Ill-Gotten Profit , Profits No One!

When you listen to the news or read in the paper, how many time have you said "I can't believe that". What I'm talking about is all the frivolous lawsuits that happen in our country everyday. Is it me or is our country just going to the court systems? We wonder why things are getting so bad with our court systems and stand by while these schemers are suing people into poverty. This doesn't happen just once in a while, this is everyday life.

Today I heard on the news where this girl was kissing her friend on the school campus and the school informed her parents. So she gets an attorney and tells how she was humiliated and is suing the school for over a million dollars. She was doing what she wasn't suppose to be doing and got caught, so now the tax payers are going to have to pay. What's with that? The sad thing is that the courts are favoring on the side of the complainant and awarding outrages settlements.

What has become of us? Where are we learning this? We watch television and we see other people winning these large settlements and we say to ourselves, "Why not me"?
This is one reason our insurance rates are so high in our country. Some of our doctors have left the general practice because of the high malpractice insurance. I'm sure that there are some legitimate cases of malpractice, but many are trying to get rich quick.You have the woman who spilled her coffee on herself and it burned so she sued McDonald's for serving her hot coffee. I thought coffee was suppose to be hot.You have the burglar who broke into the store owners business and gets hurt in the process and sues the owner for not protecting him.
It just never ends. But what does God say about ill-legal gain?

There is nothing wrong with money in and of itself, but the love of money brings much trouble into a persons life.
1Timothy;6:10
(For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.)
Having financial wealth is not a sin, but being greedy for more has caused people to fall into various sins. God may have blessed us with a lot of money and He wants us to use it wisely. We are to be content with what God has given us, but that isn't always the case. It seems like we just want more and more and are never satisfied.

So we have the desire to acquire more wealth and get ourselves into much grief. When our focus is on money, then it isn't on God.
Luke;16:13
("No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.")
God tells us over and over that He will not take second place in our lives. He is to be the focus of our worship and nothing else. We are or keep our minds on God and heaven, not on earthly wealth.

When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and ask what more he could do to have eternal life, Jesus told him to sell all of his earthly goods and give to the poor. Now this made the rich ruler sad because he had much wealth. We cannot buy our way into heaven, no matter how much money that we have.
Matthew;19:23
(Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.)
Now this really troubled the disciples, so they ask Jesus who could be saved? Jesus had destroyed the notion that anyone could merit enough divine favor to enter heaven on their own. So Jesus told the disciples how they could get into heaven.
Matthew;19:26
(But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.")
Salvation is only through Jesus Christ. There is no other way into heaven.

God does not bless ill-gotten gains.
Proverbs;1:18-19
(But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors.)
Proverbs;10:2
(Ill-gotten gains do not profit, But righteousness delivers from death.)
Proverbs;23:4-5
(Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.)
We are told that all wealth is temporary. What will really count is the treasures that we store up in heaven.
Matthew;16:26
("For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?")

There is nothing wrong with having money as long as we don't serve money or worship money. We all need money to live, but we need to get that money properly by working. When you sue someone falsely to gain money from that person or business, it will come to no good. Make your money honestly, don't scam other people.
Profit made illegally, profits no one!

God Bless You!

Are You Having It Your Way?

This seems to be the American way anymore. We see it in all of the TV commercials. We are told that if we don't like the way our life is going that we can just change it by what ever method we choose. If our marriage is not going the way we thought it would go, rather than find out why it's not going the way it is supposed to, we can just divorce our mate and get another one. This will solve everything. At least that is what we are told. If your weight is out of control, try this or that and we will lose all the extra pounds. If your life isn't going good then you can drink your troubles away, tomorrow will be better.

No where does it tells us to find out why everything is as bad as it is. All they do is tell us they have the answer to all of our woes. The sad thing is that most of our society believes what they hear and go after false dreams. If we really want to know what is wrong with our life, then we need to look into a mirror and we will see our biggest problem. Now we don't like to admit this, but we are usually the problem. We want everything our way and that's all there is to it.

