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Race For A Crown That Lasts Forever

20 Apr

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 – 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Here’s the broken record.  You aren’t taking anything with you from here.  What you do here for your wonderful Lord is how you get rewarded there.  It’s hinted at in the New Testament numerous times.  The model on earth is somewhat the same so we can understand it.  The guy that works his tail off for the man in charge usually gets rewarded for it handsomely.  However it’s temporary.  The guy in charge you’re working for isn’t in charge of the universe, nor do they have the capability to love you 1/10,000 of what God can.

Working for God has nothing to do with salvation, that’s a free gift if you accept it.  Rewards are for working for your Lord.  Good works is not a bad word unless you believe it is how you get into Heaven.  If nobody worked toward the Lord on this earth the Gospel would not be preached.

Do you believe faith is good?  Then we need to have faith and die to ourselves and live more for Him.  I don’t lie bucket lists.  I feel like they are a game of beat the clock before you die.  There isn’t one thing on that list that will compare to Heaven if it has to do with self accomplishment.  If it has to do with making things right with the Lord, then by all means work on it today.

We have such a marvelous Lord that we are going to be face to face with so soon.  He has prepared a stunningly wonderful place for each and every one of us.  God wants to reward you.  Give Him the best reason you can by showing your love for Him and obeying Him.

 
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A Husband And Wife Need To Work Together

19 Apr

First before I go any further, the Lord gave me these scriptures to write on.  My wife and I in our twenty years I believe have really embraced what I’m writing on.  It’s one of the reasons I feel I have some good things to share.  Also I know that the world and the church as a whole struggles with this today.  I believe almost a hundred percent of marriages must address this at one point, especially when the world really contradicts the Word of God says in this area.     

 1 Corinthians 7:1-6 – 1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command.

Verse one.  Is Paul stating he’s against marriage?  No.

What he is saying is that if you can stay single it will allow you to dedicate more time to the Lord if you’re living to serve Him.

Paul knew the reality though.  He’s letting all of us know, if you can’t be single without constantly having to fulfill those needs that should be in marriage, by all means marry.  There is too much immorality that will take place if you don’t.

That’s what leads into the next portion of scripture.  Selfish people argue their body is just their own.  As a Christian that philosophy fails twice.  First Christ paid the penalty of sin and you were bought with a price.  We are supposed to be now His.  Second, you made a commitment in marriage that the two flesh will become one.  That’s in all areas.  As spouses we are to work together and help each other out.  When we don’t die to our selfish nature and do that, Satan gets a foothold. 

Women, we have an epidemic of half the marriages failing for many different reasons, but we can’t be taking the position that my body is my own.  Men, quit being selfish.  We might only have a few needs, but we need to die to ourselves so we are meeting the needs our wives. 

When we shut down and say, “Fine, if they won’t help me here then I’m not helping them there,” we give the devil a foothold in our marriage.

We need to be servants especially to each other.  It was the second biggest example Christ gave us in His first time down here.  First was that we should love the Father with all our heart, soul, and mind.

Selfish leads to selfish.  Selfish leads to sin.   Christian ladies, don’t fall in the trap that the world sets that your body is your own.  In abortion they use that argument to murder unborn children.  Do you believe God went to the trouble of creating a life so the woman can make the decision on rather to end it?

Men and Women both have needs and the needs are real.  Both must communicate and meet those needs.  Then Satan has one less very important area to attack you in.

 
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Time To Wake From Our Slumber

18 Apr

Romans 13:11-14 – 11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

This advice is so important to almost all of us who are not in the full time ministry.  This world and the time we live in screams, serve yourself, get what’s yours, do what you want to do, the world is at your fingertips.

This is when we get into those slumbers.  We forget God, let alone serving God. 

The night is nearly over and the day is almost here.  We are one day closer to leaving this world and then standing in front of the Lord.  Accountability will soon become a reality.

Today is a new day.  It may be 11:48PM, but the Lord wants us to seek and work for Him.  The time for each one of us is drawing to a close on this earth.  That’s the truth no matter how you break it down.

Grace is to have our sins forgiven, not to use as an excuse to knowingly keep on sinning without trying to become more of what God wants us to be.

It’s about your heart.  Where’s it at.  What’s scary and too bad is the reality will step in when one knows the chapter in this life on earth is over.  They’ll know in their spirit that it was then temporary.  Seek today your loving Lord.  Make yourself available and get in the Word so you have it to share with others.

