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No surprise

27 Aug

No surprise

Ephesians 2:1-3   And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Yesterday started out on a real high; a customer and I sharing our faith with each other, building up each other with testimonies, scripture, and encouragement. After I left their house, my day plummeted from there. The details are not necessary, but failures and gut punches seemed to come my way. Truly an afternoon that I was taking a beating, when I was trying to draw closer to God in school study. The social media was full of  the VMA scandal, I looked and it truly sickened me; a product of the pursuit of fame. These children that our children grow up watching go down some of the worst roads imaginable……I struggle deeply with so much trash that we put before our children in the light of entertainment now. What we put in our child’s eyes, Satan worms his way into their hearts.

I lived that life; I pursued all that I could get my hands on. The one who dies with the most wins, I truly believed in some twisted way. I lived in sin and pursued it with a vigor; I only sought what would bring me pleasure, many times at high costs. Satan will tempt; Satan will entice you in all that feels good. He will put a spin in your mind of the worst things, making them seem pleasurable. The scripture above speaks to what we all want to deny; we are born sinners as a result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. We are not inherently good at heart. There is much to say about your understanding of your relationship with Christ in the understanding of the fall of man and sin. The Message puts Ephesians 2 like this:1 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. 2 You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. 3 We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

Satan is peaking now before us; our world is living headstrong against the commandments that God has given us. We are turning our backs on God and pursuing sin, or watering down the good news in false religions that just tickle the ears; they stay away from the power of the conviction of sin and the greatest work of the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. They preach prosperity and love, but not repentance. Our lives are worldly for 6.5 days per week, but we rest on that assurance given us in the church pew on Sunday. That assurance is a false teaching and a work of Satan in this world today. A heart that does not repent, is a heart that will not come to know Christ. How many of us will stand before Him on judgement day, and hear the scariest words in the Bible; Matthew 7:21 “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. 22 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?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ REPENT & BELIEVE!

 
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Posted by on August 27, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Stay on top

20 Jun

Stay on top

Romans 6:10-11   For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul has been explaining of how sin entered the world through Adam in the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. He points to Adam as a type of Christ; using that example of imparted sin on all of man, to the imparted grace through Christ for all of man. Of how that grace is greater than that sin; for how it justified us to a holy God. 5:16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. He continues to explain of how we are united with Christ into that death of sin, and of how the greater joy of being baptized into the newness of eternal life. We are to understand that we are to live our lives in that knowledge of being dead to sin, but alive in Christ.

This world we live in is drowning in the cesspool of sin. Idolatry & sexual immorality abound before us every day. Satan seeks to take our eyes off God and live for only the temporal pleasures he can provide. He wants us to live for the moment and never worry for eternity. What if we are captured in that moment of sin when our life clock stops? What if we fall back into that sin and run from God wanting to bank on Grace? Was our hearts ever really changed if we continue to live in sin? Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? I remember telling my parents for years that I wanted to have my fun for a time and then I would get right with God. Only by God’s am I able to be here today, to share a life full of sin, to a life full of forgiveness. I now seek to live my life to the best of my ability in showing others of His grace I was given.

I had a great talk with a customer yesterday, and the topic was about living your life as an example. Of how people are always watching you even when you don’t realize. I told her of how I believe many times our lives are the only Bible some ever read. All of the sin in my life; many great sins, are forgiven by that Grace I have been extended. All of my testimony can be used to reach someone that God has placed in my path with the same battles. I can through Him, show them the eternal forgiveness and escape from that snare that sin has on them. Live your life as an example of what Christ did for you. Live your life differently that those around you. Walk on the water through Christ;  don’t be dragged down into Satan’s cesspool.

 
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Posted by on June 20, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Humbleness

29 May

Humbleness

James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

I must intentionally make this short, for if I write on pride it will be at length, for it is still a great struggle of mine. I work alone; I have many reasons, but the primary is a horrible experience with one of my last employees. I experienced a ton of emotions that were all bad, and it took an act of God in me to experience forgiveness for them. It was a great turning point in my life, and an example of how God can use even the worst situations in life for good. I forgave him, but still carry that weight today and the fear of people that offer to help. With the problems of my shoulder, and the physical demands of my work, it puts great strains on me. Can you see pride still rooted in that?

Pride is the root of all sin. It can be traced back down to the root of all you fail in. It can be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden; all the way back to Satan’s fall from heaven in the  desire to be like God. There is evidence of it in your life too; even the denial of a struggle with it is a prideful statement. James is putting it as plainly as he can in the scripture above; God wants nothing to do with the prideful person; God loves and provides for the humble. It is only through that humble heart that you come to Salvation through repentance. At the beginning of Christ’s ministry, he spoke of this same repentance as John the Baptist. Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance will never come to a heart that is filled with pride. In your pride you will always fell that you CAN accomplish it on your own by works of some sort.