When we don't get our way, we get angry, we say things we shouldn't, we fight, the list goes on. Why do we do this? For one thing, we are arrogant and no one knows better or more than we do.
Proverbs;18:1-2
(He who separates himself seeks his own desire, He quarrels against all sound wisdom. A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.)
This sure does hit home with all of us at some time or another in our life. We are all guilty of this if we are honest with ourselves.
2Timothy;2:23
(But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.)
How many times have we thought we were right and argued over it only to find out we were wrong. The book of James also deals with this problem.
James;4:1
(Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?)
Here James is talking about fights that develop between church members. Discord in the church is not the way God designed it to be. God wants us to love each other just like He loved us.
John;13:34-35
("A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.")
These fights result from one person wanting it his way and the other person wanting it his way. You can only have one answer, and that is to please God. He commands us to love each other not fight.

We are to be of one Spirit.
Philippians;1:27
(Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel)
Philippians;2:1-2
(Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.)
Unfortunately that isn't how a lot of our churches operate. Once again we want it our way.

Wanting it our way can ruin churches, families, and our friendships. We need to have the other person's best interest in mind and not always what we want. What would please God? That is the question we need to ask before we start wanting it our way. Our way, if it conflicts with God's way, it's always the wrong way.

God Bless You!

We Are Lost Until Found!

I was reading the story of the couple and their children who were lost in the Oregon wilderness and how the dad left the family to go for help. They found the dad James Kim dead in the canyons four days after he had left to go for help. They say your best chance of survival is to stay with your vehicle. Unfortunately for this family the dad left the vehicle searching for help, and while he was running around in the wilderness, help came for them. This is a sad story of a family who was lost and now is found, only without their dad. The dad had given his life for his family searching for help.

We were lost in our sins without any hope until our heavenly Father sent His Son Jesus to save the lost. He left His home in heaven and came down to earth to save His family. We are of God's family if we have been born again. If we haven't been born again into God's family we are still lost and without hope of eternal life. What a loving Father we have who would give up His Son to save us. Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins by dying in our place.

[JESUS CAME TO SAVE THE LOST]
Matthew;1:21
(And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.)
Matthew;1:10
(For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.)
God tell us that if a shepherd loses one sheep, that he will leave the rest where they are and search for the one who is lost. We are those sheep, and Jesus came to search for us and bring us to salvation in Him. God doesn't want any of us to have spiritual separation from Him. He knows our fate if we don't accept the free gift of life which is in His Son Jesus.
Matthew;1:14
(Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.)
If we are a child of God's family, then we will never perish.

[GOD'S FAMILY]
How do we become a part of God's family?. When we are saved , we become children of God.
1John;3:1-2
(Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us , that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.)
How do we know the children of God?
1John;3:7
(Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.)
1John;3:8
(He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Man was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.)
This phrase means the person who habitually practices sin. We are all sinners and we have the sin nature in us and we will always have to fight to not sin. With God's help we will continue to sin less as we mature as Christians. It would be great if when we were saved we never sinned again, but that isn't the way it is. That is why God tells us to put on the whole armor of God so that we can be able to resist. The good thing is that our sins have been forgiven and we need to do our best not to sin.

So we see that we have a loving Father who is God, and He has given us hope, and this hope is in His Son Jesus. All we have to do is call out to Him to save us and He will. You may not think that you are lost, but if you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and given your life to Him, then you are lost and in danger of spending eternity in hell. Anyone who is lost wants to be saved. We were all lost at one point in our life. If you want to be saved, then ask Jesus to save you.
Romans;10:13
(For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.")
It's very simple, we can't save ourselves, so Jesus paid the price by giving His life to save our life. What a loving and caring Savior we have in Jesus Christ our Lord.

God Bless You!

Lust! Of The Flesh And Eyes!

Pornography, we see it everywhere we turn. Some of it is camouflaged in brown wrappers in stores so the young people don't look at it. Some is in movies, but probably the most accessible place would be our Internet. We as men are probably the worst offenders at checking these sites out. I doubt that any man can say that he hasn't at sometime in his life looked at a Playboy or Hustler magazine. Why do we look at this?

It is because of the lust of the flesh. We are told many places in God's Word about lust and what it does to us. We are told not to lust after women for this is sin. This is the hard one for men, and that is why God gives us so many Scriptures that address this issue. God knows us better than we know ourselves and He tells us not to do it. We might say "what does it hurt"? When we keep looking then we start fantasizing, then it develops into action. Natural progression of sin.
We see, we like, we want, next thing we know, we are in sin. We all know that sin leads to death.

