Have you come to God?

Mt 7: 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

As you see, doing things for God won’t get you there.

As you saw two blog entries ago you will find God if you really want to. People are often afraid to come to God because they don’t want to be judged. This is a real irony because God is only your judge if you don’t get saved. Jesus died on the cross to pay for sin so that we don’t have to, but some choose rather to stay where they already are, under the law. Being born again is being born into the family of God. Since no judge has to judge his own son or daughter this is a good place to be.

I don’t want to be judged by God and I am therefore glad to be a part of the family of God.

Your Pastor…Who God Chooses?

I Cor.:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Here we clearly see who God chooses.

I Thes 5: 12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly,

Maybe God has sent you to help, not discourage. Criticism only discourages, which leaves the leader struggling even more, and there by making it yet harder for him to do a good job and more likely to make a mistake. At least this way you will have something to be upset about!!! (Sorry about the sarcasm!!!)

Prov. 14: 6 A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.

Your pastor already knows that he is deficient in many areas. He doesn’t need to be reminded or criticized, but rather helped.

Prov. 14:3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. 4 Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

People who won’t clean up after their ox don’t deserve to have one.

If God wanted to he could have ordained highly qualified men rather than the weak and foolish, but he didn’t because the weak are more likely to give God the credit. Read through I Cor. 1 thinking of who God wants to use.

Come to God

Come to God to get saved, (born again into his family), and come to God for help.


John 9:36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Pr 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Lu 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
Ac 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
I Corinthians 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
Ephesians 1:8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
I John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
I John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Jude 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.

Our Saviour

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Some would say that it was easy for Jesus because he was God. This is not so, he was a man as well as God. As a man he suffered everything that any of us suffered, notice it says “in all points”. No matter what you are suffering Jesus already went through it. He really can relate and he really knows what you are feeling. You can go to him when things are terrible and he can relate, and comfort you, because he really felt it himself.

2Co 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

In the hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus, verse two says…

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Choose your suffering

2 Tim 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

The good news is… 1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

The word temptation here is the same as our word for trouble, you can see that God will not allow us to suffer (or be tempted) more than we are able. Since God won’t allow us to suffer more than we can cope with, we can choose to suffer for Christ and it will cancel some or all of the other suffering.

We will suffer whether we are in God’s will or not, so lets choose to suffer in God’s will instead of suffering for nothing. The suffering will not be more than we can handle either way. Suffer being fruitful or suffer for nothing, but suffer we will.

Let’s remember how good God is to give us all of the great times that he does give us! It would be reasonable for God to leave us to suffer in the results of our sin all of the time, but he doesn’t.

Those who are still not saved (or born again) suffer the worst because they don’t have God limiting the devil. How do you get saved; trust Christ!

John 9:36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, Pr 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Lu 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; Ac 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Happy

Humour is hazardous to your depression. A smile can travel a thousand miles, even into your own heart.

Pr 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Pr 15:15 All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
Pr 15:13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
1Th 5:16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

As I have so often said to the kids and grandchildren… “are you happier when you are happy or are you happier when you are sad.” Of course this is silly but so often we are too. My children would stand in the corner until they decided to get happy. Other families in the church would do the same. One day one of the mothers came to me with the great revelation that if the kids could get happy then so could she. Wow was she happy!!!

A great gift

A great gift to your loved ones, or anyone for that matter, is to decide not to get offended.

Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

Getting offended then, must mean not enough Bible or not enough love for the Bible.

Motives

Poor motives, good motives, better motives, or best motives…

I used to talk to God a lot about my motives… I often didn’t know myself if they were pure. Then I realized that I frequently had many motives at the same time and that was why I was confused.

When going to church was it because God asked me to, was it because I liked it and had fun there, was it because I wanted others to notice or maybe some of each of these and others.

In most cases many of the motives are present all at once, and all that we can do is keep trying to improve.

Some get saved because they are afraid of hell, that is good.
Some get saved because they want God to like them, that is good too.
Some get saved to become a friend of God, that is even better.
Some get saved to become a friend of God and therefore to be more able to help others, that is even better again.
Some get saved because God said to, that is the best.

Many of these motives are good but some are better. If you got saved because you were afraid of hell you can always start trying to do things because God said so and therefore be working on your motives.

Giving

Giving is something that we don’t do just in church. It should be all of the time like prayer. Anywhere and everywhere we should be looking for opportunities to be a blessing.