In a heart that comes to the realization of it’s need for Christ; there is a humility found there. The realization of a life steep in sin and the need for a Savior will bring the forgiveness in it; or the condemnation in the pride of it. If you feel that you can ever earn it, you will die in it. You must understand the concept of grace, God giving you something that you cannot earn, and do not deserve. You sin because you are a sinner, you are not a sinner because you sin. Your pride wants you to believe the secondary; Satan lives there. Pride will always be a struggle, but pride can be kept at bay by the grace of God. Look at the promises found in the next verses. James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8a Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. A humble heart is a heart close to God.

 
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Posted by on May 29, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Yes I can! No, you can’t……

19 Feb

Yes I can! No, you can’t……

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

I am a man who’s testimony is built in pride. I am just like you, I think I can do anything I put my mind to. It starts early in life, with parents breeding that self confidence that helps us to focus and persevere. It grows from youth into adulthood, the idea of the American Dream; you can succeed in this world if you try hard enough. If you don’t it is your own fault; if you do it is of your own self. Only you get the glory for your own success. The disappointments in people and life only bring about more independence and focus; the strive to succeed. This drive may produce success by worldly measure, but that measure is not eternal; and that eternal measure has no tolerance for pride. God showed me this in many ways of my life; He brought me to my knees so that I only could look up; He showed me I had no part in my supposed success; it all was a gift from God.

Pride is at the root of so many religions and false teachings today on how to reach God. Pride is at the root of believing you can do ANYTHING to earn God’s favor on your life; to earn your way into heaven; to do enough good deeds to outnumber the bad. Good deeds are a product of your Salvation, not a means to earn it! If by any means we could earn our salvation, then God sent his Son to die on a cross for nothing. James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” What would that act of grace represent in the ideal that we can do it without that provision? Pride is the root of why Satan was cast out from heaven; he thought he could be God. Pride is at the root of our sin in the Garden of Eden; we thought we could be like God. So our pride steers us to believe we can earn our way to God?

There must come a point in your life that you are humbled before God. There must come a point in your life that you realize your lost without God; without the sacrifice that Christ made for you on the Cross at Calvary. You must realize that the pride of yourself, the religious rituals you practice, the prayers you pray, the feel good feelings of going to church on Sunday; these you will die in and possibly pay for that mistake in eternal punishment for that pride. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. Pride is the ticket to hell on which Satan smiles with you as his passenger. Pride will keep you from ever receiving the free gift of grace that is available to the humble heart. Swallow your pride, repent of your sins and plea for forgiveness; and let Christ into your heart as the only way to obtain hope of heaven for eternity. Ask God to daily remove the stumbling block of arrogance that Satan has placed in you from the beginning of time.

 
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Posted by on February 19, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Discipline

17 Oct

Discipline

Hebrews 12:9-10  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

As a parent it pains me when I see my words of discipline move my boys to tears. They are both strong willed like their parents, and many times it takes a strong tone to grab their attention to understanding they are wrong. “Yelling” might be the best term that it elevates to sometimes. Typically I am the one who feels the worst, and an apology and explanation of the discipline are given. That is where the true lessons are learned. I thank God for the early work He did in me on my temper from early in my walk with Him. I would not have wanted to carry that rage the world brings, as a dad, without the peace as a child of God I have now.

We all have heard, and most likely have all felt like God was punishing us at times. We may have known exactly what it was for, as it came on the heels of sin. We may wonder why we are enduring extended correction, and we may have lost what He pressed on us was wrong earlier. Was the sin so deeply hidden, that denial has taken place? Was the sin of the past ever confessed? Was there a plea and acceptance of forgiveness? If God keeps stirring in your heart that sin, take it before God. That conviction of sin is an assurance of Salvation. That inner pain that you feel is a discipline of itself. 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. If you can knowingly sin and not feel the weight of that sin press down on you; you have a much bigger problem of eternal consequence at hand.

We all sin. We all were born into sin as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Yes, you ultimately lie in their genealogy, and as their descendants live in the consequence of their action. God will punish you for your sin as your father for your time here. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” All these corrections are to mold us into the image of His Son, and to draw us near to Him. Just as we discipline our children to show them the err of their ways; and to help them avoid the pain in the future. If you question God’s discipline, go before Him in prayer for clarity, confession, and forgiveness of your sin He brings before you.

