You Can’t Serve Two Masters. Jesus said, you can’t serve two masters. You must love one and hate the other. (Matt. 6:24) That is especially true of God and Satan. They are exact opposites. You must choose between them or be torn apart. Lent is a time to focus on who we are serving and make sure we are following God and not Satan. Liberal philosophy is so deceiving because they use words we understand but with a different meaning. No Christian would be against two people loving each other but love to them means sex solely for selfish pleasure, not true love and concern for each other. True love can be really satisfying for two people, but the love the world promotes is very destructive. We have to know what they mean by what they say or we will end up supporting things which go against God. Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. He seeks to deceive even the people of God. Therefore it important to study the Word of God so you will not be deceived. Choose one of the four Gospels and read a chapter a day between now and Easter and see what Jesus says about living a life pleasing to God. If we truly love God, we will want to obey Him. We can please Him by doing what He wants us to do (obeying His Commandments). God set down His commandments as guidelines to show us how to live a life that is pleasing to Him and that would bring us peace and fulfillment. He knows what is best for us and did not give us the Commandments to spoil our fun but to help us avoid that which creates strife and dissension among us. When we ignore His commandments, we throw away that peace and fulfillment and stray into things that create strife and dissension.
Posts Tagged ‘Faith in practice’
First Sunday of Lent-Feb 22
“Seek ye first kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you”. God’s ways are not our ways. We feel that if we seek THINGS, we will get things, but the Bible says that if we seek God, He will provide what we need. If the things of this world are just temporary, it doesn’t make sense to work hard to get something that we will leave behind in a little while and not put something away for eternity. It makes more sense to walk in the presence of God now and gain that which is eternal, which we can take with us and have for eternity. Nate Saint, a missionary who lost his life trying to reach a tribe of natives said that only a fool would seek that which he cannot keep and ignore that which he cannot lose. Moths and rust will destroy the things of this world, but nothing can destroy what we do for God. As we prepare our hearts for Easter, we need to commit ourselves to living a life pleasing to God. To do that, we must seek to learn more about how God will have us to live. Christ came to show us how to live so we need to study the Scriptures to find what He wants to teach us. Now is a good time to begin a systematic study of the Gospels. Begin reading a chapter a day in Matthew and spend some time after each chapter meditating on what the Scriptures are trying to tell you, paying particular attention to what Christ says and does. Today is a good day to reflect on what it cost Jesus to pay for our sins. He was despised and rejected by men, He was spit on and beaten, and finally He was crucified on the cross, but the greatest pain came when Jesus took on Himself all our sin and His own Father (God) turned His back on Jesus because He could not look on sin. Are you willing to suffer rejection by the world in order to find favor with God? The Bible says, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his life?” Matt.16:26 This life is temporary but if we accept Jesus as our redeemer, we shall be with God for eternity.
Sixth Sunday of Epiphany–Feb15
Building Bridges– Today, many neighbors are isolated and do not know each other. In the past, neighborhoods were close knit communities where people worked and shopped nearby and helped each other in times of need. Increasing mobility has separated housing from office and shopping areas and has made even stable neighborhoods into bedroom communities. People work and shop elsewhere and only come home to have supper and sleep. Extended family used to provide support but many live a long way from any family members an increasing number are not having children or only a couple and have no one to help after their parents are no longer able to. They have no one to reach out to in an emergency or in time of need. By getting to know your neighbors you can build bridges that help you be there when they need help and it opens opportunities to share the Gospel with them.
Third Sunday of Epiphany-Jan 25
Luke 10:29-37 Get To Know Your Neighbors-One of the greatest problems to spreading the Gospel in America is the lack of contact between Christians and non-Christians. Even in settled neighborhoods where people own their homes, there is often little contact beyond polite waves over the fence and unfortunately, Christians are caught up in it as well. The best way to start is have members visit their neighbors to get to know them. Visiting one a week is not taxing but in five weeks will enable them to get to know the five families around them. We need to make deliberate efforts to spend time with our neighbors and get to know them. Visit them and take them cookies or a cake or invite them over for a backyard Bar B Q to allow time to get to know them. Do they go to church, if so where? Do they have family nearby to help in times of need? Are there needs the church family can help with? We will not know unless we get to know them. Others may have needs and not know who to turn to. Establishing contact enables you to help them find solutions to their needs. Many may not have needs when you visit, but as you maintain contact with the neighbors through periodic visits, the neighbors may experience situations they cannot handle and may turn to you for help. Since many families are isolated today and have no family nearby, a sickness, loss of job, or even death may require more resources than they can muster and provide an opportunity for the church to show Christ’s love. As Christ points out, our neighbors include more than just those who live around us. They are people we interact with every day at school, at work, and as we shop. We often see them but rarely take the time to get to know them.
Second Sunday of Epiphany-Jan 18
Modeling Christ When we read the Gospels, we often see the teachings and miss what Jesus does. If we read them closely, we will notice that He met needs as He went along. He healed the blind man, the crippled man, and the leper. He also fed the people. He did it primarily because He cared about them, but He also did it because He knew those needs distracted those people from hearing what He had to say. Until He broke down the barrier, they could not concentrate on what He was saying. By meeting the need, He not only broke down the barrier, He also built a bridge to that person. Those people passed many people as they traveled but those people were only nameless faces, soon forgotten. Jesus was someone they would not soon forget. He wasn’t a nameless face, He was the one that healed them or fed them. He was the one who cared when no one else did. We have become accustomed to the government providing all those services, but we forget that Christians met those needs first and only later did the government become involved. Now we have all but given up our ministry to the government and people worship the government instead of God. The prevailing feeling among many Christians today, as well as non-Christians is “The government is my shepherd, I shall not want, It maketh me lie down in a nice house, and It provideth me with good food.” Christ modeled the way we should live. Unfortunately, all we like sheep have gone astray.
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Tenth Sunday of Kingdomtide Nov 9
Time, Truth, and Education –God places great value on time, both past, present, and future. We must remember past events and learn from them, we must experience His presence in the present through celebrating the past, and we must look forward to the future when He will fulfill what He promised. God told the Jews to celebrate three events as a way of doing that and to do it forever. Many say we are not under the law any longer and do not have to celebrate them, however that is only partially true. They were designed to teach the major tenets of the faith. By celebrating them, it reminded the Jews of what God had done and showed them what God would do. They continued to celebrate them, but forgot the meaning of them, so they did not recognize Jesus when He came. God has fulfilled two of the celebrations so we no longer look forward to their fulfillment, yet they should now be a part of our experience and worth celebrating. We celebrate our birth, why not celebrate being born again. We celebrate when God gave the law to guide the Jews, why not celebrate when the Holy Spirit came into our lives and became our teacher and guide. I am glad Jesus came to save me and that the Holy Spirit came to guide me, and I celebrate those events. Do you? God has not fulfilled Rosh Hosanna. Jesus said he will come again and take those who are His, to be with Him. However, He said if we are not ready when He comes, we will be left behind, so it is important to remember that He is coming and to be ready. How can we be ready, if we don’t remind ourselves that He is coming. If we forget, we will not be ready and we will be left behind like the Jews that forgot He was coming the first time. Just about everything I do is designed to prepare myself and those who are willing to listen, to walk with Jesus. What do you spend most of your time for? Time is important. The time to prepare is now. When time ends, there won’t be a second chance.