Who’s got your six?
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
Each of us needs to have someone that will have our backs in the valleys and on the mountain tops. Such a friend will Love you Unconditionally, Protect you by all means, Encourage you in your walk with the Lord, They will be found faithful and true, and they will share!
Friend, Jesus did all that and more for you! He loved us while we were His enemy. He protects us. He encourages us in His Word. He has been found faithful and true! He has shared with us His grace and mercy which we did not nor do not deserve! Friend, Jesus has our six…but who’s six do you have? Your spouse needs you. Your kids need you. Your church family needs you. Don't quit now…someone needs you to have their six!
TIME FOR CHURCH!!
A church ought to be a sanctuary for those that have the greatest fears and a gas station for those almost on empty.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16
How can you get the spiritual building blocks of the Christian life if you neglect the Lord in His basic commands such as church attendance? Friend, if you are truly saved you will want to come to church. You will want to get fed from the Word of God. You will want to be there every time the doors are open. You will not make excuses on why you shouldn’t come.
So on this Sunday evening quit making excuses! GET UP, GET READY, and GO TO CHURCH!
Go Tell It on the Mountain...and everywhere else too!
You will never make a missionary of the person who does no good at home. He that will not serve the Lord in the Sunday school at home will not win children to Christ in China. –Spurgeon
Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. Psalm 96:3
We need to share the Gospel with every man, woman, boy, and girl we come in contact with. Why, you may ask? Because God said so for one and the second reason is they need to hear about the Saviour as well! They need to be saved!
Preacher, I just can’t do that! Well, let me share with you what the Lord says, “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 10:33
If you are saved you will be doing something to share the Gospel! It is a responsibility God has given to every saved person, not just the Pastor! So who are you going to tell today?
Who needs Jesus?
When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God. –Allen
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26
Have you ever ridden the church bus with un-churched kids? You know the ones that are dirty from Friday’s events on the play ground, the ones that have smell about them, and those that don’t know how to act in church. They all have a soul in need of salvation! But let me remind you of something real quick, so does the educated, well paid, smelling good socialite that sits across from you during lunch!
There is hope for the rich and poor in the world! So don’t neglect the poor just because the rich may smell better, give a bigger tithe, or knows how to take a bath for Sunday service! The rich and poor need Jesus to save them!
Be reminded of what James tells us under the inspiration of God: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. James 2:9
I Love to Tell the Story of Jesus and His Glory
The things that are closest to our hearts are the things we talk about, and if God is close to your heart, you will talk about Him. –Tozer
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 1 Peter 3:15
Just ask me….what are you waiting on? Go ahead…ask me about my chittlins. You see I’m always prepared to tell you about them. You see, I love them! And because I do I have a story ready to share about when they were growing up. Some funny and some not so funny.
Such it is when someone asks me about my Saviour. I am ready to give my testimony. About how Jesus saved me and set me on the Solid Rock! I am ready to give an answer to every man that asketh…amen! Are you ready?
What’s your message?
If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is in the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world. –Spurgeon
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. Proverbs 11:30
When is the last time you told someone about the Lord Jesus? When is the last time you shared what He has done for you? Have you ever led someone to the Lord? You haven’t? Why not?
Don’t you know oh Christian you’re a sermon in shoes? Don’t you know oh Christian you are telling a story? Don’t you know oh Christian your works are telling a story about your Saviour? What’s the message you have told your children? What’s the message you have told your neighbor? What’s the message you have told your co-workers? What’s your message?
Crutch, Feet, or Legs...
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day. --Abraham Lincoln
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. Psalm 95:6
When one recognizes their own insufficiencies, they are one step closer in becoming someone the Lord can use. We are nothing without the Lord. Someone once told a Pastor friend, “Jesus is just a crutch for the Christian.” My Pastor friend said, “No sir He is not! He is my feet, my legs, and so much more!”
Who is Jesus to you? One song says; He is my strength when I am weak, He is the treasure that I seek…but I just like it when I hear someone say, “He’s my Lord and Saviour!” Amen!
Free, Free, Free...I said FREE!
What we mean by salvation is this-deliverance from the love of sin, rescue from the habit of sin, setting free from the desire to sin. –Spurgeon
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1
This morning, I am reminded of the fact we are free from the grips of sin. Not by anything I have done but by His grace we have the power to say no. We have the power to choose right. We have the power to be delivered from temptation.
How is that preacher; when we yield our mind, our body, our will over to His. Consider this scripture: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:16-17
It's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday-- still known as, THE LORD'S DAY!
The living Church, though never neat, keeps God's world from complete disaster. - Macleod
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Acts 5:42
On this Sunday morning why not GET UP, GET READY, and GO TO CHURCH? To me, the message never gets old. What message is that you ask; Jesus came to die for a sinner such as you and me. He gave His life on Calvary! He arose again so that you and I can live eternally! So won’t you join me and others as we worship our Lord and Saviour?
How bad do I look?
In his life, Christ is an example showing us how to live; in His death, He is a sacrifice satisfying for our sins; in His resurrection, a conqueror; in His ascension, a king; in His intercession, a high priest. --Martin Luther
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 1 Peter 2:21
So often we look to our Pastor, an Evangelist, a Sunday School Teacher, or every another church member comparing our Christian walk with theirs. It is easy to pick out the bad habits others have and boost ourselves up, never really growing in the grace of God.
