Following Jesus

So many people have a misconception about following Jesus.  Some think they will wait until they are old or very ill or sometime when it is convenient for them, but only in their own time.  

People don’t seem to realize that it is in God’s time not their time and only because of God’s mercy and grace.  You will only be able to follow Jesus when God the Father draws you to Jesus His only begotten Son.  Jesus made this statement in John 6:44, “No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last days.”  No one can come to Jesus on their own or in their own time and God isn’t in the habit of making deals with people, God initiates the time and then they have a choice to follow Jesus or not.

Even after accepting the call some people make up excuses why they can’t follow Jesus right away.  At one time a scribe came to Jesus and said he would follow Him wherever He went, then Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath nowhere to lay His head.”  Then one of His disciples spoke up and said to Him, “Suffer me first to go and bury my father.”  From what I have read this disciple wanted to wait until his elderly father died which could have been years, perhaps this man didn’t want to miss out on his inheritance.  Jesus said to this man, “Let the dead bury their own dead!”

Following Jesus can be a real struggle you may lose your popularity, your friends, even some family members or maybe even your employment.  In some countries people lose everything they have, some even their lives.  Some are thrown in prison and tortured for following Jesus; the cost can be very high.  

If you think about what Jesus said, it sounds like He had very little Himself, but what He did have, and what we all need, is faith.  The cost of following Jesus may be a high price to pay but the benefits are eternal and everlasting.  Make no mistake about it, following Jesus isn’t for the weak and timid who will give up at the first trial they face, no, it is for the ones that are sold out, lock, stock and barrel, those that are committed to the long haul regardless of the cost.  Many people may start out well but give up before the end of the race.  

Everyone has to make a choice of which way they will follow, there are two gates you can take but only one if you choose to follow Jesus and get into Heaven.  Jesus said this in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

So if you are walking on what you might call an uphill climb following Jesus don’t be shocked just hang in there the Lord knows what is going on and what He is trying to accomplish in your life.  Let Him have His way and just keep following, you cannot be in any better hands.  Have a great day and may the Lord bless you and yours!!

                                                                                 

Falling on the Rock

Who was the cornerstone and what does it mean to you as a believer?   The cornerstone is the corner of a building uniting two intersecting walls; all the other stones will be set in reference to this stone.  The cornerstone is metaphorically the foundation of something.

In the Christian faith Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone and the foundation of our faith; we are being built on Him.  Our bodies have been related to a building, a temple, in the Word.  The Word says of every true believer that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We need to be careful how we build ourselves; we can build ourselves on the firm foundation, which is Jesus and our works will be related to gold, silver, and precious stones, but if you build on any other foundation the results will be likened to wood, hay and stubble.  In other words if you are building your foundation on Christ you will give Him all the glory for what He is doing in you and through your life and take none of the glory for yourself.  If you are immature and insensitive and accepting any doctrine, like the Corinthian church members did, then you are being built on something other than Christ.  

Let me take you to a familiar story that Jesus taught in Matthew 7:21-27, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’  Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall.”

Your house represents your life and the way and on whom you build it is extremely important, it is not just talking the talk that counts, it is walking the walk that makes all the difference.  There are many people that claim to be great carpenters but until they show you what they can do it means nothing.  You can make this claim about many different fields of work but until you have seen the finished product you cannot be sure.

My question to you is, are you the wise or foolish builder?  What are you building your foundation on?  When you stand before the Lord someday will you get into Heaven by the skin of you teeth, so to speak, because you built your house on wood, hay and stubble or will you hear these words,

‘well done my good and faithful servant enter into your rest?”  Will there be rewards for you or will you barely make it in?  If you have to fall on the rock and be broken or humbled and repentant, act on that, but don’t reject this message and have the rock (Jesus) fall on you and grind you to pieces.   

Are you doing what it says in James 1:22-25, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

Are you studying and listening to the Word, then putting it into practice?  I hope you are but if not I hope this message will encourage you to start today.  May the Lord bless you and keep you and may His countenance shine upon you and may He give you His perfect peace.  Have a great day!!

Lies and Deception

In our society we are bombarded with lies everyday continually.  People are inundated with lies and deception, in other words we are saturated or flooded with continuing deception and lies.  Regardless of who you are or where you live you have been lied to and deceived in one way or another. I don’t believe that any of us can stand innocent of this charge.  These sins happen everywhere and it happens far too often in the church.  Lying seems to be as ordinary as breathing and being deceived is part of the games people play.  

Have you ever heard this statement, “There are no absolutes or truths?”  When a society is taught this garbage what else can we expect but lies?  This is the big problem with this statement, that whatever I think is true for me and whatever you think is true for you, whether either one of them is true or not true, it doesn’t matter.  I have heard people say this about the Bible, “You can interpret it a lot of different ways?”  That is true and some people interpret it the way they want to hear it, but if you always think that way how will you ever believe the truth when you hear it?  By believing that there are no truths or absolutes, you can easily be deceived. Personally I don’t know how any person could fall for this deception but it seems that many have.  Is this true; if you jump off a tall bridge you will go down and not up?  Of course it is true; gravity will pull you down every time.  So this is a truth.