 
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Those Who Seek; Those That Don’t

17 Apr

Psalm 9:10 – 10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 10:4 – 4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Those who seek and those who don’t.

People who don’t seek the Lord most of the time don’t know why.  If they are honest they will tell you they just have no need for Him.  They have got it under control right now.  Maybe they will when they need crutch.  They don’t understand that their attitudes and actions are built on pride.  They may not look at it that way, but the Lord didn’t create us to live without Him.  Rather they know it or not, that is rejection of the Lord.  It also keeps them from understanding they have fell away and they need the free gift of salvation.

On the flip side, those who trust in the Lord are never forsaken.  They might not always understand right away the results of a temporary time, but down the road God usually reveals it to them while still on this earth.  Trust in the Lord.  He is the center of the whole universe, as He has made it all.  Pretty important Person, huh.  One more thing, He loves each and every one of us and wants us to seek Him.  The God who made the whole universe loves us more than we can love ourselves, even though there are Billions of us.  He is all powerful and certainly worthy of our praise.

 
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Wide Is The Gate And Broad Is The Road

16 Apr

Matthew 7:13-14 –13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

The key words above when gauging if the percentage is good or bad is “many and few.”  Clearly more people enter into the wide great and take the broad road.

So if the Word of God is correct and I believe it is, then more people find Hell that have lived on this earth than Heaven.

Why is that?  The Lord doesn’t want any to perish.

1 Timothy 2:3-4- 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9-  9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

If the Lord doesn’t want any to perish, then we can now figure it has something to do with our stubborn free will.  The gift of eternal life is free for all to CHOOSE.  It requires one to realize he is a haywire, fallen creature that has strayed from God.  At that time they need to ask for forgiveness and repent.

The Lord God is the Judge of all and I know will judge fairly.  You always hear from those looking to reject the message of Jesus because many will never have heard His name.  Just as children come to the age of accountability the Lord also knows rather a heart that never received the gospel was asking for forgiveness and wanted to repent.

However today, most of the world does get a chance to hear about Jesus.  They are certainly hearing about something and the something else’s are usually a far cry from the gospel and seeking forgiveness.

Today in America all adults have had the gospel available to them and “many” have chosen not to take the narrow path.  The key words are have CHOSEN or CHOOSE.

The gate is wide and the road is broad because many choose not to accept the free gift and repent.  They choose to walk on the broad road.  That’s a common road because unless a strong saved family influences someone while they are being raised, we all have to get off that path and CHOOSE to walk the one that the Lord wants us to.  That requires dying to one’s selfish own destiny.

 
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Worship Him All You Gods!

13 Apr

Psalm 97:7 – 7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast in idols—
worship him, all you gods!

Now I don’t know about you but I remember the first time I read this and thought, that’s interesting.

However, like most of the Bible, we read it and over our lifetime you begin to study and things that you didn’t first understand take on more meaning.

I was familiar with the following verse before I even read the Bible all the way through.

Isaiah 45:5 – 5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.

So when I came across this is Psalms, I thought it was an interesting phrase.

Then as we begin to look at the other religions of the world, we see something quite common in many of them.  Hinduism teaches that everything is god and they are gods themselves.  This would both speak of the idols and all you gods.  The New Age teaches that we are all gods and you just have to get to that higher consciousness.  The Mormon religion teaches that god was once a man, and that as man they can become god.  However, that doesn’t jive with Isaiah above.

Who was the first one to convince man he could be like God?

Genesis 3:1-5 –  1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Was the devil telling the truth?  God banishes man from the garden and the Tree of Life and he is now gone from perfect into sin.  Two plus two tells me that any religion that believes you can become God is basing their whole life on the fact the devil was telling the truth.

Psalm 97:7 is calling out and mocking those who dare to call themselves god.  We are the creation, not the creator.  There is only One of Him.  Don’t let the devil still your eternity on something you want relate to because it seems good to you or fits what you want.  Humbly seek God and serve Him for the rest of eternity.

 
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If You Were Doing Something Wrong, Would You Want To Know?

12 Apr

How do you think most people in America would answer that question?  Let’s look at that before we actually even tackle that question on ourselves.

