Don't stop now!
Be ashamed to die until you have won some soul for the Lord.—ME.
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9
A week of VBS is always tiresome. Early mornings and late nights make for one long week. But when those kids come in with a smile their faces, it’s worth every second, every tear, and every ounce of sweat! If and when one child walks the isle for salvation…the adrenaline starts pumping and we want to go another week. (Well, maybe not but you know what I am talking about!)
Child of God, there are weights (burdens) and sins that are weighing us down. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Will you lay them down in order to see someone else come to know Jesus? Will you lay them down in order for you to have true victory in your life? You don’t want to faint do you? You don’t want others to faint do you? Then lay them down!
Profession or Possession...there is a difference!
Salvation is of the Lord!
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:31
So many shout about how many people got saved at their tent meeting, VBS, or Sunday Service. I also rejoice when someone makes a profession of faith. I take pictures and rejoice with the Angels in Heaven!
However, I want to see those same people a year from the time of their profession. For at that time we shall see if they not only made a profession of faith but obtained a possession of the Saviour! Salvation is of the Lord friend…I don’t know who gets saved and who doesn’t. I just spread the seed and God gives the increase! What a privilege and responsibility we have to share the Gospel with a lost and dying world!
I'm Hungry!
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6
Do you remember riding on a long trip telling your Mom and Dad, “I’m Hungry.” I remember their response, “Just a little longer and we will be there.” Boy that little longer was LONGER that what I wanted it to be!
From the day we are born we have had an appetite. We came forth crying wanting something to eat. Not much has changed. When we get hungry we start to cry out for something to fill our bellies with.
There is another appetite. This appetite can only be filled with the righteousness of God. Many try to fill it with sex, drugs, material wealth, fame, or fortune, only to come up still empty inside, constantly trying to fill the void.
Are you hungry? Why not partake of the good grace of God and be filled? The woman at the well of Samaria came to get water, she left full of the righteousness of God. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. John 4:13-15
Prayer Works!
It's Sunday morning. Approximately 2 hours before Sunday School. Teachers, have you been praying for your students? 3 hours before the Preaching hour. Pastor/ Preacher, have you been praying for the congregation? Church member, have you been praying for your teachers and your Pastor?
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16
Oh what a different it will make in services across the globe if we would learn the power of prayer once again!
GET UP, GET READY (PRAY), and GO TO CHURCH!
The Endless love of God
Love isn't like a reservoir. You'll never drain it dry. It's much more like a natural spring. The longer and the farther it flows, the stronger and the deeper and the clearer it becomes. –Cantor
Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. Proverbs 10:12
The unconditional love of God is something we all cherish. When I am do my worst, He still loves me. When I am do my best He still loves me. His love is not based on our actions; good or bad. His love is based on who His is. The very title of Christian means to be Christ like or little Christ. Christian friend we ought to have that same type of love…unconditional. Do we have it or do we put on a front before our Brothers and Sisters in Christ?
Why close the door on faith?
When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God. –Allen
And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. Mark 10:27
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do! Whatever happened to the child like faith we once had? Many used to sing that song every Sunday morning during children’s church or on Wednesday nights during Kid’s Clubs across America. But what happened to people truly believing God can do anything? Why do we close the door on faith? Let me remind you Child of God...God can do anything, anything but fail!
Blink and it's gone, are you ready?
Our life is scarce the twinkle of a star in God's eternal day. –Taylor
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:13-14
Seems like when we were in school it took forever for us to graduate. Days were long and summers were longer. Now, a day seems like a few minutes and summers blow by like a ride on a roller coaster.
Friend you and I are not guaranteed another second much less a day. Our life is fleeting away fast and if you haven’t already, the time to get things settle about your eternal destination is now. Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:” Now the Lord is not lost but what this scripture is telling us is there will come a time when the Lord’s judgment will come. At that time it will be too late to turn to Him for salvation. This is why Paul shared the importance of getting things settled today, “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2
"Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy"- Leonard Ravenhill
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24
If you and I are going to finish our course with joy we are going to have to get out the “little things” in our life’s that continues to drag us down. In Galatians 5:9, Paul tells us,”A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Satan has his “little things” of false joys he throws at us each day; sports, drugs, career success, pornography, etc. Many of the things he throws at us in of themselves are not bad; (There is nothing wrong with going to a ball game or being financially successful. However, if you live your life for your career or from ball game to ball game—then there is a problem.) There is happiness in each one of these for a short time but true, lasting joy only comes in know the Lord Jesus as Saviour.
