ask you about Him.

That is when some of them will leave and you might never see them again, but some of them will want to know more. Why are you so happy? What has changed about you? Things which bothered you one time, don’t anymore. What is going on in your life that is different? They will want to know and you can tell them. Show them the verses that you have been reading, tell them about the saving grace that God has granted to us all if we will just ask for it with a repentant heart and turn away from our old life.

Repentance is the only way to change your life along with coming to Jesus. Continuing to do the things that you did before, even after asking Him for His forgiveness, shows that you are not sorry that you did those things and that you never intended to stop doing them in the first place. In other words, you lied to Jesus and to God! That is a dangerous thing to do because not only can God just give you over to the thoughts of your mind, but He can also harden your heart so that you cannot lie to Him again. You will never feel the tug of the Holy Spirit on your heart regardless of how good the speaker might be.

Being let go by God is a sad thing because you will never have the chance to repent again…to come to Him and ask His forgiveness. I know, some of you will say that God is supposed to love us and He wants to save us. Yes, He does but we are given free will to be and do whatever we want to do. Many of us do this to the extreme and some of us push the limits of everything that we do. What do I mean by this? Well, for instance we push against God and His laws, just as we do against our parents when we were growing up. We rush right up to the limit of the sin, whatever it might be. Some of us pull back and repent. Some of us, keep right on going because we enjoy whatever it is that we are doing, even when we know it is wrong.

 

Give what?


This morning is just a short admonition of worship.

Give unto God what is due Him.

Your life, because He loved You first; your time because He gives you another day to work and live for Him; your efforts in everything because God formed you and knew you before the foundation of the world and most of all, your love for Him because without Him you can do nothing.

Praise the Lord all of you who are burdened and in need of rest, because resting in Him with praise in your heart is the best rest and peace that you can have.

In His service.

laminin Collossians 1:17 says: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” 

This is a picture representation of the molecule of a protein which holds our cells together. Striking resemblance to the cross, don’t you think?

Why???


She is not old enough to know what religion is or who Jesus is yet. They are pointing guns at a child from a Christian family! I don’t know if there was any bloodshed or not, especially in her case I hope not. What good reason does anyone have for something like this? What kind of god could possibly ask his followers to kill women and children for being of another faith? I know that God asked the children of Israel to kill those in the land that they were promised and that many people may askaYoungChristian about this very thing. Yes, He did but the reason was to keep them from following a pagan religion and getting away from serving Him. What is the reason that the world is going through all of this upheaval? It has been prophesied by God, the only God that this is going to happen and is happening now.

In the book of Revelation it speaks of this time where people will be killing others because of their beliefs and we see this every day. But, why would you persecute a child that is so young that she doesn’t know the difference between Christian and Islam?

Our lives are short in comparison to the eternity that we all will face. I pray that when Jesus comes, hopefully soon, that everyone will see and know Who He truly is. It will be to the detriment for some who have never believed in Him and it will be the most wondrous and joyful reward for those who do.

In the world that we are living in, it is imperative that we who have Christ as our Savior tell others about Him. Not in such a way as to be pushy about it, just tell people the Truth and go from there. God will always pick up where our words leave off regardless of what you might say, but say everything in the love of Christ. Don’t be forceful, don’t act as if you are better than they are because it is that kind of attitude that has turned many people away from the church in the first place.

We are all sinners, the only difference between a truly born-again Christian and someone who doesn’t know Jesus is grace. That’s it! We are new creations, new creatures in Christ but by the reason of His grace and love, nothing more. We can’t add anything to the equation because no amount of “works” that we do can match the work of Jesus that has already been done.

Yes, we may be persecuted for our faith and our beliefs, but the Holy Spirit will give you the strength and the words needed at the time that you need them to get you through this time of testing. Many people say that we, the Church, are not going to go through any of the dark times, the Tribulation. They could be right, but if they are not then we must be prepared! Search the scriptures, pray, look to Jesus for His love and His righteousness and ask Him for strength before these times do get here, before it is too late.

God loves you and has a plan for your life, however long or short it may be. So, get to work for Him! The pay may not be much but the reward and the benefits are and will be FANTASTIC!

 

 

What should we say…


Christians tend to get tongue-tied when they are telling others about Jesus and it does happen to pastors as well. When Paul and Silas when to the Berean Jews, they accepted the gospel with gladness:

10That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17: 10-12)

The way that they accepted and searched the Scriptures is exactly the way that we should be every day with the Word of God. The more frequently you read and study the Bible, more of it will get into your mind and you won’t have to memorize it. It will just be there waiting to be used. It will also give you a greater understanding of God and His ways to “search the scriptures” because in doing so, you will be learning about God more and more.

