Money Where Your Mouth Is.

Put your money where your mouth is!  We always want proof, don’t we?  The Apostle Thomas wanted proof that Jesus had risen from the dead as the other apostles had told him. We wanted to see it with his own eyes. He wanted to touch and handle Him. There is nothing wrong with wanting proof of some things. The world wants proof that we are what we say we are. They want us to put our money where our mouth is.

We have been looking at Romans 12 and the first two verses showed us “what” God wanted from Christians (total submission), “how” to do it (transformation by the renewing of our minds), and “why” we should do it (receive perfect will of God). Verses nine through thirteen gives us the marks of an “all in” Christian.

The Apostle Paul gives us the following list of what our lives should look like if we have totally surrendered to Christ:
• we will be authentic. Authenticity happens when the real you, meets real needs, for the right reasons, in the right way.
•we show a sincere love.
•abhor what is evil.
•hold fast to what is true.
•be devoted to one another.
•honor one another.
•not be slothful in zeal (laziness).
•fervent in spirit.
•serving the Lord.
•rejoicing in hope.
•patient in troubles.
•constant in prayer.
•contribute to the needs of others.
•be hospitable

Now there is no way we can be perfect in all of these things. We are all at different places along our journey for each one of these and we will never perfect any of them. But our goal should be to keep striving after the mark of being like Jesus in each of these and the result will be that people will know that we are followers of Christ. Even the Apostle Paul said, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own”. - Philippians 3:12

Have a great day and God bless.

Why?

I think the favorite word of a soon-to-be three year old is “why?”  It doesn’t matter what the answer may be to the question he asks, it’s going to get the response of “why?”  It’s enough to about drive you crazy. I think that’s why God makes little kids so cute; it helps keep them alive!

So we found out “what” God wants from us as Christians in the first verse of Romans chapter 12: total, all-in surrender. Verse two gives us the “how” and the “why”.  We saw yesterday that we, as Christians, are commanded to surrender our bodies as a living sacrifice to God as our act of worship because of what He has done for us through Jesus Christ.

That’s great, but “how” do we go about doing that so that we can worship God with our sacrifice?  Paul says we surrender our bodies to God by no longer conforming to this world. The word “conform” means to be poured into a mold of something and take on its outward appearance. We have to stop acting like the rest of the world and start acting like Jesus. Whatever we put into our hearts and minds will be what we live out in our lives. If we put in the things of this world, we live out the things of this world. If we put in God’s Word, we live out God’s Word.

Not conforming to this world system is a battle, one that changes over time as we mature. There will be failures, but God’s desire for us is to continue rejecting this world. Reject it in the way it tells us our marriage and family should be, reject it in how it says we should work, and reject the world and how it tells us we should do church.

We also have to be “transformed” in the things we put in our minds. This transformation happens from the inside out. A metamorphosis has to take place. That word “transformed” is the same word used to describe the change that happened to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Now that we know “what” God wants us to do and “how” He wants us to do it, the second part of verse two tells us the “why”: so we can “discern the good, acceptable and perfect will of God”.

Imagine what the Christian life would be like if we break free from the performance-oriented life based upon “doing” things. We are saved by grace, but then we change it to works after salvation. What if we just kept living this Christian life under God’s grace?

Have a great day and God bless.

A Living Sacrifice

What is it that God wants from us as Christians?  Romans 12:1 answers that question pretty clearly.  The Apostle Paul commands us to present our bodies (ourselves) as a living sacrifice. But why?  Because of the mercy that God has shown us in sacrificing His own Son and removing our sins.

He asks for total commitment, not a half-hearted try. Webster’s dictionary defines total commitment as “the alignment of one’s motives, resources, priorities and goals to fulfill a specific mission, accomplish a specific task or follow a specific purpose.”

Total commitment to something is usually viewed in a negative light centering around what you lose, the rules you need to follow or the fun you miss out on. Total commitment isn’t done on a whim; it’s done with wisdom, logic and shrewd evaluation.

We live as though a total commitment to God would be a crushing blow to our personal dreams and future happiness when in reality He has so much more for us than we can ever dream of.  Paul asked the Romans in chapter 8 verse 32 - “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”

Verse 1 of chapter 12 of Romans gives us a command, a motivation and a reason. The command is to offer your body. The motivation is the mercy of God. And the reason is that it’s the worship God desires. We are to present our physical bodies as an act of true, inner, Spirit-directed service to God.

Have a great day and God bless.

All In

“All in!!!”  Remember back about seven or eight years ago and Texas Hold’em was all the rage?  It seemed to be on ESPN almost every night. People were playing it on computers and signing up trying to get into tournaments. The best part was when they were down to the final table and someone would push all their chips to the center of the table and declare they were “all in”. It meant they were risking everything on winning that hand.