We live in a time that everyone is supposed to respect everyone else’s beliefs.  We are to take the position that there is no right and no wrong, just different feelings about different issues.

Over time that gets people into believing that their thinking isn’t wrong it’s just theirs.

Is that correct?  Is that realistic?

There are many issues that one tends to think about and there is usually a right and a wrong.  In using mathematics there is a right answer and a lot of wrong answers.  So what makes something right and wrong outside of that?

The rule book does.

If you’re playing baseball, the game is run by the rules.  There may be judgment calls such as balls, strikes, and outs, but overall the game has to be played by the foundation of the rules and when it’s not, it’s a disaster.

So who makes the most important rule book and what are the rules?

Ah, the most important question to conquer in considering ones soul and eternity.

The God who created everything we know of and even things around us that we are not even aware of is the rule maker.  He is in charge and nothing else is going to matter come crunch time.

Now back to the original question.  Do you think most people would want to hear that they are doing something wrong?  I have to answer with a big NO. 

It’s natural for all of us out of our pride to not want to hear that we are wrong.  So what can change that?

A heart of someone that actually cares more about what God wants rather than what they want.  It matters enough to an individual that he doesn’t just take the word of another person for granted, but wants to make sure that God is saying it.  If God is in fact saying it then that person is happy, because he now is doing one more thing correctly that matters to God.

Proverbs 1:7 –  7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Psalm 112:1 –  1 Praise the LORD. 
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

Psalm 1:2 – 1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

I am at a point in my life that if I’m wrong, because it’s wrong against God’s Word, I want to know about it.  That didn’t come naturally.  Those who know me know I have a hard stubborn head.  I still do, except that I have tried to channel that into being correct on what God feels is right and wrong.  I want God to work through me so I can try to love others with His truths and not just come off as a self righteous uncaring individual.  We have all seen many of those around.

We need to pray that God is always revealing our shortcomings, so we can continue to get closer to Him and allow Him to help us reach others for Him.

If this read a little more butchered in the English language than normal I apologize.  I was having a hard time relaying my thoughts into sensible English.  God Bless.

 
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Does Wisdom Not Call Out?

11 Apr

Proverbs 8:1-11 – 1 Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 On the heights along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3 beside the gates leading into the city,
at the entrances, she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O men, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.
5 You who are simple, gain prudence;
you who are foolish, gain understanding.
6 Listen, for I have worthy things to say;
I open my lips to speak what is right.
7 My mouth speaks what is true,
for my lips detest wickedness.
8 All the words of my mouth are just;
none of them is crooked or perverse.
9 To the discerning all of them are right;
they are faultless to those who have knowledge.
10 Choose my instruction instead of silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Wisdom from God and wisdom of the world are definitely at two ends of the spectrum.

The world tries to convince you to chase after it.  To keep your eyes on a temporary prize.

Wisdom from God says keep your eyes on the prize, and that is God Himself.  Your Lord wants to reward you if you choose correctly.  However choosing to be self minded or double minded and not making Him Lord is not choosing correctly.

 
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Today If You Hear His Voice Do Not Harden Your Hearts

09 Apr

Hebrews 4:7 – 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

If He tells us to go and do something and we don’t, we’re in disobedience.  If were told not to do something and we do, we’re in disobedience.

The Lord wants obedient children and followers.

The more obedient we are the happier it makes our Lord.

1 John 2:3-6 –  3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

This is a pretty tough act to follow for a bunch of sinners.  However, this is our goal.  The only way we can remotely walk the way the Lord did is to die to ourselves and seek to obey His Word.

When Christ came He was not a selfish indulgent individual.  On the contrary, He was a self-sacrificing loving and caring individual.  This is our example.

When we hear His voice, we need to open our hearts.

 
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What’s Your Fruit?

06 Apr

Luke 6:43-45 – 43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Let’s each be honest with ourselves.  What is each of our fruit?

Are we trying to be fruitful or are we just not trying to be a thorn?

I have no doubt that each and every one of us is to try and do his best to bear fruit.  Can we bear fruit on our own?  No.

John 15:1-8 – 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

To bear fruit we have to be in obedience to the Lord.  To be in obedience to the Lord we need to deny ourselves.

When we standing in front of the Lord not one thing that keeps us from bearing good fruit will matter, except we’ll realize what a bad idea those things were.

 
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