This problem seems to be an epidemic and every believer should be concerned about it and not take it lightly.  I know the Lord looks at lying and deceiving very seriously.  It says this in Exodus 20:16, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  This was not a suggestion it was a command.  The Israelites needed a just system without lies and deception and so do we.  A false witness means lying in court which would not be tolerated by the Lord, God wants His people to be upright and honest in their dealings regardless of the circumstance, whether it be in private or in public. We can bear false witness by leaving something out of a story, telling a half truth, twisting the facts, or inventing a falsehood.  Lying and deception may be the norm for many people but God’s people are not to be a part of it.

The Word says in Matthew 5:33-37, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’  But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.  But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’  For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

It is very important that we keep our vows to God and to man.  Now I want you to read what it says in Revelations 21:8, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

I think I got the point across so I will end here.  This is something very important to think about and act on, so I hope you don’t write it off as not being a problem.  Have a great day and may the Lord bless you!!     

The Church

The true Church today is filled with all kinds of people from different cultures and backgrounds, various races and creeds all representing the body of Christ.  There are also many in our houses of worship that are imposters like in the days of Jesus.  It is very hard to tell which ones are genuine and which ones are the imposters. There are many cults and false teachers so it is hard to know the genuine from the imposters in those situations also.

The Word says in Matthew 7:20, “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions,” but that takes time.  It also says in John 13:35, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Even knowing this, it is important that we be careful that we don’t judge too quickly or be deceived.  Many times we seem to judge people much too harshly, condemning them just because of their outward appearance.  It is very hard for us to know the thoughts and intents of the heart.  There are some guidelines that will help us in this matter in 1 Timothy 5:24, it says this, “Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later.” 

Matthew 7:15 says this, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.”  This wasn’t just a problem in Paul’s day but it is rampant today and if people are not careful many will be deceived and as time goes on it will get worse.  The only way people can keep from being deceived is to know the truth and to be spending time in prayer and close communion with the Lord.  In John 8:31-32 it says this,  “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

Studying the Word and hearing it preached is very important, I can’t emphasize this enough, it is so very important, no believer can afford to ignore it.  It goes on to say this about false teachers in 1 Timothy 6:3-5, “Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.”

There are many warnings about falsehood in the Word to keep us from deception but without studying how will you learn about them.  I hope this lesson will encourage you to start a regular habit of studying the Word so that you will know the truth, then be able to share it with others and encourage them and bless them with the truth so that they may be set free.  God bless you and yours and have a great day!!  

Witnessing

Are you spreading the Gospel or are you ashamed of it?  Sometimes it seems like we can become ‘closet’ Christians, hiding the greatest message that was ever spoken and keeping it a secret.  I think most of us are guilty of this at times and I think as time goes on it will be harder and harder to share the good news and someday it will probably be against the law.  My approach to this is to share what the Lord has done in my life and if people are receptive to what I say I can continue to share more and more.

Fear seems to be the greatest deterrent to sharing the gospel with someone else.  I guess our love for the Lord hasn’t been perfected yet even though we say we love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.   In 1 John 4:18 it says, “There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  If we really love the Lord and have assurance of our faith it will make it much easier to witness to others about our faith.

It always baffles me how many Muslims are ready to kill themselves for what they believe in, but many who call themselves Christians are afraid to stand and be counted amongst the faithful witnesses of Christ.  Many Christians neglect witnessing for the Lord, which in many cases will cost them nothing.  If it isn’t fear then maybe it is a lack of power in their lives.

I struggle with this being the case because every born-again believer has the Holy Spirit residing in them because when they are born-again Jesus comes into them, in the form of the Holy Spirit and their bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own.”  If the Holy Spirit is in you then you have all the power you need to be a witness for the Lord.

Every time I write about these things Peter comes to mind, how presumptuous he was and how he would speak seemingly without thinking and at times stick his foot in his mouth, so to speak.  When the time came to stand up for the Lord he denied him, not only once but three different times.  However, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, because before that the Holy Spirit had not been poured out yet, Peter was a different man full of the power of the Holy Spirit, he never denied the Lord again.  Peter preached and witnessed for the Lord until he was finally crucified like his Lord except he was crucified upside down feeling not worthy to die in the same manner that his Lord was.

If we are born-again we have no excuse not to witness when we have the opportunity.  As for me I believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is still for today and I believe that every believer should seek it for themselves. This is what it says in Acts 1:4-8 “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  So when they met together, they asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’  He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”  

If you have a struggle with witnessing, pray and ask the Lord to baptize you with His precious Holy Spirit and don’t give up until it happens and then you should have no problem witnessing.  May the Good Lord Bless you and yours and have a great day!!