Can you say that you are “all in” on this Christian life or are you just in it for the chance to go to heaven?  There is a Biblical difference between salvation and Lordship. Most Christians have no problem accepting Christ for their salvation but very few sacrifice their life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Very few say, “God, I am all in!  Do with my life as you please”. That’s Lordship.

Remember when Thomas met Jesus for the first time after the Resurrection?  He was having a hard time believing that Jesus had risen from the dead, but when he saw Jesus for the first time and Jesus instructed Him to put his fingers in the holes in His wrists and to put his hand in His side. Thomas’s reaction was to cry out, “My Lord and my God”.  He was saying that Jesus Christ was God and he was giving over Lordship of his life to Him.

There are really two types of Christians in the world: the saved and the available. The saved thank God for saving them from the debt of their sins, but the available thank God for their salvation and then say use me as You will. That’s what being an “all in” Christian means; being available for whatever it is God wants from you. It’s not easy. It means giving up control of your own life and giving it all to God.

The Apostle Paul gives us an outline of what an “all in” Christian looks like in Romans 12:1-2. He tells us that we are to present ourselves a “living sacrifice” to God. We’ll look into what that means tomorrow as we go through those two verses this week.

Have a great day and God bless.

God of Molech

There is nothing new under the sun!  We treat things going on in today’s society as if it’s the worst it has ever been in the history of mankind. I agree that the things we do as a society today are getting worse and worse by the hour it seems, but it’s nothing new.

Let’s take the wickedness of killing our children for example. We find these things going on all through the Bible. Do you remember when Israel was in captivity in Egypt?  They were getting too numerous and caused a potential threat to the power of the pharaoh. He ordered all the male Jewish babies, that were born in Egypt, to be thrown into the Nile River and drowned. Luckily Moses was saved and rescued Israel from captivity.

It didn’t get any better in the days of Jesus. Remember when He was born King Herod ordered all of the male children around Bethlehem to be killed because Jesus posed a threat to his throne?  Luckily Jesus and His family received word from an angel and were able to escape to Egypt (ironic) and survive. Jesus went on to die on the cross at Calvary to save the world from their sins.

These two examples, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament, showed the lengths in which those who ruled were willing to go to keep their power. But what about individuals killing their own children, is that found anywhere in the Bible?  It sure is!!!!

In 2 Kings, chapter 23, we find the sacrifices of children to the Ammonite god Molech. Molech is mentioned in a handful of places in the Old Testament and once in Acts in the New Testament. The Israelites fell into the trap of sacrificing their own children to this pagan god as well, trying to be like the people around them. The section in 2 Kings said that people were sacrificing their sons and daughters to Molech by burning them alive. They felt that the sacrifice of their children would be more acceptable that the sacrifice animals to God of Israel.

The Bible speaks quite often of the blessing that children are: “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” - Psalm 127:4-5. Jesus ordered His disciples not to keep the children from Him. We are instructed to come to faith in Christ as a child. We should be protecting the lives of our children as God wants us too, not sacrificing them to the modern day god of Molech.

Have a great day and God bless the children!

Striking a Nerve

Every view strikes a nerve nowadays. Whether you talk sports, religion or politics, you are bound to offend someone with what you believe and the stance you take on a topic. Politics seems to strike a nerve more than anything else these days. Views have become completely polarized. There is no longer any middle ground; you are either for or against whoever is in office. But what does the Bible tell us about how we are to treat those in charge?

Back in the book of Exodus when Moses was going through all the Laws that God had given him to instruct the Israelites, He gave them this little line: "You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.” - Exodus 22:28.   Now I know that this was given to the nation of Israel and not to Christians but there are Old Testament truths that still hold true no matter what.

If you don’t think that the Old Testament laws apply to you, here you go: “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work” - Titus 3:1. The New Testament gives us the same advice. We, as Christians, are to be obedient to those in office. We are to be honorable people and we are to honor the office no matter who holds it.

We do not have to agree with all things that the person in office does but we are instructed to be obedient (unless it goes against God’s Word). We don’t always agree with our spouse but we honor our spouse because we love them and God instructs us to do so. We don’t always agree with our bosses but we honor that they have authority over us and we obey them. So why don’t we do that with our elected officials?  Why do we find it so easy to throw hate and anger at them for every thing they do?

We ruin our witness to the world that doesn’t believe in God when we take part in the same things that the world does. If we don’t look any different than the world then why should they want to be Christians?  We will never fully agree with any person that is in office but we can always honor the position like God wants us to and be a great witness for Christ.

Have a great day and God bless.