Should we be more forceful or pushy with our faith, trying to convert anyone that we can? Absolutely not! Yes, we need to be able to tell others and defend the reason for our faith in what we believe and Who we believe in, but being zealous for our faith to the extreme is not necessary. Jesus wasn’t that way and we don’t need to be either. All that we need to do is tell others about why we believe in Jesus and why, the Holy Spirit will take that seed and make it grow.

God’s Word doesn’t come back to Him void of the purpose for which it was sent out. It always accomplishes that which He wills for it to do. Can we be better witnesses? Yes, with the help of Jesus and the Spirit of Truth. Why can’t we do it on our own strength? Because doing it on your own is not the way that it is done! If that were the case, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come and die on the cross. In our own strength, we could keep the Law and work our way toward salvation, but we can’t!

We are too weak to be able to resist the temptations of daily living without the Holy Spirit in our lives and Jesus’ righteousness is the Only righteousness that is able to cover our sins. God loves us enough to know all of these things about us, yet He still sent His Son to die for us so that we will be able to come into His presence.

I am not saying that people can’t be morally good and do some worthy and good things even without knowing Jesus because they can. It is because of the Law that God wrote into our being that we know right from wrong and also we learned it from our parents and grandparents. So, yes, even people who believe in other gods or no god at all can do good things…morally right things even. The problem comes when you think that your “good works” are good enough to cover your sins and get you into Heaven, because they are not.

God is perfectly Holy and since He is, do you think that you can just walk up to His house and let yourself in? Do you think that you could do this at any residence of someone that you don’t even know? Of course you couldn’t and you wouldn’t let anyone into your house either if you did not know them. That is only a tiny part of why God can’t and won’t allow you to “work” your way into Heaven. He has given it to you as a gift and it is available to everyone in the same way, all that you need to do is accept it and believe it. That is it.

He is light of the world!


In John chapter one in verses one through five it says:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

John was speaking of Jesus Himself Who came into our world as the Son of God to bring light to the world, and yet the world still doesn’t want to perceive that light. It seems that more and more people are turning away and rejecting Him and the message that was brought through Him, yet this too was foretold. People during this time will decide to follow others or their own beliefs, whatever they might be. It is reported in the news every day about some who are claiming to be Jesus. Some have been in the news this year, some last year, but there will be many more false Christs. They lead others astray with them believing in the lies being told, and yet some of them have great followings, why?

The time is coming soon that people will see a leader who claims to be someone who he is not, yet millions will believe in him. Only, the one that people will see will not be the returning Jesus, but an anti-Christ. Someone who will unite the world and its religions under his rule and for a time everyone will be at peace.

Jesus is the only One who can bring true and lasting peace to each of us and to the world and He will return, but when He returns there will be no denying it that it really is Him! Believe in Him and in His Word and ask Him to come into your heart and change your life! Asking Jesus into your heart is the beginning of your life, your eternal life in Him.

Why do so many people clamor and fight against Christianity? Because He is the Truth and the Life from God the Father and people don’t want to hear the truth nor believe it. Why? Because people want to have a “god” of their own making, whether they go to church or whether they are believers or not. They don’t want to truly believe in the God of the Bible? Because the Truth that is in it is too hard for many. They try to mold their “god” in the image of man, and not believe in the One Who created them and the entire universe because their minds…our minds can’t conceive of a God Who truly loves each of us and has from the beginning of time itself!

The Truth is in the Bible, in the Word and in Jesus. Read, pray and learn of the One Who has always loved you and wants to know you and for you to know Him. Give your heart to Jesus and the deception that is coming into the world will be easy for you to resist..if you give your heart to Him. Learn

God’s creation is beautiful!


Have you ever noticed a butterfly or a hummingbird? How wonderfully made they are and the beauty in their creation and God made them that way. Just as He made each of us beautiful in our own right and also as He intended for us to be. Adding to our bodies or taking away from them, doesn’t really change us because the person that each of us really is happens to be the one that God sees. The one that our soul or spirit is inside our hearts, not the one that is on the surface for the world to see.

Also, when we decide to become a Christian by asking Jesus to come into our hearts, the change is miraculous and on-going…until we reach our perfect home and place in Him which is in Heaven.

You know, there are times that we all see and feel things differently from day-to-day, but creation is still the same. It is all around us and we are part of it but most people tend to ignore it and take it for granted. Why? Because the sun comes up and goes down and the moon rises at night and sets in the morning. Everything that is going on around us has been going on for hundreds, if not thousands of years in one form or another. Granted, the newest technology might not have been there, but even in the days of pharaoh they had messengers to take messages across the kingdom, even if it wasn’t instant like it is today.