So where does this lust come from?
1John;2:16-17
(For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of the world. The world is passing away, also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.)
So we see that lust is worldly, and we are told not to love the things of the world. We men have the choice to look away when lust presents itself, or take the second look and have temptation set in and then thoughts get into our head that don't belong there. God tell us that if we lust after a woman, we have committed adultery with her already. Adultery is sin and there is no way of getting around it.

We need to guard our heart, and one way of doing this is to be in the Word of God. God knows our weaknesses and so does Satan. Satan will tempt you in your most vulnerable spot. With men this is one of our vulnerable spots if not our most venerable area. There is grave consequences for this sin. We are deliberately disobeying a commandment of God, and we will pay for this sin. Look at some of the things that can happen. You can ruin a family, catch a disease, you can get this person pregnant. There is always the chance that this person will have an abortion. One sin can lead to many sins, by many people.

We are told to take control of our desires, and with God's help, we can.
1Peter;2:11
(Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust which wage war against the soul.)
1Corinthians;6:18
(Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.)
We have warning after warning from the Scriptures, so we must take heed and obey.
2Timothy;2:22
(Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith,love and peace, with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.)

So we need to live our life to please our Lord and Savior. He has given us the natural desire and that desire needs to be confined within our marriage. The next time we are confronted with the temptation of lust, look to our Lord and Savior for strength to look away. It is easier to look away than to succumb and have to deal with the consequences of sin.
2Peter2:9
(then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.)
All we have to do is keep our eyes focused on Jesus. The minute we think we can do it on our own, we have set ourselves up for failure.

I pray this gives everyone of us something to think about the next time we are tempted. There will always be a next time as long as we remain on the earth. Let's remain in the word and stay true to God.

God Bless You!

How Can I Know For Sure?

How do we know for sure? We have all heard someone ask this and I am sure that we probably all have said or felt this same way about our salvation. The Scripture tells us how we can know for certain that we are saved. There are many places that tell us that "you may know" you are saved. I will try to present some of these passages so that you may know that you are saved. God knows our heart better than we know our heart. We might be able to convince others and possibly ourselves, but God knows. Confess, Believe, and have Faith!

Repent-to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to God.
Believe-to have a firm religious faith, to have a firm conviction as to the reality or goodness of something, to take as true and honest.
Faith-belief and trust in and loyalty to God.

[REPENTING]
We'll start with repenting of our sins. This is a necessary step in our salvation.
Ezekiel;18:32
("For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord God. "Therefore repent and live.")
Matthew;4:17
(From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand".)
Mark;1:14-15
(Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.")
Repentance and Faith are required of man.

[BELIEVE]
After you have repented, you have to believe in God that He exists and He will do what He says He will do. He says He will save you.
John;1:12
(But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.)
John;3:15-16
(so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.)
John;8:23-24
(And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.")
Acts;16:31
(They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household".)
These are just a few of the passages that tell us that we have to believe.

[FAITH]
We are told that after we are saved, we will live our life by faith in Jesus Christ. God has promised us eternal life in Jesus Christ, and we live by faith that He will keep His promise. It is impossible for God to lie, so we believe in Him.
Romans;1:16-17
(For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH")
1Peter;1:6-9
(In this you greatly rejoice, even though for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.)
Ephesians;2:8
(For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;)

So the only way I know for a person to be sure they are saved is to believe the Word of God and have faith in Him. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are given the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in you. He will teach you the truth in the Scriptures and He is also a guarantee of our inheritance in heaven.
Ephesians;1:13-14
(In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.)
There are so many Scriptures that help you believe in your salvation. If you come to God and ask Him to save you, He Will! I can only tell you what the Word of God says. If you are still in question about your salvation, listen to this passage and believe.

[KNOWING]
Romans;10:8-10
(But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart"-that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.)

If you have done this, then you have to believe and have faith that you are saved!

God Bless You!

Honor Your Father And Mother! Don't Exasperate Your Children!

Honor Dad and Mom! Why do we need to do this? Probably because God has told us to honor our father and mother. The next question is how do we do this? You can start by obeying them, loving them, being understanding of them when you don't agree with what they are doing or saying, being willing to forgive them when they are wrong, showing them respect as your senior, the list could go on for a long time, but you get the picture.

We as parents are not always right when we want something done or corrected, but one thing is for sure. We have our child's best interest at heart. Most parents would give their life for their children. They sacrifice a lot while their children are with them, because they want their children to have more than they did as a child. You as the children may not always see eye to eye with your parents. I know that I didn't, but we are still to show them respect.