Hell is Real

Hell is an actual physical place that is an eternal residence for those that don’t accept Christ as their Savior. Going to hell has nothing to do with being a bad person; there will be a lot of “good” people in hell. People always ask, “how can a loving God send people to hell?”  God doesn’t send anyone to hell, people choose hell over God. God gives the way to escape eternity in hell, people just don’t accept it.

Jesus actually spoke more about hell during His ministry than He did about heaven. That’s because hell is eternal and heaven is temporary, like I said yesterday. Jesus never spoke of hell as a pleasant place but as a place of torment. Hell wasn’t created for humans, it was created for Satan and his demons.

I hear people talk about how much fun they are going to have in hell like it’s going to be the ultimate party zone. My heart aches for people who believe that because they have no idea the horror of that place. The Bible calls it by different names: hell, Hades, the pit. It describes it as a place of utter darkness even though there will be flames, a place of unquenchable thirst, a place where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth because of physical pain.

The Gospels give us two examples of the horrors of hell. The first example was of a rich man that died and went to hell. His only request was for someone to dip their finger in cool water and touch the tip of his tongue because he was in anguish from the flames. The second example was of another man that only wanted to go back and warn his brothers of the horrors so they would not follow him to hell.

Hell is not a joke and definitely not a place you want to spend the rest of your eternity. People that go to hell never have an end of their torment. They do not burn up and cease to exist. They suffer for eternity.

There is an escape from the terror of a place called hell and His name is Jesus Christ. Bow your knee now, humble yourself and accept His Lordship or you will do it when it is too late. You will do it one way or another. Do it now here on earth or do it later before you are sent to hell.

Have a great day and God bless.

Heaven is Temporary

Heaven is a temporary place. Did that blow your mind?  Most people, even Christians, think that we will spend eternity in heaven but that is not Biblically correct. Heaven is a temporary place but hell is eternal.

Heaven is called by multiple names in the Bible. It’s called Abraham’s bosom. Jesus even told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him that day in Paradise.  However, we will not spend all of eternity there. The Book of Revelation gives us a clue of how things will go.

Christians will all go to heaven at the Rapture of the church. Paul says the dead in Christ will rise first. That is everyone that has already passed away as believers in Christ. Their bodies will come out of the grave and be changed to an incorruptible and immortal body. Right after that, Paul says that those of us that are still alive and remain will be changed in a twinkling of an eye, receiving the same incorruptible and immortal body as the others. We will meet Jesus in the air and go with Him to heaven.

At the end of the Book of Revelation, John writes that we will return with Jesus to the earth for the Battle of Armageddon. When the battle is complete and Jesus has won, He will set up His kingdom here on earth for one thousand years, called the Millennial Reign.

Once that one thousand years comes to an end and Satan is defeated one last time, the current heaven and earth is destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth is created. Out of heaven comes an eternal city called New Jerusalem and that is where we spend all eternity, not in heaven.

Have a great day and God bless.

When We Get to Heaven

What will we be like when we get to Heaven?  Some think we turn into angels and float around on clouds all day with harps. That is so un-Biblical that it’s not even worth arguing over. Angels were created beings made before man and have always existed and will continue to exist as angels for eternity, but that’s a different post for a different time.

As humans, created by God and in the image of God, we will remain to be humans when we get to heaven. We will shed this human corrupted body and receive a new incorruptible human body just like Christ had when he rose from the dead.  He had a body that could be handled, He still got hungry with His new body, but He also had new abilities that He didn’t have prior to His resurrection. He was able to show up places whenever He wanted and He was able to walk through locked doors.

In the Apostle John’s first letter, he wrote “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”  I look forward to being like Him, do you?  I look forward to having a body without the aches and pains of getting old. I look forward to having a body that doesn’t know sickness or death anymore.  And I know people that are blind, deaf or handicapped that look forward to having a totally restored body.

I’ve heard many commentators say that we will all be around the age of thirty-three in heaven because that was about the age of Christ when He died and rose from the dead. I’m not sure how true that is and it really doesn’t matter to me, I just want to be wherever He is for all of eternity.

I think the best thing about heaven, other that being with my Savior and my Heavenly Father, is being able to spend eternity with friends and family that know Christ as their Savior and being able to spend time speaking with the great men and women of the Bible. I can’t wait to sit and talk with the Apostle Paul, I have hundreds of questions for him. Who do you look forward to spending eternity with?

Have a great day and God bless.

Rapture - Part 2

So, is the Rapture fact or opinion?  Well, first off, my opinion doesn’t matter!  The only way to check if the idea of a future Rapture is true is to check it against what the Bible says about it elsewhere. We can’t, as Christians, take certain sections of Scripture and make it fit what we want it to say without checking it against other portions of Scripture to make sure it matches up.

Does the Bible show anywhere else, besides the writings of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, that the Rapture is a factual event?  There are two other places in the New Testament that seem to show proof of an event that mirrors the future Rapture.

