Grace-Duplicate from January

Sometimes I wish I could be more like the Apostle Paul in his perseverance of serving the Lord. He never let anything get in his way of serving His Lord or preaching the Gospel. His sufferings were unparalleled. He received forty strips on several occasions, he was beaten with rods three times, he was stoned once and shipwrecked three times. His appearance was weak and his speech contemptible yet he pressed on preaching the glory of the Messiah.

What about Job? He lost all of his children, his wealth and his health all in one day. He was covered with boils and smelled like rotten flesh yet he never stopped worshiping God and he never blamed him for his suffering.

Hurt, heartache, disappointment and hardships happen throughout each of our lives. Some people experience more than their share of these and we wonder why? Why does God allow so much pain into one family? What is His purpose? Sometimes it is crystal clear but most times we are uncertain of God’s purpose for our suffering. We can, however, be certain of one thing – we will know all things when we meet our Savior face to face. Until that time we must continue to trust in the Lord and have faith that He is in control and that all things will work together for good for those who love Him. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

We have a purpose in life and that purpose is not about us, our family our job or status in the community; it is about worshiping the Holy God of Heaven and sharing our faith with the lost. God expects us to be obedient in sharing His Word with the outer most parts of the world. To you and me the outer most parts of the world could be in our own back yard or even be in our own household.

We all have suffered in this life and there is no doubt that we will have more sorrow and heartache before our time on earth is through. As long as we keep our eye on the prize (salvation) we will have peace and joy in our hearts and our lives will be filled with the glory of our Heavenly Father.

SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 1:3-11 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

2 Corinthians 4:15-18 this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

TIME

Today my son, Chad, turns 30 years old. Wow, it is hard to believe it has been 30 years since he was born and then again it seems like yesterday. As time passes we don’t realize the value of each day; what each day represents in the wholeness of our lives.

What we do with our time while we are on earth is so important. I think it was Mayou Angelo who said that “when you know better, you do better” and I hope that is true when it comes to me and how I serve the Lord. I pray that it is true with you as well.

Christ died that all men might live for Him. A person must take care of him/herself, but we are not to live for ourselves. Christ died so that we would live for Him. As humans we tend to be self-centered, focusing most of our thoughts and efforts on meeting our own needs, upon satisfying ourselves through pleasure, acceptance, money, possessions, fame, etc., but this is not our calling as followers of Christ.

Living for Christ is more than Sunday worship and Wednesday night bible study. It is absorbing yourself in the word, getting to know your God and Savior. Wanting, yearning to please Him in all your ways – knowing that His death gave you eternal life. We are no longer a human body with a spirit but a spiritual being with a human body. Christ’s death and resurrection made us into new creations. To live for Christ means to put the old away and develop the new creation through bible study, worship and praise every day.

Time is so short on this earth and it is our obligation to plant seeds that will allow God to reap the fruits of our labor. We must labor not only for our own benefit; house, food, clothing, but we must labor for the Kingdom. Our bodies will give out on us and we will grow old physically but because of our faith we will grow stronger and more alive spiritually through the Holy Spirit.

Don’t let time get away from you. Please be prepared to meet your God. If you do not know Him please seek Him – He is waiting for you,now. Max Lucado wrote “There are a thousand steps between us and God, He will take all but one. He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours”. The time of salvation is now.

SCRIPTURES

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation, old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Working together with Him, we also appeal to you: Don’t receive God’s grace in vain. For He says: In an acceptable time, I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you. Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Therefore we do not give up, even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 2 Corinthians 4:16-17

EVANGELISM

In the book The Ascent of a Leader, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall tell of a woman who has a dream where she wanders into a shop at the mall and finds Jesus behind the counter. Jesus says, “You can have anything your heart desires.” Astounded but pleased, she asked for peace, joy, happiness, wisdom, and freedom from fear. Then she adds, “Not just for me, but for the whole earth.” Jesus smiles and says. “I think you misunderstand me. We don’t sell fruits, only seeds.” Haddon Robinson once said that “You will invest your life in something, or you will throw it away on nothing”.

We have a moral responsibility to share the gospel. Jesus Christ is the only one who can save the lost from the horrifying reality of hell. Spurgeon said that men have been taught to live by remembering that they have to die. Maybe, if we remind ourselves of this at the beginning of each day it will give us the courage to share our faith with others.

