Saturday, February 26, 2011

Come Freely To Gods Throne Of Grace.

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

I am afraid that we have reached a time in society that prayer means less and less because of what society has become, very sinful. I do hope and pray the reason is not that we have came to have little faith in the power of prayer because the very same God is still the one we pray too, and He has not changed. The writer of the Hebrews told us to come “boldly” to the throne of grace, the word “boldly” means – with freedom of speech but it also means with courage – We as Christians have a liberty in Christ Jesus to come freely to God throne of grace and why men do not use that freedom I cannot answer. Beloved we all must remember that God is a most gracious God, He answers prayer, and if we fail to use the liberty created in Christ Jesus we have all missed a glorious blessing. So as we boldly come to Gods throne of grace let us also remember to come with courage, or faithfulness that God can and will still answer prayer. Let us always remember just as Jesus Christ bought our salvation at Calvary He also bought us the freedom to stand before Gods throne with our supplications. If we as Christians fail to use this throne of grace then we either show a lack of faith in God or we are showing disobedience to God. Beloved God understands our issues in life, because Jesus Christ was tempted as we are and therefore there is empathy on His part as to what we go though in the flesh. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Verse 15.

The only good thing a Christian has in this life is God; therefore it seems that we would enjoy spending much of our available time speaking to Him. Prayer warriors today are far and in between, but it should not be so. Beloved talk to God, not just once or twice a day but several times a day. Let Him know your needs because His throne is not called the throne of grace for nothing. It is called the throne of grace because none of us deserves to stand there, none of us deserve to have our prayers heard much less answered, but we are praying to a gracious God with Jesus Christ interceding on our behalf. Our liberty in Christ goes much deeper than salvation, it also allows us to talk to God. Whether it is a time of need or just a time of thanksgiving we get to talk to our Heavenly Father Who can do for us as He pleases.

“…that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” And beloved we are in a time of need today. With the world on the way to destruction and true Christians growing weaker by the day we need much help. We will find it only with God, and none other. The solution is not with the government, nor with the rest of the world, it is only with God. Beloved it is time for us all to spend more time before Gods throne of grace, pray for our nation, our world, but pray much for our churches, Pastors, and each other, because the times we live in today are horrible times. Let us all go much to Gods throne of grace and pray that Jesus will return soon because without a miraculous work of God this world is not going to get any better. Mercy is to be found and it is only found at Gods throne of grace.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

How Many Years Old Is The Earth?

“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11

I was driving down the road last Friday and as I was listening to the news there was a conversation about something that had happened and the guest made the statement that it only happened once ever one hundred million years, and this drew my attention and began thinking about the ignorance of this man. With this being said I must ask how old is the earth? Well if studied in line with the scripture it seems to be about 6,000 – 10,000 years old. Now some so called “Christians” that define themselves as “Theo-evolutionist” are defined as (1.) Theo means they believe in God and creation, and (2.) evolution means that while they believe in God and creation they also believe in evolution which means they believe in what is called a “gap theory” which we will cover later. Evolutionist, both non believers in God and believers in God stand on the thought that the earth is millions if not billions of years old, however that could not be further from the truth. The Theo Evolutionist believes in what is called “the gap theory” which means there is a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 which lasted millions if not billions of years but they are all wrong. In Exodus 20:11 the Lord pacifically stated that in six day God created everything, He did not create the heavens and the earth and then wait billions of years to create the rest of creation. This theory has no proof just and Evolutionist have no proof that a cell washed up on the sea side and evolved into man over millions of years, this is why it is called a theory instead of a fact. The only fact that we have is that God created everything in six 24 hour days. Everything outside of creation is known as a theory which means - an explanation or model that covers a substantial group of occurrences in nature and has been confirmed by a substantial number of experiments and observations. – Which basically means there are no facts to prove it. Creation was the only “fact” until the last 15 years or so when “educators” or otherwise known as “school teachers” decided that evolution was now a fact and creation is now a theory, however they are also wrong because a fact must be provable and evolution will never be provable. All of these folks look to Scientist for their proof however there are few Christian Scientist in the world and most of them believe in creation and not evolution.

Now that we have shown evolution to be fiction and not fact let us look at creationism. The only proof we have is the Holy Scripture to actually know about how the world, man, and everything else that has life or is created came about. The scriptures without doubt states that creation took God only six days and He rested on the seventh. There was no “gap” and no evolution at all. Scientist and Evolutionist alike also believe that the world could never have developed as it is today without millions or billions of years of existence, however they never give any thought to God, God created the world and made it as it is today. Fossils found, dinosaurs, the Grand Canyon, and etc. etc. etc. however the flood could have been responsible for some of it and God took care of the rest. God created everything in an adult form, so the ignorant question “which came first the chicken or the egg” the chicken did because God created a chicken to lay an egg. With this thought in mind God could have created the earth with age on it making it appear to be older than it really is. All of these theories were created in order to put doubt in the people’s minds about God. Always look to the scriptures for answers and you shall find them. This is a great example, remember when Columbus wondered if the earth was flat or round? God had the answer; Isaiah 40:22 “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:”

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Satan The great Liar!