The first place is in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul speaks of knowing a man (himself actually) that was “caught up” into the third heaven and heard things he was not allowed to speak of again. That term “caught up”, is the same term he used it his letter to the Thessalonians, the Greek word “rapturo”.  So that is the first cross reference to a Rapture.

The second place where the Rapture of an individual happens is in the Book of Revelation, chapter 4. The Apostle John, in writing the letter to the seven churches in Asia Minor, says that he heard a voice from heaven telling him to “come up here” and immediately he was in the Spirit and was in heaven before the throne of God.

Both of these event show the Rapture of only individual people, but could it be that the events in which they were a part of will be very similar to what will take place during the worldwide Rapture of the church?  In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, the description is almost exactly the same as the two events that happened to Paul and John.

The Rapture will happen as describe in the Word of God. Are you ready to go or will you be left behind?

Have a great day and God bless.

Warning - Rapture Ahead

WARNING!  WARNING!  WARNING!  There will come a day when people you know might go missing. There will be no sign left by them that they are gone. They will just disappear off the face of the earth with no explanation.

Sounds like something from a science fiction movie, doesn’t it?  Actually, the event I’m talking about is from the Bible. It’s called the Rapture. Even though it’s not mentioned by name, the Apostle Paul describes it in his letter to the Thessalonians. It’s the next event to happen in the prophetic events of God.

“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”- 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

That phrase that Paul uses, “caught up” is the Greek word “rapturo” where we get “rapture” from.  Believers in Christ will be snatched away in the twinkling of an eye and will be forever with the Lord.

If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, the Bible says you will be left behind when the Rapture happens and the church (believers in Christ) are taken away. You will not want to be left behind for the coming tribulation that will then begin. The time for salvation is now!  Do not wait until the Rapture happens!

If these posts all of a sudden stop one day and millions of people are missing with no explanation, you now know why and what happened. Don’t miss out.

Have a great day and God bless.

Radio

I admit it, I cried a little last night watching the movie “Radio”. If you’ve never seen it, you have to watch it at least once and make sure you have the tissues. It a true story about a man named James Kennedy, nicknamed “Radio” that has a mental handicap. He is befriended by the local high school football coach in Anderson, SC. James Kennedy is played by Cuba Gooding Jr.

It doesn’t start out too well for Radio as he is terrorized by the high school star football player named Clay. He, along with some of his other teammates, tape his hands and feet together and lock him in an equipment shed. Later in the movie, Clay tricks Radio into going into the girls locker room. Radio refuses to name Clay as the one who told him to go into the locker room.

By the end of the movie, Clay finally comes around to seeing what a great person Radio really is and he and his teammates purchase Radio a letterman’s jacket.

Radio’s unconditional love for all of those around him, especially Clay even when he didn’t deserve it, reminded me of the unconditional love of God. We serve a God who knows every detail of our lives, public  and private, but still loves us unconditionally anyway. The Bible says, “that even when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Even though he knew who we were and what we had done, He loved us so much that He was willing to give up His life in place of our own. That is unconditional love!

Friends, it doesn’t matter what you have done in your past, or what you are doing in your present; God love you!  He loves you so much He wants to make you part of His family. He wants you to confess your sins, repent from them and accept His free gift of salvation.

It didn’t matter what people did to Radio, he loved them unconditionally just like family. We serve a God who loves the same way and He wants us to love others just like Radio did with those that picked on him. It’s hard, I know, but that’s what God wants from us.

Have a great day and God bless.

Crowns

CROWNS!  That’s a believer’s treasure that I spoke about yesterday. Jesus told his followers to “lay up” treasures in heaven. The Apostle Paul said there was a crown of righteousness “laid up” for him. They both used the same phrase for laying up something for future use.

The Bible actually lists five possible crowns that a believer can have waiting for them when they get to heaven for their actions here on earth. These five crowns are not for our glory, but are for us to give back to the Savior. These crowns are conditional, future and temporal.

The first crown found in the Bible is the Incorruptible Crown in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. This crown is awarded for those that practice self-denial. The whole of chapter 9 deals with the topic of self-denial and liberty.

The second crown is the Crown of Rejoicing found in 1 Thessalonians 2:18-20. The Crown of Rejoicing is also called the soul-winner’s crown. It is a crown given to those who win souls for Christ. This seems to be a style of crown that you can win many of.

The third crown is the Crown of Righteousness found in 2 Timothy 4:6-8. This crown should be the easiest of all to receive and everyone should have this one on that day.  Everyone who loves the appearing of the Lord will receive this crown.

The fourth crown is the Crown of Life found in James 1:12. This crown is awarded to those who endure trials. Some endure more trials than others and this seems to be a crown that you can receive more than one of as well.

