Do You Follow Jesus Voice?

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” John 10:27

We live in a world that contains billions of Christians, some of whom are Christians and some of whom are counterfeit Christians. I do not mean to be rude with my names but there are a lot of Christians that are so by name only. A real Christian loves the Lord Jesus Christ, they love to worship Him, they love to learn from Him, and they love to walk in the path of His righteousness. The Real Christian depends on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour; they depend on the gift of His life, death, burial, and resurrection for their salvation. They depend on His glorious blood to cleanse them from all their sins, and trust that it does just that. The real Christian takes the word of God literally as His word and trusts it to be alive in their heart. They trust what it says and will stake their eternal being on its contents. The question I have for you the Christian is; do you trust the word of God? Do you hear it speak to you personally? Do you cherish it in your heart as a book of Godly learning, and a book to rule your life? Jesus said in verses 25 and 26 "Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me...But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you." They did not believe because they were not His sheep, what a sad thing to hear. These poor folks were not the children of God; they were all destined for eternal hell fire. I believe this is why there are so many counterfeit Christians in the world today and have always been. They think they hear Jesus but in reality they only hear what they want to hear and that is the devil controlling their hearing and actions. God said in Romans 1:24, 25 "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves...Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." God gave them up to their own voices and they changed the truth into a lie and served themselves over God. Let me ask, does your doctrine in church worship the creature or the Creator? Do you truly serve God or man? It is important that you know this because the teachings of Jesus never worships man, never glorifies man, and never, no never puts the wishes and wants of man over God. Not even the Lord Jesus Christ ever put His will above that of the Fathers. John 5:30 "...because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." The question here us; who’s will do you seek to do? Do you read the bible wanting to learn or to teach? The bible was written for our understanding of God’s teaching us and to learn us of His teachings and His will for us. If we believe a lie then we have not heard God speak or we do not believe what He has said. Jesus said His sheep hear His voice, which means they hear what He said and understand spiritually what he has said. Just as He followed His Fathers will we follow His because He and the Father are one. That means they are one in knowledge, thinking, and in doing things. Are you one with them? Jesus said not only do we hear Him but we also follow Him, we follow Him as one of authority and power to teach and lead. Following Him, not in our own ways and thinking but in His. It is like James taught us in James 2:26 "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." Then wouldn’t it be safe to say that Christians without learning and following also be dead? I have to wonder about “Christians” who refuse to learn, follow, and serve our glorious Saviour and God in truth and righteousness. If faith without works is dead then what is Christianity without truth. Truth is defined as God, and what He says is truth because He cannot lie. Seek the truth and follow it. Let God speak to you and stop telling God what He means. When God speaks if you follow him and you will never be wrong.

The Grace That Brings Salvation.

Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,”

Oh! If salvation were as most believe it would be such a strain on mankind. Most believe that salvation is in the hands of mankind but they are so wrong. Salvation is in totality of God, it is His precious gift to those who truly believe. If it were left up to man he would never come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Saviour. It is “grace that bringeth salvation” It is grace that has delivered salvation to all who have believed. One that has been truly saved by God knows that they were saved by a source other than themselves. I believe the most provable scripture that salvation is totally of God and not of man is Ephesians 2:8 - 9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God...Not of works, lest any man should boast." I do not know how anyone could be confused on these scriptures. These scriptures are two of the most irrefutable scriptures in the bible. I believe they are as sound in teaching as Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." and then ask “who created the heavens and the earth.” God warned mankind that they would seek to create their own salvation and they did, He warned they would change the Truth of God into a lie and they have. Romans 1:25 "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." I must ask here; doesn’t salvation as most of the world see’s it involve worshiping the creature? This also reminds me of “serving two master” if a person is the master and creators of their own salvation, if they worship themselves more than God in salvation, aren’t they attempting to serve two masters. God said in Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Doesn’t serving yourself in salvation eliminate God, which is removing God mathematical from the results? If one has done the deeds to bring salvation to themselves than were does God fit? But, if one is saved by grace and through faith then where does man fit? This is the same thought in church membership; 1 Corinthians 12:18 "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." As it is of wisdom; James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally...", The same as it is in knowledge; 1 Corinthians 1:5 "That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;" the truth is we only need one master and that is God who giveth all things we need by grace. Grace hath delivered all things to the Christian. What master do you serve? From whom did your salvations come from? Whom do you serve God or yourself? How can one say salvation is of grace, if salvation is of man? How can one stand in church and sing “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me....” if they are their own saviour?

