He Is In The Saving Business

Acts 16:31" And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. God has done all that is needed for man to be saved. Jesus said from the cross "it is finished". Now we must only believe.

The spirit and the bride say come. The word of God says come, make Jesus your choice. Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, knocking let Him in. In our text today the jailer after the quake had open the jail doors, found himself in darkness, thinking the prisoners had escaped he was seeking the light(vs29). He fell at the feet of the apostles and asked what must I do to be saved? There is a dying world out there, trapped in darkness seeking the light of the world, lost and scared, wondering what must they do to be saved. We the redeemed of the Lord must tell them as Paul told the jailer,"believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved." It is not about joining church, or a certain denomination. It is not about what leadership you are under, it is simply about your belief in Christ and Him crucified. You must believe that Christ died on cross, and rose on the third day with all power in His hands, and in faith belief that you died with Him and rose a new creation in Christ.

Today's church has made salvation about everything except what God intended it to be. The only way to salvation is through the belief in the death ,burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The forgiveness of sin is only through His shed blood. There is no other way, so let us live a life before man that will lead lost souls to believe that Jesus Christ is the way. That a lost world might be saved. 

Told Me to Run On

Galatians 5:7 "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth"?
We should always admit and praise that which is good that you may effectually rebuke the evil. Paul did not hesitate to praise  the Galatians and say," ye did run well". It brings great joy to Christians to see others running this race well. We to must run on the right road, straight forward, perseveringly, at the top of our pace, with our eyes on Christ. It is great grief to see the many who are hindered or lead off the road. The way is the truth, and the running is obedience. We are hindered when we cease to obey the truth. It will do us good to check and see who and what has tried to hinder us in our race.

This Christian race is by no means easy. We are hindered in running the race which is set before us, because of our sinful nature still remains in the holiest of us. The entanglements of the world, like heavy or tight fitting clothes, hindering the runners ability to run. Our weakness and infirmities, wear us out, because the race is long and the road can get rough. Some are to busy, they run around to much to run this race well. Some run to fast at the start and are soon out of breath. We have fallen off in the areas of  reading God's word, and family prayer. We have lost God's word in the mist of various other books about the bible that seems to occupy so much of our time, we find no time to read the truth of the bible. Many have read biographies, and commentaries written by religious leaders and famous preachers, but have never read the biography of Jesus Christ, the bible. Many are hindered by the many worldly friends in our lives, none can help us in this race but those who are themselves running it; every one else is a hindrance. When a Christian forms a intimate relationship with a ungodly person, from that moment all progress is at a standstill. See the ungodly person is going in a different direction, so to walk with them you must turn from the direction of God.

 

A man's course in religion may often seem to be right and progressive, but the undercurrent of his besetting sins is driving him contrary to where he is striving to get to.  Let us run on to the end.

Is He Calling For You?

John 11:28 "And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come and calleth for thee".

Do you hear Him? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save us and so that we could have everlasting life with Him. Now He is calling you to accept this free gift of salvation. Calling you out of a life of sorrow, death and despair into a life of peace, Joy, and happiness. Do you hear the call?
 

His call is a personal call, He is calling you by name. He is calling you to Himself," come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" is His call. It is a call to peace, so cast all of your cares upon Him for He cares for you. It is a call to a guilt free conscience as he calls you to a full pardon from sin into a new life with Him. He is calling you through His word, for it is a call of faith and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. He is calling you to confess your sins for He is faithful and just to forgive your sins. He is calling you to repent of your sins that you might experience a new birth, and have a Holy life an abundant life. He is calling you to live an eternal life with Him in a prepared place, prepared just for you. Jesus is calling you, do you hear His call.

He is calling you because He wants to save you soul, He is calling you from your sorrows, from death, calling you out of darkness into His marvelous light. He is speaking to your heart, He is calling you, will you answer the call?

Mercy's Call

Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him".
Let us gather all those we can, and bring them into the house of the Lord; and cry unto the Lord" spare thy people O Lord and "Forgive us for we no not what we do. Let us come together, all the people, and hear what thus saith the Lord; for the Lord says "Turn to me".


This is a voice of mercy, concerned about each one of us. Justice might slay the sinner, but mercy will slay the sin and spare the sinner. Yet the voice of holiness, is opposed to every mans evil way, and offers each person an acceptable life. The Lord Jesus did not come to be a minister of sin ,but a destroyer of sin. Let each of us examine our own selves, for we all have an evil way of our own. God is crying out with mercy, and from his message we first hear we must return. This includes three things; We must stop, stand still, go no further in our evil way. We must turn around, turning from our wicked way to seek Gods face. And we must hurry back, move in the right way and continue on the right path. Seeking the lost was so important to Jesus, that he said he would leave the ninety nine to save the one. So let us heed his call.