The final crown is the Crown of Glory found in 1 Peter 5:1-4. This crown is also called the Under-shepherd’s Crown. This is a crown given to anyone that is an elder or feeds the flock. It is not a crown only for pastors, but it is for anyone that carries out the great commission to make disciples.

“They cast their crowns before the throne” - Revelation 4:10. That is the purpose of our treasure: to give it back to the Lamb of God for what He has done for us. How many crowns will you have to give back to the One who died for you?  Kind of humbling when you stop to think about it.

Sorry Anthony And Jean, the answer was not Whitecastle burgers!

Have a great day and God bless.

Treasures in Heaven

Do you think there are safe deposit boxes in heaven?  I don’t know why I think of crazy questions like that but I do. I ask the question because Jesus told us to store up our treasures in heaven instead of here on earth and I just want to make sure my treasures are safe.

Jesus told His disciples not to worry about gaining a whole bunch of treasures here on earth because both moth and rust can destroy them and also because thieves can break in and steal your treasures. All three of these events have taken place in my life. I have taken out a suit to wear that I hadn’t worn in a long time and find little holes all in the jacket. My truck is rusting out because of bad design that doesn’t let the water drain correctly. And I have had items stolen out of my car before.

I wouldn’t really label any of those items real “treasures”, but they were my possessions that I had paid good money for and they would have ultimately been thrown away at some point anyway. Jesus said that we are not to live life to gain possessions just for that very reason; they are all temporary. He told us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven that moth or rust or thieves can not get to. These things will be eternal.

But what are those treasures?  What do they look like?  How do we know what they are and that we actually have them waiting for us when we get there?  The Bible makes it pretty clear what treasures we can attain and make sure they are waiting for us in heaven when we arrive. No safe deposit box needed and we are going to give them away anyway.  We’ll look at what those treasures are tomorrow.

Have a great day and God bless.

Give it Away

“Give it away, give it away, give it away now!”, as the Red Hot Chili Peppers once sang. I don’t remember the song that well to tell you what they were requesting for you to give away, but it goes along with the idea of “treasure” I’ve been talking about the last two days.

In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, Jesus meets a young man asking what he needed to do to get into heaven. Jesus already knew this young man’s heart and what mattered most to him, but He answered his question. Jesus told the young man to follow the commandments of Moses which the young man replied that he had followed all of them to the letter since he was a child. That was a lie.

So Jesus continued straight to the heart of this young man, who was considerably wealthy, telling him to sell all of his possessions (treasures) and give the money to the poor. This task was just too hard for the young man to accomplish and he went away sorrowful because the Bible says, “he had great possessions” or treasures.

As Christians, we know that neither following the Ten Commandments or giving away your possessions will get you into heaven. We don’t get to Heaven by works but by grace. The point of the story was giving up the things of this life to surrender our lives to follow Christ just like His twelve disciples had done. This young man’s treasure was the stumbling block to the true treasure of knowing the Savior.

What is so important to you that you are unwilling to give it up in order to surrender everything to Christ?  Christ wants to know that, in your heart, you are willing to give it all up to be submissive to Him. Just like Abraham and the near sacrifice of his promised son, Isaac. He wants to know that we are willing to let go of what you think matters most. What are you willing to sacrifice to follow after Him?

Have a great day and God bless.

YOU Are Not the Treasure

YOU are not the treasure!  Yesterday’s post got me thinking on the word treasure and how many times it is found in the Bible. Let me tell you, it’s in there a lot. One place that really caught my eye was in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

In the fourth chapter he tells the Corinthians that we have “this treasure” in jars of clay. “This treasure” that he is referring to is found at the end of the previous verse. The treasure is that God has shown a light into our hearts giving us the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. That, my brothers and sisters, is the treasure: Jesus Christ.

We are not the treasure. We are the vessel that holds that treasure. We are the jars of clay. Jars, in Paul’s day, were used for one of three things: as a toilet, to hold documents and to hide valuables, like a safe. Paul was inferring the third meaning when he said we were jars of clays. We are the vessel that contains the valuable things of God.

Being that these jars were made of clay, and not metal, meant that they were disposable. They were meant to be broken when the valuables inside were needed. The value was not in the jar, just like the value is not in ourselves. Jesus Christ is the value and we are the conduit that holds that valuable resource. The Holy Spirit resides in us so that we can transport the glory of God to others.

You, my friend, are an important part of bringing the message of the glory of God to others. But you are not the treasure. That belongs to God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.

Have a great day and God bless.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  If you have kids or grandkids you have probably seen the seagulls from the movie Finding Nemo. This was the only thing they said in the movie every time they saw something that they could possibly eat. We get that way some times too when we see things that we either feel we have to have or that belong to us.  We especially see it in children when they are young and they believe everything belongs to them and will not share with other kids.

