Paying A Price To Walk With God

(Matt. 16:24) " Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."  There is a price to pay to walk with God, and that price is the same for all of us. 1) Deny yourself. This is nothing more than surrendering your will to the will of God, so that His will becomes your will. 2) Take up your cross. This is surrendering your life to live Christ's life through you. Jesus expects all who follow him to give up all preconceived plans and ways to obey his plans and ways. We have been asked by God to die to ourselves, just as Christ surrendered his life to the cross. 3) Follow Jesus. We can't truly follow Jesus until we pay a price to do so. Christ was on a mission, and that mission is a mission to win the lost. There are a lot of Christians today who think that they are following Christ, but in reality they are not. You may have given up a few things but have you your will, you may have surrendered some things but have you your life, and when was the last time you led a soul to Christ? Following Jesus cannot happen until we pay the above price! Jesus said that our fruit will give us away.  If there is no fruit, then we can be sure that we have not truly paid the price! 

“And Jesus Came”

(Matt. 1:23) "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." It's a wonderful thing to be reminded of how Jesus came according to God's Word. 1) He came as planned. The word"Emmanuel" or "Immanuel" means, "God with us."  The above verse quotes the prophecy of (Isaiah 7:14), which foretold 700 years before the birth of Jesus, that God himself planned one day to come to this earth born of a virgin woman. 2) He came as promised. "and shall bring forth a son." Again, this is a promise stated in (Isaiah 7:14), of the fulfillment of another prophesy promised by God in (Gen. 3:15) where God would one day give mankind a promised son, born of a woman to "bruise the head of the serpent," or literally a seed with the power to"crush" the head of the serpent over man. Jesus was that son, who came to save us from our sin (Matt. 1: 21). 3) He came as prophesied. "a virgin shall be with child." Again (Isaiah 7:14) tells us that this was to be the prophetic sign of his coming. And not only was this a sign, but Bethlehem also, the killing of Israel's children, and over 300 more prophesies that are found in the OT. It is no 

wonder, that the beautiful  name of Jesus is above every name in Heaven and on earth!

“Behaving Oneself Wisely”

(1Sam. 18:5) "And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him,and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants." The Lord would like all of us to have a close relationship with Him, but unless we are willing to walk with Him in complete obedience, we can't. David was not a superhuman man, but he was a man that desired to know the Lord more than anything else in this life. David was; 1) Obedient. (1 Kings 15:5) tells us that the only time that he wasn't right in the eyes of the Lord, was in "the matter of Uriah the Hittite," when he killed Uriah to hide his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. But even after his sin was discovered he repented and walked with God again. David was; 2) Observant. Meaning that he followed God's instructions to the letter, unlike King Saul who only followed God’s will when it was convenient with his plans. In fact, the blessing of God was removed from Saul because he thought God's commandments to be optional. Therefore “Behaving oneself wisely”  is nothing more than doing what God commands every time, and all the time. For God's blessing will follow those that obey His Word!

 

Sin Is Behind The Destruction OF Marriage

(Matt. 24:12) "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." In the above verse, Jesus makes this statement concerning the love of people during the 7yr. Trib. period. However, this truth can be applied to any generation where "iniquity abounds." "Iniquity" is lawlessness, and it's a direct disrespect for God & His commandments. When the majority of people in any society decide to live contrary to the commanded moral laws of God, the natural result of their lawlessness will be the loss of love between people and the judgment of God. Marriage is under attack in the day in which we live, not because of some so-called natural evolution of man, but rather because our society as others before us, have decided not to listen to God nor live according to the  moral lifestyle outlined by Him in His Word. As a result we are seeing marriage after marriage falling apart all because many now think that they don't have to listen to God. Lawlessness is causing people today all over the world to believe that God has changed His mind concerning sin. As a result the love between married people is growing cold, and the only way for it to warm back up again is for our society to repent and begin again to submit ourselves back under the authority and principles of God's Word. Faith in, and obedience to God's Word and Will, will restore the love needed to have a strong marriage!

 

 

“Is God For Gay (Homosexual) Marriage”?

(Gen. 18:20-21) "And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; (Gen 19:4-5)  "But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them." (2Pet. 2:6) "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;" God has not changed his mind over the past 7000 years concerning homosexuality, but unfortunately 30-40% of our nation’s people have, making the sinful and sick practice of homosexuality legal. Today some say that as much as 10% of our American society is gay, but truthfully recent studies show it to be only 1-2%. Gay marriage is now a legal right, and those that oppose it are thrown in jail. So the question remains, is God for or against gay marriage? Well let me answer that question with another question and a couple Bible passages.  If God judged other nations that allowed this sin in the past, what's next for us in America?  (Ps 9:17) "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Ps 50:22) "Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."  Add to that abortion, promiscuity, and perversion, and we are in big trouble with God!

 

Standing Up Against Homosexuality

(Pr 14:34) "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Coming up next month our church will be voting on adopting an amendment to our constitution that will state clearly our position against gay marriage and the other immoral practices that our country has now approved of, and supports. We are going to do so because we as a Church must state clearly our position on these issues or the government will be able to come in and force us to. It's unfortunate that we as a nation now stand in opposition to God's Word.  As (Isa 5:20) says "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" We as a Church more than ever need to rise up and speak against the unrighteousness that has exalted itself against God and His people. We are now on a slippery slope. (Ps 9:17) "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."    May the Lord grant us boldness in these last days to say so!

The Flesh, Friend or Foe

(Rom. 7:18) "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." Many times when I talk to people about their problems they will blame the devil or someone else for their situation, when in reality the real cause is their own flesh. When the Bible speaks of the flesh, it speaks of the earthly body that houses our spirit and soul. It cannot be saved, nor inherit eternal life, but God does promise to resurrect it and change it later. You see, in order for us to understand this great truth we need to separate our soul and spirit from our bodies. Our soul and spirit is eternal, but our flesh will die, for it is sinful and given over to sinful desires. Adam's sin caused the body's curse, and yet God still chose to use it for His Glory. In the above verse the Apostle Paul wanted us to see that if we are going to be used of God and have victory over sin, we are going to have to first realize that our flesh is our biggest enemy. It needs to be controlled by our spirit, and then surrendered to God's Spirit. (Gal. 5:16) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Do you want victory?  Then dethrone your sinful flesh!