Your parents are probably not going to live as long as you do. How you treat them now will come back to you after they are gone. All you have to do is listen to people who have lost their parents. Almost all of them wish they had treated them better. I know I do! But when they are gone, it's too late to let them know how much they meant to you. God doesn't want us to live with this guilt, so that is why He tells us to honor them. How many times have we said "if I could just go back and do it over"? Well unfortunately, we cannot reverse time. We need to always know that God has our best interest in mind when He tells us what He expects from us.

To start with, we look at one of the Ten Commandments.
Exodus;20:12
(Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.)
When the children were to enter The Promise Land, God gave them this law that they were to abide by. If you broke this law, severe consequences would result which could include a child being executed. You might say that this is to severe, but who are we to question God? Moses again had to remind the people of this commandment in the Book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy;5:16
(Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.)
So we see that the people had need to review the Laws.
I personally feel that we have the problems in our society that we do because respect for our parents has not been instilled in our children. They have grown up without being disciplined for wrongs they have committed. We are a product of our own doing. Society will not let parents discipline their children for fear of child abuse. Child abuse is a sad fact of our society and those children do need to be protected. However, when we stop all discipline unilaterally, we as a society have put ourselves in grave danger of total moral collapse. If you don't believe me, just look around at what has happened since we stopped all discipline, not only in our homes, but our schools as well.

God also has given us a promise if we honor our parents.
Ephesians;6:1-3
(Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth".)
Hopefully by obeying our parents, they will give us good advice on how to live. If we live our life as God wants us too, He promises that we will live long upon the earth. This is God's plan for our life, but we must obey. When we don't obey, then we deal with the consequences of disobedience. These are not ever good.

As parents, God tells us not to exasperate or provoke our children.
This is a quote from John MacArthur "The apostle makes it clear that a Christian father's authority over his children does not allow for unreasonable demands and strictures that might drive his children to anger, despair, and resentment.
They still need to have a childhood and grow into the adult world. They are never an adult at ten years old or fifteen years old, no matter what they think. Yes they are maturing, but at the pace God has planned for children to mature. So we have a give and take with our children. God expects us to discipline them for their own good They are to honor their parents for their own good. We are to let them mature at the pace God has planned. We are not to push them beyond what they are able to handle for the good of their self esteem.

I'm not a child therapist, but from what I read in God's Word, I know that He knows what is best for our children, as well as for us. We need to pray for our children and ourselves that we will be obedient to the commandments of our God.

God Bless You!

Learn When To Wait, And When To Act!

Aren't you glad when God has told you to wait that you were willing to listen? How often we just jump to conclusion only to find out that we were wrong. When God tells us to wait, He knows what is best and wants to protect us from harm.

Most of us, me included, hate to wait on anything. We want it now if not sooner. Many times in the Scriptures, God has told us to wait until He says the time is right. He knows that it isn't easy for us to wait. How many times have we been in a line at the store and moved to a shorter line only to have the line we were in go through faster? I know I have and I'm sure you have too. So patience is something that we have to learn.

In the book of Psalm, we are told to wait on the Lord.
Psalm;27:14
(Wait on the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.)
No matter how bad our situation, we need to wait on the Lord. If we have been falsely accused, God will reveal the truth. It might not be when we want it, but He will bring out the truth in all circumstances. If something bad has been done to us, we are to let God handle it in His time.
Proverbs;20;22
(Do not say, "I will repay evil"; Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.)

Wait for the promise form God.
Acts;1:4-5
(Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which" he said "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.")
They were told to wait for the promise from the father.
Luke;24:49
("And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.")
They were told not to leave, but to wait.

Wait and God will disclose what is hidden.
1Corinthians;4:5
(Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.)
Luke;8:17
(For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.)
We need to wait before we pass judgment on any matter. We only hear what people want us to hear but God says that all things will come to light and be revealed. How many times have we thought we knew the matter only to find out that we didn't know anything at all. That's why we need to wait.

Now there is a time when we should not wait. When the Holy Spirit is talking to us about our salvation, we need to act then and not put it off to another day. We don't know if we will ever have a second chance to be saved. We do know that God is waiting for us to repent and believe unto Salvation.
2Peter;3:9
(The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.)
The Lord wait for us to come to Him. We need to make our move to Him while he is willing to wait. He could bring judgment on us at any time. Don't wait another minute, ask Jesus to save you right now. If you don't know how, God tells us how.
Romans;10:9-10
(that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.)