It reminded me of a lesson I did a few weeks ago from 2 Kings chapter 7. There was a group of lepers that were on the verge of starvation because of the famine in Israel. They felt their only hope was to seek refuge in the attacking Syrian camp outside the city. When they arrived they realized it had been abandoned with all the treasures of the army still in the camp.

They started to eat the food in the first tent they came to and they took the silver and gold and hid it outside the camp to use later. As they were doing the same thing in the second tent they came to, one of the lepers said that what they were doing wasn’t right by keeping all these treasures to themselves as others were suffering from the famine. So they went back to the city to inform the king of the great news and the whole camp was seized thus ending the famine.

Do we as Christians do the same thing that the lepers started out doing?  Do we keep this great treasure of salvation to ourselves instead of sharing it with those that are in a great spiritual famine?  We need to have that moment like the leper did and tell ourselves “this isn’t right” and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those that are perishing. Salvation is not for us to hoard up with the idea that it’s “mine, mine, mine”; but we should be willing to go and share the life changing treasure that has been give to us by God.

Have a great day and God bless.

Fake News

FAKE NEWS!  I don’t know what the word of 2018 was, but I would have to say that the phrase “fake news” has to be up there among the top choices. It’s been used so often that it’s hard to know what is true anymore and what is a lie. The phrase has become a punchline among everyday conversation to let the speaker know you don’t believe them.

It’s nothing new though, we are warned about this “fake news” in the Bible.  Jesus even warned His followers not to be alarmed because at the end of the age their will be wars and rumors of wars. But I think the apostle that hit the nail right on the head was Peter. In his second letter he wrote that in the end will come scoffers, those that make fun of what we believe, and they will ask, “where is the promise of His coming?”  They will say that they have heard for years that Christ will be returning but they will scoff that it hasn’t happened yet and never will.

But Peter promises us that it will happen, that Christ will return as promised. We are instructed to be patient because a day with the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Peter says that the reason for His delay is that He is long suffering and that He doesn’t want anyone to perish but for all to come to repentance.

If you believe in Christ, take heart, His return is closer today than it was yesterday. If you haven’t repented of your sins and accepted Christ as your Savior, He’s waiting for you with all His patience because He is long suffering. Today is the day of salvation because He could return tomorrow. Don’t believe the fake news that He’s not coming back.

Have a great day and God bless.

Lukewarm

If you were to be described as water, what would that definition look like?  Would you be hot, cold or just lukewarm?  The Christian artist, Lecrae, sings about this in one of his songs. He sings, “with hot water we cook, cold water we drink, but lukewarm does nothing, it just sits and it looks.”  The Apostle John records similar words spoken by Jesus in the book of Revelation to the church at Laodicea, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

We fall into one of these three categories as well, not just as a church, but as individuals. We are either hot for the things of God and people notice that right away or we fall into one of the other two categories. We either having that shock of stepping into a shower where the water is too hot to stand under and we jump and twist trying to reach the faucet handle to cool it down or we don’t. Hot Christians give off that feeling of a fire on a cold winter’s day that draws others to them to feel the warmth of Christ that radiates from them.

Cold Christians are just that; cold. Their attitude towards their faith pushes people away from wanting to know the love and grace of Christ. Others say, “if that’s what it means to be a Christian, I don’t want anything to do with that.” These are the people that outsiders to Christianity would call hypocrites. Cold Christians do nothing with their salvation to win others to Christ.

But the most dangerous of Christians are those that Jesus called “lukewarm”.  These are the Christians that if their friends ever found out they went to church they would be totally shocked.  How they live Monday through Saturday doesn’t match up with the fact that they spend their Sundays at church. They live like the rest of the world does during the week. How they walk and talk at work or at school doesn’t match how they walk and talk at church. Jesus would rather have us be either hot or cold than lukewarm. A lukewarm Christian does the most damage to the kingdom of God because he/she portrays Jesus as One who doesn’t care how we live our lives in view of the unsaved world.

So, how would you describe your Christian life: hot, cold or lukewarm?  If it’s not hot, you still have time to turn up the heat and draw others to the love of Christ.

Have a great day and God bless.

Confetti

“It’s beautiful/what a mess!”  Seems like every major event, whether it sports, politics or game shows, have a love affair with shooting off confetti at the end of the event. It’s always in celebration of the winner of the event and really looks awesome as it rains down on the players and fans below. But what a mess it is for the people that end up having to clean it up once everyone leaves.

I don’t believe I have ever seen where the winning team or the victorious politician or the brand new game show millionaire have to come back out later and clean up all the small pieces of paper that were used to celebrate them. No, it’s some group of people standing in the background watching it all come down and knowing they are going to spend hours getting it all up so the place looks immaculate once again.

