Indian Boy

I heard a story from Ron Hutchcraft that was supposed to be a legend that went something like this, I only heard part of the story then I read about it a couple of times, so this is my version of the story.  There was a young Indian boy that was sent out to prove his manhood.  He was out in the woods and looked up and saw the snow covered peaks of the mountains and thought he would climb up, so he did.  When he got up there he heard a noise by his feet which turned out to be a rattlesnake.  Before he could run, the snake said to him will you take me down the mountain where it is warm before I freeze to death and there is no food up here.  The boy said no you will bite me but the snake promised that he wouldn’t so the young man finally said he would.  When the boy got the snake to a warmer place he put him down and then he bit him.  The young man said you said you wouldn’t bite me and the snake while slithering off said you knew what I was.

Now let’s relate this to sin, just like the poison that came from the snake, sin is also like poison to the one who commits it unless they are not at the age of accountability, and let me make this very clear, God is against any kind of sin. Sin is a lot like cancer and it will separate you from God.  It can also cause sickness, guilt, shame and destroy marriages and relationships.  Sin will eventually destroy you and your relationship with God if you do not deal with it by repenting and confessing it to the Lord and asking His forgiveness.  The thing I find so amazing about this, is that even when we were enemies of God because of our sins He loved us so much that He wasn’t willing that any of His creation would be lost but that all would come to repentance and find forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus Christ His beloved Son, so He patiently waits!!

Read 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:14-15, “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.”

I think back on my life of the many times I should have been killed, if not for the love, grace, mercy and patience that God showed towards me.  I went down on a motorcycle twice, went up a telephone wire in a van and flipped it over on its side.  In my drinking and drugging days I overdosed and had what I thought was an out of body experience, where I could see two of me, one on one side of the highway and the other on the opposite side of the highway and it took me until the next day before I felt like one person again.  I had asthma for many years and was told I could die at least 5 or 6 times. I also rode chopper motorcycles for years while I was high most of the time.  Plus, I had a rifle pointed at me close enough where the guy couldn’t miss because he was very angry at me.  I also was stabbed by that same guy, trying to kill me.  Let’s face it, the Lord was very patient with me and I thank and praise Him for it!!  

What about you?  Are you ready to stop running away from God and start running towards Him?  Are you ready to truly repent by turning away from your sins?

Read what 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

There was a problem in the Corinthian church and Paul sent them a letter after they had repented and this is part of what he said and this is what their repentance produced in them.  Now read 2 Corinthians 7:10-11, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

I hope this has been an encouragement and help to all who read it and that the Lord will use it to further His kingdom!!  My prayer is that you are ready to trust in Jesus!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super, super day!!

Believe

What would it take for you to believe or how many miracles would you have to see for you to believe?  Back in Jesus’ day when He walked the earth people were always seeking for signs; they knew Jesus and the signs that He performed but they still wouldn’t allow themselves to believe but instead they hardened their hearts.  Think about the Pharisees, they knew that Jesus came from God, how do I know this?  Read John 3:1-2, “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’”

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and when He came to Jesus He said we know you came from God, he didn’t say I know you came from God, so if they knew what was the problem?  They hardened their hearts because they were jealous because Jesus had a greater following than they had and also because Jesus was doing far greater things than they could do.  One of the problems the Pharisees had was that Jesus was far more interested in the people and the

Pharisees were stuck in man’s tradition and the law, trying to make the people keep the law to which the Pharisees added about three hundred laws themselves.  The strange thing was they were bent on the people keeping all these laws but they couldn’t keep them themselves.

Read Matthew 23:1-7, “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

Now read verses 13-15, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”   If you would like, you can read the whole 23rd chapter of Matthew and you will get more of an idea of the kind of people these people where.     

There are a lot of people around today that are teaching the same things; that you must keep the law and teaching that good works is all you need to do.  They have heard of Jesus and have even seen and heard of some of the miracles that have been done through Jesus, but they still will not believe, but instead they harden their hearts and live in unbelief.  My question is; what about you, what will it take for you to believe?  With the historical facts and the archeological proofs today and the Word of God, what will it take for you to put your trust in Jesus?  