It's as simple as that! I pray you won't wait. Everyday we are getting closer to the day we will kneel before Him. If your name is not in the Book of Life by then, it will be too late for you. Don't let anyone deceive you, there is no second chance at that point.

God Bless You!

What Type Of Ground Should We Be?

What kind of soil are we? Just in case you don't realize it, you are made from soil. We are told that God created us from the dust of the earth.
Genesis;2:7
(Then the Lord God formed man of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.)
So there we have it, we are made of dirt. What kind of dirt are we then? Are we rocky, full of weeds, thorns and good for nothing, or are we fertile soil just waiting for seed to be planted.? We are told in the Scriptures that seed was planted on the different types of soil and the outcome of that planting.

Jesus was telling this parable in the book of Matthew to the people who had gathered to hear Him teach.
Matthew;13:3-9
(Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying; "Behold , a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some seed fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because the had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!")

So we see that the Word of God is sown by the believers when we tell unbelievers about Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. We are instructed by Jesus to spread the Word of God to all nations. By doing this, we are planting seed or planting the word in peoples lives. Now what happens after we plant it depends on what type of soil they are at that time in their lives. The disciples came to Jesus to have Him explain what He was talking about in this parable of the sower and the seed.

[The Wayside Soil]
Matthew;13:19
(When anyone hears the word of the kingdom,and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.)
The seed sown here is the Word of God, here it is used as the word of the kingdom. The message never penetrates their understanding, so it disappears and doesn't take hold leading to repentance and then salvation.

[Stony Places]
Matthew;13:20-21
(But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.)
Here we have the picture of a lot of people who want all of the joy from the word, but don't want to have any trials because of their belief. When trials come along, they step out of the way and abandon Christ.
1John;2:19
(They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.)


[Among Thorns]
Mathew;13:22
(Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word, and he becomes unfruitful.)
What was important to this person was the love of money and what the world had to offer.
James;4:4
(You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.)
1John;2:15-17
(Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.)
God tells us that He is who we need to have first in our life. We need to love Him more than what the world has to offer.

[Good Ground]
Matthew;13:23
(But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.)
When the seed is sown in good soil it will grow and bear much fruit. Not all fruit bearing Christians bear the same amount of fruit, it is just that they will bear fruit. Some hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Matthew;7:16-18
("You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.)
John;15:8
("My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples)

So what type of ground should we be? God knows our heart and what type of soil we are. Let's be soil that will produce much fruit for the Kingdom. How are we going to be able to do this? First we must love God and obey Him, then we need to study the Word so that we can plant seed. You can't plant the seed, if you don't know the seed. A farmer doesn't go out to plant and grab a bag of seed without looking at what type of seed it is. Neither can we plant seed if we don't know what we are talking about. We need to learn about the seed and we do this by studying the Word.
Our job is to plant the seed, and to water the seed. God will cause it to grow and produce fruit.

God Bless You!

Battle Armor? The Word Of God!

I'll bet you didn't know that you are in a battle right now. Let me be the one to inform you that you are. If you are a Christian, then Satan and his forces are after you all the time. You might ask "why would they be after me"? They want to make a spectacle of you to the world. If people know that you are a Christian, "and I hope they do", then they are watching you to see how you handle things and how you live your life. They are watching to see if you have something they want, or if you aren't any different than they are.

We are instructed to be a light in the world. How are we to be a light if we aren't any different from the world? If there hasn't been a change in our life, then we need to step back and ask why. God tells us that we will be a new creation in Him. So we need to stand out as different from the world.
2Corinthians;6:17-18
(Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.")
If we live our life like everyone else, then we will blend in and not be noticed. Satan doesn't worry about those who already belong to him, but he does worry about the true Born Again Christian. Why? Because we are winning souls for Christ, we are spreading the word, we are witnessing to the lost. We are doing the will of our Father who is in Heaven. We are making a difference and he doesn't like it.

We have a bulls eye on our chest. We are the enemy, and we are in a spiritual war. We need to stay close to God. Satan has plenty of helpers who would love to see you or I stumble in our witness. Every time a believer stumbles, it give him more ammunition against us. He will try to place doubt in your mind and make you question your salvation. When we are worried about ourselves, then we are of no use to others who need help understanding the word. If you don't think you are in a battle, then what does the Bible say?
Ephesians;6:10-12
(Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.)