Sin is a lot like confetti. It’s exciting when it’s happening and internally we may be celebrating but it doesn’t last long and we realize what a mess we have made. Sin of our own doing tends to also have to be cleaned up by the sinner. But many times it’s the others in the background, family and friends, that end up having to do most of the cleaning up. Our sins have a ripple effect on the ones we love and are never really contained to just us.

The Bible says that those things that are done in the dark (sin), will at some point be brought into the light. Things we think will be kept secret from others will always be known by God. We may get away with our sin for a while without anyone finding out, but most often it’s only a matter of time before it is exposed. We end up having to continue in sin to hide the sins we are trying to keep hidden.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”  Take every opportunity to flee from sin and you and others will never get caught having to clean up the confetti of your own sins.

Have a great day and God bless.

The Devil Made Me Do It

“The devil made me do it!”  Some of you may recognize that line,and the picture, as one of the favorite sayings of Geraldine Jones from the early 70’s. (Some of you might have even went back and said that line again in your best Geraldine voice). She was a character of comedian Flip Wilson and many of her sayings became part of our culture still used today. We like to use that line, “the devil made me do it” as an escape for being accountable for our own actions.

To be completely frank, there are a whole lot of people way more important than you and I that the devil is working on. He’s not worried about us, his concentration is on those in power in higher office that have a lot more influence than we do. He will use his demons to work on us if we may be advancing God’s kingdom too well, but normally we are our own worst enemy.

The Apostle John, in his first epistle, wrote about all of us seeking after “the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life”.  These are all worldly things that advertise itself as things we need to be successful. This world system,and our own fleshly desires, are usually what get us in trouble, not the devil. It’s hard to admit that because we want to seek someone or something else to blame for the sin that besets us. We automatically look for a scapegoat to blame so we don’t have to be accountable.

This flesh of ours has a need to find pleasure. Our eyes are the windows to our souls and what we let into them has an impact on our thought life. And the pride of being successful or rich or popular  in life drives us to do things that do not glorify God. That’s why we have to take the example of the Apostle Paul and beat our bodies into obedience to God (not literally).

Which one are you struggling with, or maybe it’s all three of them?  Whatever the situation, understand that “the devil didn’t make you do it”, it’s your own flesh, your own eyes, or your pride that made you do it. Repent and turn back to God.

Have a great day and God bless.

Easily Distracted

Look!  Squirrel!  We get easily distracted don’t we. We have so many things wanting our attention nowadays days that it gets harder and harder to keep our focus on the task. I think it’s harder for the younger generation than it is for the older one. They have grown up with the constant stimulation of technology and research shows that the average person’s attention span today is significantly shorter than it was thirty years ago.

My post isn’t about technology, it’s about being distracted from the things of God.  Those things that God has specifically appointed us to do. Not that someone else couldn’t do them, but it may be a task specifically assigned to us. That thing in our hearts that we know that God has called us and anointed us to do.

It reminded me of the story of Nehemiah and his call to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem after they had been torn down after the exile. He goes back to Jerusalem and starts rebuilding the walls as moved by God to do and some of the religious elite weren’t too happy with it. They devise a plan to get Nehemiah to come away from his work and meet them so that they could kill him.

I love Nehemiah’s response to their multiple attempts to distract him from his task; “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?" His task was considered a great work to him because it was something God had placed on his heart to accomplish. He saw no value it stopping his great work to meet with the opposition and he told them so.

What is it that God has placed on your heart to accomplish for Him?  Who or what is working to distract you from completing that great work?  Don’t let other tasks, other well-meaning people or opposition distract you from completing God’s purpose for your life. I don’t know what that may be in your life, but I’m sure you do!

Have a great day and God bless.

Broken Ankle

That was definitely a broken ankle. Watching the football game last night and the poor receiver for the Dallas Cowboys suffered a serious injury and you could tell his ankle was broken right away. He was in some excruciating pain and it was definitely sickening to watch when it happened. I felt sorry for him, as he played all season to get to the playoffs and now his season is over even though his team won the game.

The good thing for him is that he will be under great medical care by the team physicians and the surgery will probably allow him to heal back to full strength and he will be out on the field at some point next season. That is the great thing amount physical injuries like that. But what about emotional and spiritual injuries?  They don’t quite heal as fast as physical injuries do.

I’m sure we have all suffered from emotional pain and maybe even some of us are going through that right now. I know some of my friends on here have suffered loss recently because of death. How do you heal from things like that?  Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers to those types of pains but I know the One who does. We serve a God who draws close to the broken-hearted.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  - Psalm 34:18

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  - Psalm 147:3

All we can do is pray for those who are going through difficult times. We can be a shoulder to cry on. And we can be an ear for those that just need someone to listen. We don’t always need to have the answers to all the questions of life, but it helps to have a relationship with the God of the broken-hearted. I would love to pray for you if you have a need.