Acts 5:1 - 3 “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, (2.) And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. (3.) But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?”

Sometime we fail to see the exact affects Satan has on us. Sometimes what we do in life is anti-God or against God because if God says one thing and we do another then we go against God and allow Satan to control our thinking. This is not limited to the lost but also to Christians. Satan has a greater effect on our lives than we sometimes give him credit for, because all problems in a church body are caused by Satan affecting one or more of her members. If all things in a church are done according to the commandments of God, then all things in a church will be decently and in order and no problems will arise. This beloved is the central reason we as church members need to make sure we are scripturally correct before arising an issue that will cause debate in Gods house.

The finances of the church are no different. Satan affects peoples will to give as much if not more than he affects the thinking and actions of the people causing the problems. There is much debate today on whether tithe is a commanded in the New Testament churches, I believe it is, however some disagree. However it may be the question must be asked what a reasonable amount to give to the church is? 10 percent, 5 percent, 2percent, or whatever we choose to give, or does God even care? The only amount God has ever spoken of was ten percent. However these two folks were persuaded by Satan not to give what they should have. Please notice in verse 3 when Peter asked “…hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?”

In conclusion please notice the cause of Ananias thinking, it was Satan the father of lying. Jesus said in John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Satan is the reason we do lie, cheat, and steal, just as he caused Ananias and his wife to fail to give all that was due Gods church. Beloved if all church members in a church tithe it is certain that the church will never have financial difficulty. It is when Satan causes us to find more excuses not to tithe than too that we fail to meet our responsibility to God and the church. What people fail to understand is when we do this we not only lie to the church but also to God. Now the church has no idea what your income is, therefore what you give is what you give. Apparently Peter knew what Ananias and his wife had received for the land, however only you and God knows the truth about your income and if you fail to give God His part He knows. Acts 5:4 “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.”

These two folks had cheated God and Satan had caused this sin, and while you may not pay the price these two did (both fell over dead) God does know all things. And please let us remember the fear of God should keep us from following Satan’s temptations and lies. Acts 5:11 “And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.”

Saturday, February 5, 2011

When is a Christian a Christian?

1 Peter 2:1-3 “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, (2.) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (3.) If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

I meet a lot of folks who tell me they are Christians, but after observing them and their actins I must as myself, are they truly Christians. I believe there are millions upon millions of people who believe themselves to be Christians but are not. There are ways to, well at least to have a good idea although there is no guaranteed way to tell for certain. First of all a real Christian fully trust Jesus Christ as their Saviour, because one cannot trust Jesus Christ and something else, i.e. works, baptism, church membership or etc. because the scriptures conclude “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 not because we are walking in the light, but that we have trusted the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all of our sins. We are walking in the light because we are saved; the walk is the result not the cause. The walk is the evidence of our faith in Christ Jesus. God also said in 1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:” So if our walk is not there then there is no evidence of our salvation and therefore we are not laying aside the works of the flesh. James clearly pointed out “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” James 2:18 not that works has any part in salvation but that if you have faith then works are certain to follow. Faith alone cannot save a soul if it is not followed with works. James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Faith is easy to have, and faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God is also easy to have, but faith that comes from the heart is not easy to have. Any fool or even devil can have faith and go to hell for their trouble, however real faith that comes from the heart changes a person forever.

So what else proves a person is truly saved? They “…desire the sincere milk of the word…” the word “desire” means – to intensely crave – the word of God not just to read it and study it and to grow in it “…that ye may grow thereby…” that is to grow in truth. Not Baptist truth, Church of Christ truth, Catholic truth, or etc. but rather biblical truth. I believe that truth is Baptist truth, not just any Baptist but those who believe in a Sovereign God, not those that believe salvation is a decision or choice but rather that God saves sinners. That is growth, anyone can believe a myth, but to believe truth is entirely different, truth comes to those that accept the bible for what it says and not for what a pastor preaches from the pulpit. Seeking and proving is where truth comes from and once believed it cannot be proven wrong.

Another way of proving a sinner has been saved is they have “…tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The word “tasted” means - to experience – they don’t just learn of Gods grace but rather they have experienced Gods grace, now how is this possible if God does not save the sinner. If salvation is not as described in Ephesians 2:8 – 10 then it is not real. Salvation come from God “…it is the gift of God…” Ephesians 2:8 This is tasting of Gods grace when the Holy Spirit has entered the heart of a lost sinner. This is the only way for change to come and therefore changing the sinner to a new person. Just because a person says their saved truly has no meaning without many changes in their life, therefore while they are telling you they are a Christian believe it with a “grain of salt” until there is evidence that the Holy Spirit resides in their heart. If God is there then they cannot be pleased with acting the way of the world.