Tag: God Is Love

Unbelief

Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.”

I heard something this week while I was listening to old sermons on my way to and from work and I have a burden on my heart to share it with you.  I had never heard it put quite this way before and for some reason it really made sense to me. To summarize it said you will not go to hell because of your sins. You will go to hell because of your unbelief. What do I mean by unbelief? Well to put is simply, if you do not believe that Jesus is the son of God who died on the cross and rose again to cleanse you from your sins then you will go to hell. No matter how “good” of a person you are. You must believe.

Salvation is that easy. Just believe. You do not need to DO anything because we have been saved by GRACE alone. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

You see sin separates us from God. In order to remove that separation, God sent his son Jesus to DO what was necessary to fix that. He died on the cross and rose again to make you righteous before God. So now all you have to do is believe and you will be saved. To believe, you have to have faith and Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

Your faith is increased by hearing God’s word. So, if you are a Christian, a believer, a follower of Jesus, you need to be IN THE WORD. Take time every day to read the Bible or listen to the Bible or watch video sermons about the Bible. Talk to God. Tell him about your thoughts, ideas, worries and accomplishments. Make him a part of your everyday life. Then tell others. Their faith will increase by hearing the Word of God too.

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son to save me from my sins. Give me faith to believe, courage to share, and grace to be saved. Amen.

Are You Ready?

John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

These are a few of my favorite things: Saturday afternoons with friends at the pool. Dinner with my family. Meaningful conversations with my boys. The worship songs we sing together at church. Thought provoking group Bible studies.

What do all these things have in common?  People.  My friends, family, and fellow believers. These are the people I love and surround myself with. Who do you surround yourself with?  Do they know your story? Your testimony? Do they know why you are so happy?  Do they understand your peace? Can they see your faith? Do not take for granted that they know.

The Bible says the kingdom of God is near. We do not know when Jesus will come again. If you love being with these people here on earth, you will want them with you in heaven. They cannot ride on your shirt tails to heaven. They must believe for themselves. They must leave behind their past and become a new person in Christ.

Mark 16:16 says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  To be baptized is to drown your old life and to start living a new life in Christ.  But please understand that it is not God that is condemning you. You are condemning yourself if you do not believe. For in John 3:17 it says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

So, are you ready to leave your old ways behind? Are you ready to walk on the path that will lead you to eternal life? Do you want your family, friends and loved ones with you? I do. Do not wait any longer. Start the conversation. You do not need to convince them, that is the job of the Holy Spirit.  You simply need to lead them to the water.

Heavenly Father, please give me the courage to speak up and share my testimony to the people you have placed around me. Amen.

Blessed Is The One Who Trusts In the Lord

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

“It has no worries in a year of drought…”  I would call 2020 a year of drought. Wouldn’t you? Drought does not just mean a lack or absence of rainfall. I looked it up and one definition of drought is “a prolonged absence of a specified thing.”

So far in 2020 we have had a prolonged absence of employment, personal contact with others, and in-person worship. For a while there was a drought of toilet paper, cleaning supplies and meat. I am sure everyone reading this devotion can add something to the list. But the Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17 and Psalm 1 (they are remarkably similar verses) that if we put our trust (our confidence) in the Lord, we will not fear when the heat comes. Not only will we not fear but we will continue to bear fruit.

In times of trouble, those who do not trust in the Lord will be spiritually weak so they will have no strength to draw on. But those who trust in the Lord will have abundant strength not only for themselves but for others too. So, which one are you? Are you diving into the word of God so that your roots are firmly planted near the stream of life? Are your leaves always green so the weak can rest in your shade? Are you bearing fruit by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them? Remember, those who do not know the Lord will see something different in you. They will see the love of Jesus pouring out of you. Then when they ask you about it (and they will) you can tell them all about how Jesus came to earth and died for them so that they can be reconciled with God.

Dear Lord, I trust in you and you give me strength. Please open my eyes to the people in my life that need to hear about you. Fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit so that your words come out of my mouth, not my own. Amen

Will You Give Me A Drink?

John 4:7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

This question may not seem like a big deal to you. All Jesus did was ask for a drink of water. But this one small question opened a conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman that lead to the woman and many people in her town being saved.

So, why was this a big deal? Well to start, Jesus was a Jew and the woman was a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other. More than 700 years before this meeting at the well, another county, Assyria, invaded and conquered Samaria and deported most of the Jewish people that lived there. Assyria sent foreigners to Samaria to settle the land and help keep the peace. The intermarriage between those foreigners and the remaining Jews resulted in a mixed race. The “pure” Jews hated this mixed race called the Samaritans because they felt that their fellow Jews who had intermarried had betrayed their people and nation.

Secondly, the woman was alone. Women did not typically go to the well alone. Twice each day, in the morning and the evening, women would come to the well to draw water. Yet this woman came alone around noon. Why? Probably to avoid the other women that knew her reputation. They did not accept her or want to be around her because she had been married 5 times and was currently living with a man that was not her husband. So, she risked her own safety to avoid the other women and went to the well alone.

She was an outcast woman of an outcast nation. But despite that, Jesus spoke to her. Jesus spoke to the woman because the gospel is for everyone, no matter what your race, social position, or past sins. Jesus crossed all barriers to share the gospel and we must be willing to do the same thing. We must be willing to start a conversation with a friend, a neighbor, our children or even a stranger. Just a simple question can open the door to Jesus.

Dear Lord, please give us the courage to step outside our comfort zone and start a conversation with one of your children. Open our eyes to see who you are putting in our path and use the opportunity to share the gospel. Amen