Are You A Fan Or A Follower of Christ. Christ said that if any man would be his disciple he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow him. Christ’s isn’t interested in fans or being popular. He isn’t impressed with clicking “like” on a Facebook page or honking your car horn if you “Love Jesus”. Christ is saving souls to be submissive servants, willing worshipers, concerned for the church and crazy about the Kingdom as they watch for his return.
Category Archives: Simple Thoughts
Your Salvation Comes at a Cost You Cannot Pay.
There is no promise or service we can offer God that will be accepted by him or provoke his favor or forgiveness toward us. God’s forgiveness is his favor toward us. Service to God is not something we can barter for favor, it is an expression of faith because we’ve already received his forgiveness. There is no promise we can make that could attempt to be equal with the promise of eternal through Christ Jesus. Now we can focus our efforts on our relationship with him instead of believing we can impress him. THIS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
Purity, it’s more than you thought.
Abiding Faith: Purity – an attribute for which we receive great reward, but that comes at a cost. Purity comes at the expense of rejecting the immorality and impurity the world pushes at us through books, magazines, and television. It comes at the expense of guarding our eyes against pornography and guarding our hearts and minds against lust. It comes at the expense of removing ourselves from the immoral company and not pursuing entertainment that tempts and seduces us. But the reward for purity is an imperishable – eternal – incorruptible crown from the Lord. It’s greater than anything we may miss having or doing down here. Heaven, a pure place for people purified by the blood of Jesus. Lord, “… create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me …”!
Junk in – Junk out Righteous in – Righteous out
ABIDING FAITH: Your eyes & ears are the gateway to your mind which feeds your heart. The quality of what you let in determines the quality of your thoughts, motives, & action. Let it in, process it, project it. (Junk in – Junk out Righteous in – Righteous out) Don’t be fooled, what you feed the eyes and ears will ultimately come out of you. The best defense is to filter everything through the Word of God, prayer, & the Holy Spirit. Then you can accept the good & reject everything else.
God’s Love is Higher than Man’s Love.
Abiding Faith: God loves us on his level not man’s level. Man’s level of love can (and often is) subject to personal feelings and circumstances. God’s level of love is based on his holy, righteous, and eternal being. God’s love does not change or fail. Man’s love ends when a man gets tired of loving or when death comes. God’s love defeats all challenges problems and goes beyond the barriers of death. Today God’s love holds up the hope of Salvation through Christ Jesus. If you confess that you are a sinner, repent of your sins and surrender to Christ as Savior and Lord, you can know God’s love for yourself. If you desire to be born-again – contact me or any of the believers on my FB page. Any of us would be honored explain God’s plan of Salvation to you.
Believing In Christ Means Living to be Pleasing to Christ.
Abiding Faith: Living to please self and other people only leads to displeasing God. If you have to ignore and/or disobey God to have friends, be successful, live the “good” life, etc, then you are worshiping and serving the creation instead of the creator. When you love God you’ll be attracted and drawn to the things that please him AND you will want to reject the things that displease him
Romans 1:21 – 25: 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things,[n] and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Though claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 For this reason, God delivered them to sexual impurity as they followed the lusts[o] of their hearts and dishonored their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged God’s truth for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
The solution simply stated is repent. The power behind the solution is to draw near to God and he will draw near to you. The practical application to the solution is to lay aside the things that weigh you down and the sin that gets us off course and run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto the Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith.
The choice is yours. The final determination is God’s.
Salvation is about more than a worldly make-over.
Abiding Faith: Why should a person be saved/born-again/become a Christian? To be a better person and live a moral life? To show compassion for the poor or to improve the dismal state of our communities? To have all your problems solved and your needs met? No. The reason to believe God, believe in God, and accept His Salvation is simply this – God is righteous and man is a sinner; Man will spend eternity in hell because of his sin and he cannot escape Hell by his own force of will or determination; Christ paid the price for mankind’s sin by his death, and by his he resurrection offers us eternal life and fellowship with him in Heaven. Don’t sell the Gospel of Jesus Christ short. Don’t try to add artificial value or appeal to Salvation, and don’t go beyond what the Bible says by taking it out of context. The promises of God are sure, they need no sensationalism or artificially added value. Jesus Christ is sufficient. The impact of Salvation on your life will be performed by God’s will and power. Believe because God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The Biblical Gospel is Sufficient As It Is.
Abiding Faith: Jesus doesn’t need to be “jazzed up” for people to believe in him, and Salvation doesn’t need “added value” for people to be saved. This attitude only brings personal doubts at best, and false professors at worse. Christ gave us the key to reaching men and women for the Kingdom. He said, “go”. He told Paul that his Grace is sufficient. He told his disciples and us to let our lights shine so that men would see our good works and glorify our Heavenly Father. If we stick to God’s plan He will make the difference in peoples lives. What is his plan? He said that if He was lifted up from the earth He would draw all men to himself. He said no man can come to the Father except through Him. He said you must be born again. Repent and believe and you shall be saved. We must say the same.
True Worship Requires Cleans Hands and a Clean Heart
Your walk with God will always be more difficult when you insist on making provision for the satisfying your flesh. Sinful motives of the heart and mind as just as destructive as the sins of the hands and mouth. You wouldn’t want a surgeon to wear gloves covering all but one unwashed finger. You would want a chef to cook your meal in an unwashed pot. You shouldn’t want to knowingly/willingly leave sin/sinful ways unchecked in your life. “Evil communications corrupt good manners”. “Lay aside the weight and the sin that can so easily cause our Christian walk to slow us down or get off track.” If you’re in it to win it then let God’s righteousness counsel you on what you need to put out of your life. Better to lose an eye and go to Heaven than to walk into Hell with two good eyes.
Abiding Faith Trusts God.
Abiding Faith: “Lord today I choose to be faithful. Today I choose your righteousness. Lord, today, inspite of the process you choose to use, I choose to submit to your process. I know, just like going to the dentist’s office – “this may sting a little”. But Lord, I know I’m in the best hands – your hands. Your will be done. Thank you for loving me. I love you Lord. Amen