Now that is a scary thought, unless you have God in your life. But if we do have Jesus as our Savior, he is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He is our God. He is stronger that the forces of wickedness.
1John;4:4
(You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.)
True believers have nothing to fear, for even Satan's hosts with their perversions can't take us out of our Father's hand. We are no match for Satan or his helpers, but with God in our life, He is in charge and nothing is going to happen unless God allows it.

We are told to prepare ourselves for this battle. You might wonder how are we going to prepare. We need to study the Word of God so that we aren't deceived. We need to put on the whole armor of God, so that we are ready for the battle. It isn't a matter of if we are in a battle, because we are told that we are. So how do we prepare?
Ephesians;6:15-17
(Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.)
The sword of the Spirit is our most powerful of weapons. The Word of God is more powerful than any that the enemy has in his arsenal. When we have the Word of God, we have the truth of life, and of life after death. No one, no matter how powerful, can deceive us with a lie. We just filter it through the truth of the Word of God.
Hebrews;4:12
(For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart.)

With God on our side, then we can do all things. We as Christians just need to stay close to God and be in the Word of God. Then we will be ready for the battle. Study God's Word, then you will know the truth.

God Bless You!

Giving Hope To Others! Through Faith In Jesus Christ!

What do we do when fellow brothers and sisters are hurting and have pain in their lives? I as a parent just want to make the hurt go away even when this person isn't my child. Everyday of our life we pass by people who are hurting and searching for something to give their life meaning. They just want the pain, whether physical or emotional, to go away. We might have an answer for their physical pain, but what about their emotional pain?

God allows all kind of trials and different pains in our life so that as we mature in life we will be able to help others when they go through the same things. We are to learn from our experiences and stand ready to use that experience to help others in need. It is a process of maturing as Christians. God doesn't promise us anything for our life down here on earth. We will all experience sorrow, pain, suffering,loss, also joy, laughter, and good as well as bad. It makes us grow to depend on Him. He wants us as His children to come to Him for all of our needs. We are instructed not to use vain repetition when we pray to God.
Matthew;6:7-8
(And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.)

When people are hurting, we as Christians should pray for them. We should tell them about Jesus and if they haven't accepted Him as their Savior, we should tell them the way. God wants all of us to come to saving knowledge of Him, but how will others learn if we aren't willing to tell them? We as humans take so much for granted. Then when we are confronted by someone who is in pain, we realize that we could be next. Nothing is for sure except that we are all sinners and we are all going to die. A few of us will go to heaven, most of us won't.
Matthew;7:13-14
(Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.)
People want everything to be easy and without a price, but Salvation isn't easy and it was very difficult to obtain. Someone had to die for our Salvation. That someone was Jesus Christ our Lord. If we don't remember the price that was paid, then we take it for granted.

Don't think that we are good enough to get there on our own, because by the time we find out that we aren't good enough, it will be to late for us.
Matthew;7:21-23
("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. 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?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!')
Doing all those good works is great, but if you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, all those good things you've done won't make a difference. You still won't have accepted the free gift of life, and your name will not be in the Book of Life. If your name isn't in the Book of Life, you're going to end up in eternal lake of fire. Do not kid yourself, this will be your destination for eternity.

So when we see our brothers and sisters in need, we are to help them. Pray with those who are in need, and pray for them. God is the great comforter, He knows all that we need and is able to give us joy even when we are hurting. We cannot make the pain go away, but we can give them hope in Jesus Christ. He is our only hope and salvation. There is no other way.
Acts;4:12
(Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.)
So if we really want to help others, then the best help to give them is knowledge of Salvation in Jesus Christ. Everyone needs to have hope in something. If you know that your eternal life is secure, it takes away the fear of hell and damnation. No one wants to die, but we know that we will all die. If we know that we have a home in Heaven waiting for us, then we just depart this life and go to our eternal home in Heaven with Jesus our Lord.

I can't heal anyone of their pain, but I can give them hope. If you are in pain and despair, there is hope in Jesus. So tell others about Jesus and what he has done for them. How He saved us from our sins and can save them from theirs.
Romans;10:17
(So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.)
What we are talking about is this, "The Word Of Christ" or "The Message About Christ" or "Salvation In Jesus". This is what will really make a difference in a person's life. He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life. There is no hope without Him in your life.

God Bless You!