Jesus made this statement in Matthew 12:38-42, “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.”

The Word of God says that today is the day of salvation.  Jesus said that the Son of man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, prophesying His own death, but that wasn’t the end, Jesus did rise from the grave and this is a true account of what happened.  Jesus was the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice who takes away the sins of the world.  So what will it take for you to believe?  Something for you to think about!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super, super day!!

No Excuse

  

Shall we sin that grace may abound?  Of course not!  I have heard of a teaching that I think is very dangerous to believers.  From my understanding, this is what has been called hyper-grace.  I’ve heard there are some people teaching that when a person gets saved, or born-again, they are forgiven of all their sins; past, present and future sins.  This teaching sounds like it would be giving a person a license to sin.  I mentioned this in a Tidbit a while ago but I think it is worth mentioning it again.  Please don’t allow any teaching to entice you or give you an excuse to sin.  

When we sin, it causes division between us and the Lord and until we make a conscious, heartfelt decision to repent and confess that sin and turn from it we are still guilty of that sin and separated from the Lord.  When King David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, he struggled with what he had done for around a year, you can read about it in Psalms 51.  He felt miserable until he repented and got things right with God!!  Jesus gave His life for the sins of mankind, shedding His blood so that when we repent and confess our sins we will be made right with God.  God’s Word says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remittance (forgiveness) of sin.

Read Acts 3:25-26, “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Repentance, which means to turn away from our sins, is very important when we sin!!

Now read what Paul had to say about this to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 7:8-11, “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

These people were a part of the church, but they needed to repent which they did, Paul said godly sorrow brings forth repentance unto salvation which needs not to be regretted.

And read James 5:19-20, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”

Ananias and his wife Sapphira were a part of the church.  They decided to lie to Peter and the Holy Spirit and they didn’t repent, so they paid a dear price for their sin; you can read about that account in Acts 5:1-11.  If this doesn’t convince you that you need to repent and confess your sins after your conversion, I guess nothing will.  

You can also go to the churches in Revelations in chapters 2 and 3 to read what   the Lord had to say about those churches.  This Tidbit was not intended to scare anyone, but to show the importance of repentance and confession when someone sins at any time in their walk with the Lord.  God’s grace came to us at a great price and I don’t think any of us should take it for granted!!

My prayer is that this will bless you and encourage you, praise the Lord for His amazing grace!!  Enough said, I have given you something to think about!!  Hey have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!

Grace

Please read Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Praise the Lord God for His grace, it is only through His grace that we can be justified, without it we would have always been God’s enemies!!  What do you think that God’s grace means and how do we receive God’s grace?  First, think of this, when we receive the grace of God we receive something that we could never achieve or obtain on our own, no matter how hard we tried or how much money we have or how good of a person we think we might be.  Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards us.  In other words, it would be impossible for us to undo what has been done because we were born with a sin nature and we cannot change that fact.  We may not accept that fact and we can try to reason it away or just deny the truth, but that won’t change your situation or the truth.

In King David’s repentant prayer, he made this very clear when he said this in Psalms 51:1-6, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight— that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”

David said he was born in sin, now read what it says in Romans 3:23, “..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..”

I think the fact has been established that we are all sinners and were separated from God from birth.  You may not understand this but Adam and Eve were the first two people to inhabit the earth.  They were created perfect, without a sin nature, but they choose to rebel and disobey God which resulted in sin.  You can read about this in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in the beginning chapters.  Because they sinned and we are all related to them, when we are born, we are born in sin with a sin nature; we didn’t ask for it, but we need to face the fact that we are what we are, sinners from birth.  Because of this, we are separated from God because God is so holy He cannot even look at sin, and God is angry with sin every day because He knows how it destroys people’s lives.