There are two things proper to a man that return: first, to go a way clean contrary to the way he went before; secondly to tread out and destroy his former steps. Many think the way to hell is but a little out of the way to heaven, but they would be deceived, sin is more than just a stepping off the path it is total rebellion against God, it is going away from God, so we must turn around, turn from our ways to turn to God's way. Jesus said" I stand at the door and Knock" let us answer his call, let us return to our loving Father like the prodigal son, let us hear his call of mercy.

In Him Is Life

Col. 3:3-"For ye are dead , and your life is hid with Christ in God".

We as believers have been called to be the beloved of God, his elect, who really believe and trust Jesus Christ as our savior. By the grace of God we have been given new life. By surrendering our life to Christ, God has forgiven us our sins, and he now accepts us in Christ death and resurrection. Now thru our faith in the resurrection of Christ, God has blessed us with heavenly blessings which should occupy our every praise and thanksgiving. Christ resurrection shows us that Jesus is in fact the son of the living God. By it we know by faith that we have been raised to a new life, that we are saved and justified, given power to live victoriously over sin and the trials of this world.

We are given hope, even the hope of glory which we have in Jesus Christ. In Him we are guaranteed  resurrection from the death of sin. God takes our faith in Jesus, and counts it as righteousness, our faith in Jesus makes us one with Christ, giving us union with him. When Jesus died and rose again, we too by faith, died and rose a new creature in Christ. Having a new life with a new heart, a new character, walk toward new aims from a new direction, and walking after new leaders. A heart ruled by the peace of Jesus Christ, a peace that passes all understanding. A peace which binds us, joins us, and weaves us together, that we are assured , confident, and secured in the love and care of God. This peace strengthens, encourages, guides, sustains, delivers, saves, provides, and gives us real life, a new life in Christ. This peace makes us one with Christ and his word. This new heart is rich with the word of Christ.

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ taking root in our heart to furnish us with all the wealth of its promises, commandments, instructions and warnings that we might have real love one to another, as we now do everything in the name of Jesus.  We have died to everything else, and now we live a life hid with Christ in God, so let us live our life in Christ;, for in Him is life.

Elevated Through A Humble Heart

Proverbs 25:6-7 "Put not forth thyself in the presence of the King, and stand not in the place of great men: For better it is that it be said unto thee,come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen".

One of the most difficult things for us to do is to acknowledge our pride and choose to step into the path of humility. This can even be painful at first, with the first step being the hardest(admitting your pride.) But what comes after is a sense of peace and feeling the "high road" of a humble heart.

Humility lifts us out of the pit of our selfishness and places us on a higher plane of love, empathy, patience, and trust in God.In these ways, once we step down from our competitive, foolish self-exaltation, we actually step up to a place of wonderful contentment, knowing that God has our path mapped out, and if we are to be exalted, it will be at the right time in the right way, with none being trampled in the process. God will not elevate you on the back of another brother or sister in Christ. In order to take that first step down, we need to be able to see and acknowledge where we have been exalting ourselves. That may be something we are already aware of because God has been speaking to our conscience about it already, or it may be we are blind to and need God to show us. Either way, once we see the problem, we can begin to take action. We might have to wrestle with our pride, we might have to swallow some thing we don't like. we might even resent letting others get ahead of us, or hate losing the perks and special privileges that certain statue affords us. But once we put our feet to the path of humility we are on our way to the peace that only can come from God doing the exalting.

Contrary to what many think it is easy to fall into a prideful state. So we must always esteem other higher than ourselves.Seeking to walk in a life of humility is a daily battle, but remember God doesn't like the proud.  

The Light Of Love

1John 2:10 "he that loveth his brother lives in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him."
Walking in Darkness is a choice, as you cannot  simultaneously remain in darkness and walk in the light. To hate our brother we are not only walking in darkness, we are also abiding in death. Your brother is not limited to your prayer partner, members of your fellowship, your culture or your class, they are not just those you like and agree with you. The brethren are the universal body of believers who profess the name of Christ. Believers from every tribe, nation, kindred, and people. Jesus said "for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same is my brother.

To Love is a commandment not an option." on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," That we love God with all our heart, soul , and mind; and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. How can you profess to love God and hate one that he shed his blood to save. It hurts God when we hate one another, so how can you love him and yet continue to hurt him. The love of God will keep us from those things that leads us to hate our brother; every command pertaining unto God and his people will be fulfilled in the lives of believers who walk in his love, those who live in his light.
Love is light, walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. Love provides traction for our footing so that we do not stumble nor become a stumbling block to our brother's faith. We should have the kind of love for others that Christ had for us, we must be willing to lay down our life so that our weaker brother or sister can continue this journey without tripping over us. God's love is the light which lights our path along this journey, that we don't stray off the narrow road. So let us walk in the light, walk in God's love..