What should I do preacher? Look to Christ! Compare yourself to His sacrifice, His holiness, His honesty, His giving, His mercy, His grace, and so on. When comparing ourselves to Him…how bad do we look then? Our hearts are black as can be when compared to Jesus. Can we boost ourselves up at all? Consider with me Colossians 2:6, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
What am I to do Preacher?
We are not told that Jesus ever taught His disciple how to preach, but He taught them how to pray. He wanted them to have power with God; then He knew they would have power with man. - D.L. Moody
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41
There is a constant battle between the flesh and the spirit. We are constantly bombarded by the temptations of life and our flesh is like, “Feed Me!” The world throws every temptation at our flesh so the Spirit of God that abides within will be suppressed and we could potentially cave to our fleshly desires. What should I do preacher? Pray! Pray! Pray! And be reminded of Scripture: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4
What's my purpose?
More men fail through lack of purpose than through lack of talent. –Sunday
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Some people search all of their lives for their purpose in life. They go through job after job, friend after friend, and relationship after relationship only to end up searching for more. If they would trust Jesus as Saviour their eternal purpose would become very evident pretty quick!
Let me remind you of this important truth: The Lord doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. What are you saying preacher? The Lord isn’t looking for you to bring anything to the table except YOU! Let your purpose start off by giving your life to the Lord!
What makes you mad?
When I hear of anybody losing his temper, I always pray that he may not find it again. Such tempers are best lost. –Spurgeon
Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Proverbs 22:24
I’m not going to lie to yah, I get angry sometimes. Imagine that, a preacher/pastor that gets angry. Many would say, “You can’t do that.” My response is, you better not look because I’m human to.” You ask, “What gets you angry?” Well, actually a lot of things; someone not keeping their word, someone being late for an appointment, someone speaking about something they know not of, liars…liars get me angry, and onions on any of my food. Things get us all angry. But how we deal with that anger is what makes the difference.
If I get a burger and it has onions on it after I order it with no onions, I don’t get mad, I just take it back and ask for a totally different burger so they won’t just pull the onions off and hand it back to me. (The taste is still there.) If a person tells me a little lie about something that I know is a lie… I just mark that person and realize if they will lie about this then they will lie about anything and I can’t trust them. If someone says they are going to do something and they don’t. I mark them as well. I may give them another opportunity but if they fail again…then I won’t ask anymore.
Friend there are so many ways to handle anger but be sure of this…how you respond to someone else’s actions could land you up in the big house for an extended stay. Just remember what Solomon said under the inspiration of God, Proverbs 16:32, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”
Just let it go!
Happy is the man who has learned to do this: to trust the Lord’s plan for their life!
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. Psalm 62:8
One of the hardest things to do in life is to: Let go and Let God!
Let go of your selfish desires.
Let go of your sinful deeds.
Let go of your senseless days.
Let God meet your barrenness.
Let God mold your behavior.
Let God make your becoming.
When you Let God…you can’t go wrong!
No time to sit down-- Get busy for the Lord!
Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our callings that we may sleep in thy peace and wake in thy glory. –Donne
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. John 9:4
There is plenty of work to be done in the church. From mowing the lawn to preaching, there is enough work to keep us all busy. But as someone once said, “Ten percent of those in the church do one hundred percent of the work.”
My friend this ought not to be so! Get involved at your church! Ask your pastor where you can serve! Surprise him by saying, “Pastor, I just want to help you!”
Which way do I go?
The greater thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are going. --Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6
Before the times of GPS people used a paper map to get around. Sometimes the husband would yell at his wife, “Which way do I go?” At other times, they would end up needing to stop on the road because many a wives, bless their heart, couldn’t read a map very well. But most of the time, the husband wouldn’t want to read it at all. He would be like, it just up here a few more miles. They drive and drive and finally she would end up asking, “Honey, do you know where we are at?” His response, “Nope, we’re lost!”
Friend, if you don’t know Jesus as Saviour, you’re already lost. You’re on the way to hell. Won’t you GET UP, GET READY, and GO TO CHURCH TODAY? There you will find the direction to get to HEAVEN! And then you can sing with me:
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
What does your check book reveal about you?
Wealth is like a viper, which is harmless if a man knows how to take hold of it; but if he does not, it will twine round his hand and bite him. -St. Clement
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13
There are of plenty of people with riches but the problem with many is that their riches have them as well. They are constantly looking to make another dollar. The next endeavour is around the corner. The next big score is over the next hill. I have found in my life that it is better to walk in faith than to walk trusting in the finances this world has to offer.
What’s driving you? Is it the next payday or the promises of God? You can look at your check book and find out!
Don't let sin in or it will stay a while!
No affliction or temptation, no guilt or power of sin, no wounded spirit nor terrified conscience, should induce us to despair of help and comfort from God. –Scott
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:11-14
Nothing, I said nothing should come between us and our Saviour! But, yet it does. Sin creeps in and before we know it we are drowning in a sea of sin that the Lord has to lift us out of! Child of God, get an accountability partner! Get INTO THE Word! Get in a Bible believing church and every thing else will fall into place!
Preaching fully charged or preaching on empty!
There isn't anything quite so chilling, quite so disheartening as a man without the Holy Spirit preaching about the Holy Spirit. –Tozer
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
The moment a sinner receives the Lord Jesus as Saviour they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to be our comforter, helper, and guide until Jesus comes again. So how can one that doesn’t have the Spirit living and abiding in them stand to proclaim something they know not of? They can’t and neither can you! You can’t be a witness of something you have never tasted, never seen, or never felt!
Are you saved or are you just trying to tell others about something you have never experienced?