Now let’s get to the grace that God was willing to provide for us because He loved His creation and wasn’t willing that any of us would be lost or separated from Him, but that we would repent of our sins and turn from our wicked ways and turn to Him for forgiveness and cleansing!!  Now let’s dive into this subject so we can fully understand that our acceptance by God is through His grace, by trusting in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son.  Jesus was willing to be obedient to God the Father, laying His life down to be crucified, which He did and was buried and, like Jesus said He would, He rose from the grave on the third day.  The grave had no victory and could not hold Him and death had no sting and now Jesus has become the Savior of the world!!

This may be of help to you, read Romans 3:21-31, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”

So what we could never do, God provided for us through His precious Son, Jesus.  This is what you may call God’s precious grace, His unmerited favor.  Praise be to God and to Jesus Christ, His Son, who because He was willing to suffer became our Savior and Lord, if we put our trust in Him through faith and repent of our sins and ask Him to forgive us and to be the Lord of our lives.  

Then I would like you to read John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

God’s grace is something we can never achieve by our righteousness because we have no righteousness apart from God, so all our works are futile when it comes to the grace of God.  God’s Word says that our righteousness is as filthy rags, it is only by faith in what God can do in our lives through His beloved Son, Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.  If you read this and you miss out on God’s grace, it will be nobody’s fault but your own.

I have given you something to think about and I pray that it has been an encouragement and a blessing to you!!  May you have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love, joy, health and happiness!!  If this has been a blessing and help to you, don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!

Can You Imagine

It would be hard to imagine if you couldn’t walk or see from the time you were born and now you are an adult.  Or think about having leprosy or any other deliberating disease you may have been born with for years and having to leave all your friends and family and live in a community with other lepers, especially in times where there was no cure and you never had any hope of getting better.  It would be hard for many of us to cope with those circumstances.  Can you imagine being in the dark for all those years needing help getting around or being crippled and having someone carry you around everywhere you went?  Then think about having leprosy and having to cover your head and holler, “unclean,” if someone were fifty feet downwind of you because it was so contagious, without even a hope whatsoever of ever being healed.  The word leprosy was used for different kinds of diseases and they were all bad, but the one I am referring to is the one where eventually your body starts deteriorating and in the end death results.  These things took place in Jesus’ day and there was no cure, like I said, and no hope of ever getting any better.  I realize that these things can happen today also and when they happen they are devastating, but there is far more help today than there was in Jesus’ day.

Now read this and see if this is hard to imagine, read Luke 17:11-19, “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’ When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’”

This seemed even harder for Jesus to imagine, they are all healed of a disease that would have killed them, they go to the priest and the priest examines them as the law required and they walk out healed.  Only one goes back glorifying God and he wasn’t quiet about it, and to top it off, he wasn’t even a full Jew, he was a Samaritan, half Jew and have Gentile and the Jews hated the Samaritans.  Now I realize that these nine lepers must have had family and friends they wanted to see and share the amazing news with, and I am pretty sure that the Samaritan did too, but he went back and thanked Jesus and praised God for his healing.

If you read about the Samaritan woman at the well that Jesus spoke to, you realize that Jesus loved everyone.  If you want to read about it, it is in John 4:6-43.

Let me brag on the Lord and praise my God for healing me a few years back when I had asthma severely for somewhere around 60 years.  I was in and out of hospitals and walk-ins getting breathing treatments and taking steroids and sprays sometimes three or four times a day.  Then one morning I was praying by myself and the Lord answered me and healed me, all praise and all glory go to Him.  It has been eight or more years since I was healed.  I was on the radio on 88.5, the Family life center, and shared my testimony and also had the privilege of sharing my testimony in my church, praise the Lord!  I have shared it many times over the years.  So it is hard for me to imagine that only one man would go back and thank the Lord and glorify God in that situation.  If you have had a miraculous healing, I would like to hear about it, write a comment so that I can rejoice with you and you don’t have to leave your name.

Enough said, may you have a super day and may he good Lord bless you and yours!!  Ps don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord, for He is worthy!!