Your life today, regardless of whether you believe in Jesus or not, is in God’s hands. If you have felt His calling on your life or your heart and have not answered Him, why not? Just because some teacher or philosopher tells you that “God doesn’t exist, He is just a way for primitive man to make sense of his world”, don’t believe that! If you wish to, I can’t stop you. But, the point is this: Jesus came  and died for your sins, whether you wanted it or not! The only way to get to Heaven is to ask Jesus to come into your life and your heart and cleanse you and make you whole.

Some people might ask me, “What do you mean, “make me whole”? Well, you know that little feeling that you have had like something was missing and you couldn’t quite figure out what it was? It is Jesus. That empty feeling inside that you have had…some of you for a long time, is the place where He is supposed to be. Ask Him to complete your transformation into His image and bring His grace and goodness into your life. Because if you don’t, that empty feeling won’t go away and it might feel even bigger at times. If you reject His call on your life long enough, He will just let you go on with your life. Jesus doesn’t push or force you to do anything, He wants and needs for you to come willingly to Him and ask Him to come in with you.

God has loved you from the beginning of time because He has known each of us from the beginning. He knows what we had for lunch two years ago last Friday and He knows when you will die. There is nothing hidden from Him, no matter how dark the place where you “hide” might be. He loves you and is waiting for you to decide to come with Him on the rest of your journey. The trail that He travels on is not very wide, but He is able to take care of you all along the way, all that He asks is that you follow Him. Don’t step off the path, just follow Him. Please consider your life not just as you are now but in the eternal life that you can have with Him in Heaven.

We are more than conquerors


We are MORE than conquerors through Christ, no matter what this world throws at us! In Ephesians 1:16-21 says this in the Amplified Bible:

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. 17. [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, 18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), 19 And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, 20 Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], 21 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.”

God has given to each of us as believers, the victory through His power and through Christ who also conquered this world and the one who is in this world! You might say, “Victory over what?”!

Victory over your circumstances, whether they are involving money, loss of a job or a loved one, depression, alcoholism, drugs, illness, whatever it may be. Paul wrote the scripture above to the Ephesians because that is what he prayed for them to experience in their lives, not just some of the time but every day! I am not saying that God will heal all of your sickness or your addictions overnight, but He will comfort you and be there with you through the process of getting over them and through the healing process.

Sometimes God will heal you or me when we claim that healing through faith in Him and His power in our lives. But, Satan is going to try to derail your faith and stop any victory that you gain over his demonic powers which enslaved you to that illness or addiction. He will tell you that it isn’t possible, that God doesn’t care about you and that God won’t do anything for you that you can’t do on your own. Those are lies from the master of lies!!

God does love you. He does care about you and your problems and He will make a way for you to get through them! If you have given your heart and your life to Jesus and asked Him to come into your life and change your life into what He sees in you, then you can make it through all of the things that are going on, no matter how bad they are! It may require that you are killed by someone who is not a Christian, but you are the conqueror because as a Christian you have a sure victory through Christ and a place..an everlasting home in Heaven with Jesus!

We see and hear every day that more bad things are happening in the world because of hatred and violence in places from America to the Middle East to Africa, but these are ‘birth pains” of a world that is coming to a close. Look up and pray, expecting Jesus to come because He will. Your salvation and redemption draws closer every day!

Pottery or clay?


Have you become hard as fired pottery or are you still able to be changed like clay? In God’s hands we are as clay, in that we are being changed and molded into the likeness of Jesus. This is the way that your life as a Christian is supposed to be, but do we allow God the control in our lives to make us into what we should be? I don’t mean that God will make you something that you cannot be, because He knows what you can be and what you can do! He can mold you into the perfect instrument that can do exactly what you are intended to do and to be!

Will He create in you something that you shouldn’t be? Of course not! God is the Perfect Potter because He made us in His image and He wants us to do His will so why can’t we do this? It is mostly because we have our own free will and we can choose to be and do His will or not. Why on earth would God allow us to do that? Because, if it is not our choice to be His and do His will then we are not showing our love for Him. If He forced us to do His will, then we would be no more than mindless beings that have to do His will regardless. How would your life be if you had no choice in what you did? How would you feel about it? No one in the world would like that at all nor would they enjoy it to any extent, that is why God gave us free will.

He gave the angels free will to choose as well, which is why there was a rebellion in Heaven so long ago. God never intended for creation, mankind or angel, to be required to blindly do His will. He wanted each of us to choose and to be able to choose, because by choosing we are showing our love for Him just as He showed His love for us in the grace and mercy that He gives to us each day.