Have a great day and God bless.

Rain, Rain and More Rain

Rain, rain and more rain. I read somewhere that this part of North Carolina had a record setting amount of rain for 2018. I believe it with the remnants of two hurricanes coming through this fall and over a foot of snow in December. The roads show all the effects of the water too with potholes showing up everywhere.

It got me thinking about the story of Noah and the flood found in the book of Genesis. It must have been odd for Noah to hear that God was going to flood the earth because of the wickedness of man with an eventual rain. It had never rained before, so Noah had no understanding of what that meant, he just obeyed God and started building an ark.

It took Noah about 100 years to complete the construction of the ark to the specifications given by God. He endured ridicule from everyone for building such a massive ark while he warned them of the impending storm. His faith in the promises of God helped him to continue on even though no one believed him.

Noah had one of the least impactful ministries of all the people in the Bible. One hundred years of warning others that God’s judgement would come and only his family listened. Seven other people besides himself were saved from the flood. I think of how hard it must have been for Noah to preach to others for a hundred years and have no one listen to him besides his wife, his three sons and their wives. How did he deal with rejection like that as people probably banged on the doors of the ark after it was too late?

We have the same message as that of Noah; impending doom is coming. We read about the events of the upcoming devastation in the book of Revelation. However, we are to preach the message of Jesus Christ and His salvation through faith in Him and whether people listen and believe or not is not our responsibility; it’s theirs. We are just instructed to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Don’t feel rejected because others don’t listen, just be faithful to following God’s plan. Salvation is of the Lord, not us. We are just messengers.

Have a great day and God bless.

Follow Me

Follow me!  Those are usually words we only want to hear when someone is bringing us to our table at a restaurant. By nature, we would rather lead than follow. We would rather blaze the trail and get the accolades than just be part of the team coming behind the leader. We want to be the pitcher, the point guard, or the quarterback if we use sports terms. We tell our kids to be leaders and not followers.

We can’t truly be leaders until we first become followers. But we also need to be careful who we chose to follow as well as who we chose to lead. When Jesus first called his disciples, his first words to them were “follow me”. He didn’t ask them to lead Him, He asked them to follow Him. He would ultimately make them fishers of men (leaders), because they would first learn to fish (follow).

It takes a humble spirit to follow someone else and learn the ropes. It takes an even more humble spirit to lead others and teach them the ropes. I’ve been on both sides of the fence; I’ve had to be a follower and I’ve been a leader. In all honesty, I would say a humble spirit is not the words I would use to describe how I followed or how I have lead, but I’m learning.

I believe we have to be both a follower and a leader at the same time. There should be someone in our lives that we are leading as a mentor and someone we are following as they mentor us. The Apostle Paul even followed this example. When he started his ministry he had a mentor on his first journey by the name of Barnabas who vouched for Paul before the church Antioch. By the end of his ministry he was a mentor to Timothy, showing him the way as Timothy lead the church in Ephesus.

Who do you look to at this point in your life as a mentor to help guide you in the right direction as you follow after God?  Who are you mentoring to help someone new in the faith along the right path through discipleship?  Both are important to your growth.

Have a great day and God bless.

Riches to Rags Story

Riches to rags. No, you didn’t read that wrong, I wrote “riches to rags”. We are used to seeing it the other way around, “rags to riches” right?  We celebrate those that go from nothing to being on top of the world. Those that pull themselves up by the bootstraps and make something of themselves. But what about the stories of those that have everything and lose it all because of their mistakes or give it all up for something better.

The first riches to rags story we come across in the Bible is the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They had access to all of God’s creation and even access to God Himself in a personal face-to-face way. There was nothing God held back from them in the Garden yet they wanted more, they wanted to be “like” God because of the temptation of Satan. Due to their sin of disobedience, they were kicked out of paradise to live among the thorns and the thistle, having to produce by the sweat of their brows and the work of their hands. The original riches to rags story.

However, the greatest riches to rags story, not associated with being disciplined because of sin, was that of Jesus Christ. He voluntarily left the glory of heaven and the presence of God to be born and take on the form of the creation. The Apostle Paul said it best in his letter to the Philippians, “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We celebrate those who make a name for themselves be going from rags to riches, but the Bible teaches the opposite is to be celebrated. Paul continues with the next verse saying, “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  That is what should be celebrated; the fact that Jesus humbled Himself for our salvation.  Do we live with a humble spirit or do we look to exalt ourselves?  Be humble and let God exalt you in His time.

Have a great day and God bless.