 
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Posted by on October 17, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Play your part

16 Oct

Play your part

Mark 13:10 And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

Peter, James, John, and Andrew sat down with Jesus on the Mount of Olives and questioned Him privately about His return, and the signs to know of its coming. Mark in chapter 13 begins to speak about Christ revealing the signs of His return. There will be persecutions, deceptions, waring between nations, earthquakes, and famines. The times will be tough, but it all will be used as a tool to spread the Good News of Christ. The scripture above speaks to the importance of the spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Christ’s last words before He ascended were found in Matthew 28:9 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Missionaries called by God have been living their lives as disciples and going into the remoteness of the earth spreading the Good News to all that will hear. The internet has brought about the gospel in a new age to all those that will hear. The news of Christ is being spread to all nations, and this should be a sign of things to come. I am not a prophet, but surely you too can see the world and the sin in the world that surrounds you. A world far from God that He had created as a Garden of Eden. How much longer will He let Satan tug away with the power of sin? Does He have a target number? 1 Timothy 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

What are you doing today that will let those in your circle of influence know that you are a Christian? Do they see Christ in you by your works? If you live your life as an example of Christ’s saving grace in your life; people are drawn to you. You are different from the self-centered world that surrounds you. Your testimony is your life before Christ; your deliverance from sin through Christ; and your life as the result after Christ. God has prepared your testimony uniquely to help draw another to Him. But you play a part in that roll of God’s work in your daily walk and word. When someone wants to know what, or why; share with them your story. You may have played your part in Christ’s return for the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. You may have put us one step closer with God’s work in that one person of whom you just shared Grace with. You played your part in eternity.

 
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Posted by on October 16, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Yep, we can’t do it ourselves

05 Mar

Much of what I have been watching and listening to recently has dealt with this. The feelings in today’s society of the “deaf ears” to sin. The idea that we are living overall good, overall better through our good deeds, and finding ourselves in Gods favor. There is even the idea out there that all ways lead to God, that Coexist idea. All ideas do not lead to God, and that idea is WRONG. Their is only one way, through Christ, and all others will pay for their mistakes for eternity.

 

Yep, we can’t do it ourselves

 

Romans 3:23   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

I say this in love, or as Adrian Rogers says in anguish, we really are all that bad. We all have, and all will sin every day of our lives. If we awake a day determined to make that day perfect we fail and sin in that beginning thought. There was only One, that could and did achieve that, Christ. We must realize and accept our depravity, for we are born into sin from the great falling away in the Garden of Eden. But if God only accepts perfection, He also provides the Way to become justified in His sight. Justified is a legal term that means declared righteous, or not guilty.

Romans 24-25 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. Through the sacrifice of His perfect Son, the door was opened for us to spend eternity in paradise with Him. We must realize our sin, and the unattaiaibility  of our justification through any good works that simply make us feel better about ourselves. That comfort that you feel when you do your good work to attain Gods favor outside of the acceptance of His Son as the only pathway; that comfort is from Satan. Satan wants you to feel as though you can earn your way into heaven. He places those thoughts inside your head. Once you humble yourself realizing you cannot obtain God’s grace outside Christ through any good deed, you can accept Christ knocking at your door as the only Way. John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. You can’t do it by yourself….you can’t.

 
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Posted by on March 5, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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On a curve or a scale?

30 Jan

A great morning with God. I was actually researching another verse when this verse grabbed me, and I felt God speaking to me here. I know I have, and I think we all do to some degree, get confident about ourselves because we think in some way “well at least I am not doing that.” Then when we were watching the news, and all the mayhem that goes with it, we feel better about ourselves. Satan is instilling those thoughts. We are told that if we break one of The Commandments, we have broken them all. Uh ho,,,,,,,that puts us all in big trouble. I loved Pastor Jack’s story yesterday that culminated in him hearing God speak directly to him about another sins “Jack, that guys sins were just more visible.” Very convicting, and very true for all of us. But continue to press on to growing your relationship with Christ, and don’t let your enemy steal your security and peace that you possess through the Atonement of the Cross.

On a curve or a scale?

Romans 3:23,24     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,

Undeniably you inherently have, and will continue to sin. Romans is the apostle Paul’s pinnacle book, full of deep theology, and even verse 23 goes back to Genesis and the beginning of sin in the garden of Eden. It is so hard for some to realize our depravity, and that we all are sinners by birth, We cannot live thinking that because of our good deeds, or lack of bad deeds, that God judges on a curve.We feel as though we are above the drudgery of society, we will make the scale, for we are not really that bad.

He is a God of perfection, and demands such. Their are no imperfections in heaven, no scale, no “you just made it.” We cannot ever obtain perfection, and realistically would never make His scale if there was one. Only through the washing of Christ’s  blood, the ultimate sacrifice that was given for us, are we justified in attaining paradise for eternity through Christ alone. The free gift that we must humble ourselves to accept as the only Way, grasping our depravity and Romans 5:1 says “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” You can have this too, it is free, and it lasts an eternity.

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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