For too much rest itself becomes a pain. –Homer
Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. Psalm 104:23
I am glad for vacations but at the same time I am also glad to be getting back into some type of routine. No defined rise and shine time. No defined time to get to bed. No defined time to be anywhere. It is dangerous for us to have too much idle time on our hands. It makes us weak and our defenses are let down so much so that we are easy targets for the enemy. Child of God, be strong and of good courage! Do not let your guard down! Be Alert! Our adversary is seeking who he may devour….will it be you? Don’t let him become a pain in your life by not being where God wants you to be!
I hope you're going!
Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Hebrews 2:12
Bus workers are you excited? Teachers are you prepared? Choir are you tuned up? Pastor are you prayed up, studied up, and confessed up? If so, GET UP, GET READY, and GO TO CHURCH expecting to meet with the Lord today!
Sinner friend, there is someone waiting for you at church today. Why not put a smile on their face by you GETTING UP, GETTING READY, and GOING TO CHURCH? It may make the difference for you for all of eternity!
Let the Lord fight your battles!
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Psalm 35:1
In the mist of turmoil the Psalmist is looking for peace. Those whom he once helped has now turned their backs on him, looking to destroy him. The Psalmist turns to the only One that can do anything about his circumstances- the Lord.
Friend, you and I have those that would like to destroy us. The devil himself would love to see you to sit down and shut up from praising the Lord. Let the Lord fight your battles and you keep on praising Him as the Psalmist did! And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long. Psalm 35:28
"The Bible is the supreme preacher to preachers", P.T. Forsyth
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
There is no other better preacher of the Gospel than God Himself. We need no Wifi signal, no enrollment to Sermon Audio, no CD player, or a live feed to get in touch with Him. All we need is to be able to read, "Thus saith the Lord!" We can do that 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year! So, remind me again why you haven't picked up your copy and read it today?
Give Him honor and praise!
Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Galatians 1:3-5
It does us good to be reminded of why Jesus got on the Cross every so often. Simply put it for His Glory and our good. In being obedient to The Father it gave Him honor and glory. His obedience of death on the Cross provided our means of salvation. Without His complete obedience we would still be lost in our sin! I am reminded of the Hymn; "Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word." Take time to listen and sing it today.
Is it or isn't it?
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:15
While sight seeing the other day we saw what appeared to be a light house. When we got a little closer we realized it was a water tower made to look like a light house. It was quite elaborate. Even to the point of having fake windows every so often up the piping to the tank at the top.
Such it is wth false prophets; on the outside they walk, talk, and may even look like solid Christians. However, if you get a little closer and listen to what they are saying, you will notice real quick some things are missing from their message. What's that you ask? The fruit of the Spirit; "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23
Caught or Cheering?
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10
I was once caught in sin's traps. The more I tried the deeper the claws of sin dug into my life. Then, one day, the Master Fisher of Men came by and set me free from those traps! He gave me life and liberty. My friend, that is something to cheer about on this Independence Day!
What’s your exit strategy?
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15
Anyone that has a GPS has been at a location that was not your planned destination before. What happened? Well the GPS needs updates every so often and if you don’t get those updates you may find yourself driving in circles trying to find your way out of a large city.
Friend such is your walk with Jesus. If we are not going to Him for updates, we may find ourselves in a jam. We may find ourselves in more debt than we can handle. We may find our children walking away from the Lord. Some of us may even find ourselves in Hell because we thought we had everything right. But without those updates our exit strategy will fail. We will miss what we need to do to get our names written in the Book of Life.
When is the last time you had an update?
Hell is Hot and Heaven is Sweet!
Don't let scoffers laugh you into hell; they cannot laugh you out of it. -D.L. Moody
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:18
People are being deceived by the millions. They sit back and laugh at the Christian who will not smoke, drink, chew, or run with those that do. They mock at their stand against abortion and homosexuality. They ridicule those who take a stance that there is only one way into Heaven.
I’ve got one thing to say…STAND THEREFORE! For those who laugh, mock, and ridicule will be the last ones laughing come judgment day!
Happiness Spreads!
Whoever is happy will make others happy too. -Anne Frank
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:22
Have you ever been around one of those people who moan and groan about everything? You know the one that isn’t pleased no matter what you do? You get them a chocolate pie because when you got them the pecan pie last time it wasn’t chocolate. But now they ain’t pleased with the chocolate because it didn’t have meringue on top! You know what, that person drains my happy well dry!
You want to spread a little joy? Quit complaining and rejoice in the Lord!