Saturday, February 28, 2009

David vs. Goliath

There is probably not a better story in all the Bible that better portrays the power of faith and courage then the story of David vs. Goliath. As we look at these two attributes we see that faith builds our courage while courage is best demonstrated by faith. Allegorically, Goliath represents the giants that we fear. Humanly speaking, they are the impossible things and situations that we cannot overcome in our own strength, and just like Goliath they will not go away until we stand up to them as David did. David, represents the weakness of our flesh. He was much smaller than Goliath, and unable to beat him in hand to hand combat, but David had something that Goliath didn’t, the power of the Holy Spirit. Goliath had courage, but his courage was in himself. David had courage, but his courage and faith was in the power of the “living God of Israel.” Like David, you and I cannot beat the giants of this world with the weapons of this world, but we are promised that we can through the power of God’s Spirit and courage. Like David we just need to remember that it’s not our ability but rather God’s Spirit that gives us the victory, just as it was God’s Spirit that guided the stone that killed Goliath. So, if you’re going to face your giant, stand in the courage of Christ’s Spirit, and learn to trust in Him for the victory. For “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in this world (1Jn 4: 4).”

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Convince people of the truth

One of the three things that I wanted to challenge the church to do in 2009, is to share the gospel more with others. We need to take a hand full of Bible tracks with us wherever we go and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when the Spirit leads us, just share with them what Jesus has done in our life or just tell them to read it. We never know what God is doing in the heart and life of others, they might just be ready to get saved. Now as we go, we will be dealing with different beliefs and heart conditions, so we do need to know how to convince people of the truth. (2 Tim. 2:15) Tells us to, “Study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” meaning that we need to study the Bible to know where in the Bible to turn and how to answer people. Do you know how to personally lead someone to Christ? Can you take the Bible and the book of Romans and show someone that they are a sinner and in need of Christ? Can you refute falsehood? Study, for there may be times when you are ashamed of yourself because you don’t know the Bible as you ought, but share your faith anyway!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Regret

One thing that I have learned over the years and that I have tried to teach others, is that you cannot change your past but you can your future. Regret is an awful thing to live with, and unless we determine now to obey the known will of God for today, tomorrow will most assuredly be something we regret. Take salvation for instance, God’s Word tells us that eternity is forever. So why do so many people give so little attention to it now? The Bible tells us in (Luke 16:19-31) that not everybody is going to make it to heaven, that hell is a real place, and that once you’re there, there’s no getting out. According to my Bible, Hell is full of people that regret for all eternity not caring about spiritual things. Who put money and the cares of this world before God. Who when they lived, lived for self and selfish pleasures, not realizing that this life is only a drop in the bucket when it comes to eternity. And, who now suffer forever the torture and agony of Hells fire. Even Christians some how fail to realize that we only have so much time to reach our relatives, our towns, and our world for Christ. Why do we waste so much time on things of no value, when the valuable things like God and souls get so little attention ?