It is our responsibility as Christians to seek and save that which is lost. Evangelism is the great commission from our Lord, Jesus. He told us all to go out into the world and spread the good news. Salvation from hell is better than good news it is great news and we should be shouting from the rooftops about how great our God is but we’re not. Why? Is it because many of us are too timid, shy or embarrassed to open our mouths? This my friend is a sin…..did you know that? It is a sin to not share Jesus with others. As Christians, those who know the peace and joy of salvation, we should want to share the love of Christ and the joy that fills our hearts because of Him with the world. So why do we find it so difficult? Is it fear of rejection? Maybe, but that shouldn’t stop us from sharing with others the only thing that will save them from eternity in hell. Remember, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us – this includes evangelism.

Let us think often that our only business in this life is to please God. The reason we should be concerned about the future is because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.

SCRIPTURES

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Matthew 15:15-16

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.' "Then He will say to those on his left, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

SHEEP OR GOAT?

HEAVEN OR HELL?

MOTHERS DAY

Mothers Day; what does this day mean to you? Do you look forward to spending time with your mom or has your mom gone on to meet the Lord? Either way, our moms play a major role in who we are. Whenever we have the opportunity we should show our moms how much we love and appreciate them.

God tells us to honor our father and our mother. The best way to honor a godly mother is to become the men or women of God that she raised us to be; to allow her to see the love of God shine in and through our lives. We get so busy in living our lives that it is easy for us to use Mothers Day in an attempt to make up for all of the short comings in our parent-child relationship; but it takes more than a card, gift, or phone call once a year to show our mothers how much they mean to us. When was the last time you gave your mom a big hug, a kiss on the cheek or just dropped by to say “hi”?

Life is so short and though we know this intellectually we really don’t understand it until we lose someone we love. Whether they are taken away from us at a young age or they have lived a full life, it is still not enough time. There is always something we wished we had done or something we had said to them while they were still living and we didn’t (or couldn’t). If your mother is alive please take the time to tell her how much she means to you. I know as a mother (and grandmother) the most precious gift to me is a big hug and an “I love you, mom”. It doesn’t cost a penny and is worth all of the wealth in the world.

Scripture

And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, Luke 1 46-48

Honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' " Matthew 19:19

From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God. Psalm 22:10

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Proverbs 31:28

I wonder how Mary was able to raise God from infant to the Savior of the world. Can you imagine being God’s mom? Mary was a godly woman who was obedient to her Lord. I am thankful for Mary and for every godly mother since – especially mineJ

Loving The Sin You're In

Are you holding on to sin?  Do you have that “one” sin in your life that you just can’t seem to rid yourself of?  What do you tell yourself to justify keeping this sin around? Do you say:   

 

·         God can save me from everything but this

·         This sin is too big for God

·         I just don’t have the strength to quit

·         I’m not really hurting anyone so what does it matter

·         I can quit anytime I want to

 

Are any of these your excuse for not letting go of your favorite sin?  We all have a favorite sin so none of us is unique.  The difference between someone who relies on God for strength and someone who relies on themselves for strength is a humble spirit.  Someone who is broken knows that the only way to defeat sin is to give it to the Lord; this person will have the desire to and be able to stop.  The one who is proud and thinks they can quit on their own will never really have the desire to or be able to stop.  It takes total dependency upon God to rid us of sin and the desire of sin.  Until we reach the point where we love God more than the sin we will not allow Him to remove it from our life – because the truth is, we love our sin more than we love God. 

 

Until pleasing God means more to us than the pleasure of our sin we will never be rid of it.  It will be our companion, our friend in the dark.  You know the bible says that what is done in the dark will come to the light.  So even though we think we might be keeping this sin from friends, family, co-workers and God – that could not be further from the truth.  God sees everything; The eyes of the LORD are every where,  keeping watch on the wicked and the good.   Proverbs 15:3  and eventually the people in our life will discover our sin as well.  Nothing is hidden forever.

 

Please make that decision today.  Pray to God and let Him know that your hearts desire is to please Him.  Ask Him to rid you, or that someone you love of the desire of sin, to give you strength with His Spirit and make you or that loved one a new creature, with new and right desires.  He will answer your prayer, but, only if you are sincere and truly desire to live your life without the pleasures of sin.

 

SCRIPTURES

 

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."  Genesis 4:7

He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.  Psalm 145:19

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  Galatians 5:16 

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.  Ezekiel 36:26-27

Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord.  They do their works in darkness, and say "Who sees us?  Who knows us?"  Isaiah 29:15