Paul went on to write “…hath appeared to all men,” This does not mean that this grace is available to all men but that it can be seen of all men. The word “appeared” means - to shine upon; or to be visible – to all men. Man can see it in a saved person; they can see it in what a saved person believes about their Sovereign God. In how God receives all credit for everything not in word only but also in deed. They can see, but they will reject what they see. They will turn the truth of God into a lie just as God said, worshiping the creature over the creator because they are not saved and reject God in reality. Rejecting

I believe deep in the hearts of all mankind they know God exist.

Romans 1:32 "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

It is my personal belief that all created beings which would include humans believes that Jehovah God exists. I believe they know He created everything and that He controls everything. I believe this is why they reject Him as they do. They make themselves believe that He does not exist and therefore they fight more and more to prove Him as non-existent, as non-sovereign, and as non-controlling. They call Him a liar, they mock Him and His word, and they spend their entire life trying to convince themselves and others that His is an imaginary creature. I believe they want to be unclean because it is what they lust as lost souls. I believe that they know it is wrong to live ungodly and enjoy it because it defiles God. Therefore they changed God into a god and allowed Him to be weak and insignificant in their own hearts. They changed God into a god that commands evil over love, and depends on man to do his work because he is too weak to accomplish anything. God can be whatever they want Him to be, nature, a statue, a dead man who is in the grave, a doll, even just a figment of their imagination. Even those who claim to know God, who knows Christ, who call themselves Christians deny who God truly is and worship a god who is weak and insignificant. Yes I believe the entire world knows their creator to a point and this is why they created a false God to take His place. They have changed Gods Holy Truth into an unholy lie and worship the creature over the creator. I believe this is why the hatred of God is so deep in mankind, even in so called Christians who attempt to weaken our Sovereign God. I believe this is why He, His children, His word, and even the thought of Him are so vitally hated. I believe they want to weaken and hurt God because they want to control Him; they want Him and His beloved children to be wicked and vile like them. This is why they convince themselves that we are no better then they, but what they fail so see is the blood of Christ in us, it is not what they see it is what God sees and He sees a person who has never sinned, no not once. In them He only sees sin and because of that He hates them and their sin. They are not His chosen vessels and therefore are GIVEN over to their evil hearts, their vile affections, their imaginary gods, and their sinfulness. God does not want them as his own and never will. He is not awaiting them to repent, turn over a new leaf, or to make a decision for Christ because they never will, because God has given them over to their heart of evil and to Satan their father. I believe in their own hearts they know at least some part of this and this is why they hate God so much. I think the fact they know hell exist and they are heading there causes them to be more evil. Romans 1:21 "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."

A Good Pastor Is Worth His Weight In Gold.

1 Timothy 5:17 - 18 “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. (18.) For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.”

All churches must reach the point that they must recognize their Pastors worth. Churches never need to take their Pastors for granted, never ever. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Your Pastor is as valuable as gold, why if you looked up tomorrow and you no longer had him? Pastors are far and getting farther in-between. God said that an elder or Pastor that rules well is worthy of double honor, but before you can know what that is you must first know what honor or his worth is, then double it. If your Pastor is worth salt he will never ask for a raise in pay, never suggest that maybe he is not getting enough, but the church must ponder this thought once in every while to know they are happy with their support of their Pastor. Now we as Pastors are always happy with what the church can give, and does give, we are not your Pastors for money and will never value money while being your Pastor. Chances are your Pastor will never ask you for more money and if asked he will almost always say “I receive enough”. But what is your Pastors worth? Are you giving him sufficient corn? Don’t muzzle the ox that is doing the work because if you do he will weaken. For a Pastor that does his job is wonderful but one who preaches above and beyond standard is priceless. Your Pastor will always earn his pay but are the churches rewarding him enough for his labors. I am not speaking here for a raise from my own church, but for other Pastors who receive less than I do. I hear church members saying “we do all we can” but I ask “do you”? Pastors are called men of God and only those called of God will ever be able to do it right and with power. Pastors are getting fewer and farther in between, because there are countless churches that are without who would love to have yours. However, the system that God has created is a man stays with one church until God moves him. This keeps other churches from bidding and trying to hire your Pastor. I would never leave this church for another just for money because being a Pastor is not about money. I once heard a Pastor tell a church member of another church that they ought to feel real blessed that they had their Pastor, I must ask you; do you feel blessed to have your Pastor? Are you doing all you can to support your Pastor? Are you holding back corn from him and letting him go hungry? There are many ways you can support your Pastor, but don’t forget the corn. Many churches Pastors works secular jobs like myself in order to make it possible to pastor the church, but churches don’t need to count their secular jobs as support, it is not. If you are happy with what you give your Pastor then God bless you in your gift, but if not, it might be time to re-evaluate what you give. You Pastor will always give you his best, now the churches need to give him their best. May God bless all His churches and their Pastors now and forever, Amen!