I was with my dad one day as a teenager in a restaurant. We noticed two poor looking men each counting their change to see if they had enough for a shared cup of coffee. When dad noticed he quietly asked the waiter to offer them both breakfast “on the house” and not to tell them who it came from. I was so proud of my dad that I will never forget that day, it was wonderful to me. Every one of my pennies was so important to me and dad didn’t have any to spare either.

These days money isn’t as sparse as it was then. Giving is time, talent and treasure!!!

I hope that others are learning such wonderful lessons from watching us!!!

God didn’t do it!!!

Since we are part of the family of God maybe we should act like it!!!

Everything that God does is good. Everything that the devil does is bad. I am weary of hearing that God did something bad. For example; “I guess God thinks that I can handle it or he wouldn’t have taken me through it.” It’s bad enough that the unsaved are always saying; “if God loved us why is there war or starvation.” Why don’t we hear; “that devil sure hates us, no wonder he is sending so much suffering” Even Job thought that it was God. Job 2:10b What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Here we clearly see that it was the devil not God. Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. Let’s stop saying that God did it and say that the devil did it.

Someone said to me that God killed his dad. I said “no he didn’t.” After we die God takes us; but the bible says that death comes from sin. There are some passages that seem to say that it was God but the truth still is… Ro 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

I mentioned these things in hundreds of sermons, yet I still wasn't hearing “the devil is sure trying to hurt me, so let’s praise God for giving us the strength to go through it.” Please blame the devil not God. God is good, it's the devil that's bad.

What can I do to help make my church a good church?

1. Love God and; Love Others. Matt. 22: 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. It is not our job to notice what others are or are not doing. What can I do to help is the question?

2. Praise and; Worship. An old gray haired preacher said to me when I was young… “Oh for a praiseful church”. It still rings in my ears thirty years later. I want to be one of those Christians. Real praise and worship have been so distorted these days that many churches have given up and don’t even try. Two types of false worship have all emotion on one side and the teaching that attending church is worship on the other.

3. All guilty. James 2: 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Knowing this and practicing it are two different things. Some sins have more results on earth than others but all are equal before God and should be equal to us. Neither you nor I are any better than anyone else. Only in the case of unrepentant ongoing sin is there room for us to speak up. If the sin is not ongoing repentance is not our issue.

4. Attitude of servant. In this modern consumer world, churches are often chosen by what they can do for me rather than what I can do for God. Jesus is the head and we are the workers. We are not the bosses. We have a job to do so let’s get at it and quit demanding what we want. Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

5. Never get offended. When I start to get offended, or heaven forbid if I do get offended, God tells me, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Ps 119:165 Notice it says nothing. This means that if I get offended I am not getting enough Bible. The problem then must be with me, not the other person.

Which Church

When choosing a church these are some things that should be considered.

1. God’s Job. Jesus said he would build his church. Mt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We win souls, God builds the church.

2. Our job. We were commanded to reach the world. Matt 28: 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

3. Many think that he church is here to disciple the lost. This is definitely one of the jobs of the church, but the purpose of the church is to bring the unsaved to Christ where they will hopefully get saved. Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. He is the boss, we are the workers. This is our job too, if we want to be like him. All too often we act like customers rather than obedient workers.

4. The real Bible. Make sure that you get it right. The Bible doesn’t need correcting. Many Christians will lead you astray.

Be not weary

As age changes me I find that the temptations of youth are mostly non existent. The real temptation now is to back off and rest a little. I am tired of confrontation, ugliness and unthankful Christians.

The more that we do for people the more likely that they are to be upset that we didn’t do enough. I hear more complaints about God from Christians than I do about the devil.

As I think back though I remember that these problems have always been there and it is my responsibility to keep myself encouraged. 1Sa 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

Roy needs to encourage himself in the LORD his God.

I would like to end this life going so hard that I crash through to the other side without a slowdown.

THE BATTLE OF LIFE

I just love this one, so I copied it!!!

THE BATTLE OF LIFE
In the battle of life it is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have tasted neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

God’s Will

What we do know about God's will for us.

So many people ask about God’s will and how to find out what it is.

Most of God’s plan for us is spelled out in the Bible. We are to get saved, get baptized, join a good Bible church, and become one of God’s workers. Remember we are not the customers but rather the workers.

After these things God will make his will known to us if we are close enough to hear. Hang around with God and he will hang around with you!!!

Gods will is often found in wisdom. I have heard so many people praying who to marry, which house to buy, which job to take etc. God’s word tells some of these things, for instance don’t marry the unsaved, but wisdom is very important too. Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Walk with God!!!