God’s Correcting Tool!

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” 2 Timothy 3:16

I am sometimes amazed when some visitors visit our church and compliments the sermon and how it was delivered, some will say “I wished my pastor taught like that” or “I wished my pastor preached that way”. And I must say the compliments are nice but why don’t they come back? It makes me wonder if it is the style or something in the deliverance they like. But most those who do return, often fail to return because as soon as they hear another sermon all of a sudden their opinion has changed, all of a sudden they are not as in love as they thought. I think people are accustomed in most places of worship of enjoying the speaker and not so much the message. Folks, the speaker is nothing; because a sermon is not the delivery is in the subject manner of the sermon. Or maybe they love the sermon as long as it has no hurting subject manner. So maybe if I would stop preaching the meat of the word, the doctrine of the word, then maybe people would be more in love with our services, but then, what would be the reason we call ourselves a CHURCH? We are a church because we worship God; we worship her head the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the pastor. A sermon is not a sermon from God until the speaker is irrelevant to the sermon. The bible cannot be cut so that a sermon does not tell a lost sinner they are going to hell, or that their ways of living will cause God to chasten them. A sermon is not a sermon until the truths of the bible are elevated to the top of the sermon. If a pastor is not preaching the doctrine of the bible then he is not preaching. If preachers are not upsetting people who may not be serving the Lord and the church then he is not preaching. There is a lot to preach about on the loving subjects of the bible, but there is also a lot not being preached on the harsh subjects. It is when these people hear these truths that I go from a good preacher to a devil in their minds. Folks, the bible was written for our learning DOCTRINE, for our REPROOF and CORRECTION in living life, and for our INSTRUCTION in life. Preaching is not about the preacher but about the message, if someone likes me or any other preacher for any other reason than we are preaching the truths of the bible, then they like us for the wrong reason.

God Said There Is None Righteous!

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one...There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God...They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Romans 3:10 – 12

This scripture was not written about a certain remnant of people, it was written about all of mankind with the exception of Jesus the Christ, the Son of man. We as people look at people as good, we believe there are morally good people and morally bad people and this is what separates us from good and bad. People often see God talking about the wicked and most people thinks God is not speaking about them because they are good. The bottom line is that here God is speaking about all mankind. Outside of Christ there is none righteous, none that understands God and His ways, and there is none that seek the Lord God. God also said that altogether we are unprofitable and no one ever does anything good. I understand that some may read this and wonder how this is possible when the world is full of good hearted and good natured people. However, God is not looking at our good moral ways but at our heart, and what God sees is total wickedness. God said we are all “… shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalms 51:5 What this means is that we are all born in total depravity which means there is no good in us which is what Paul just said in Romans 3. The Preacher went on to write in Ecclesiastes 7:20 “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." Not one single person including the one who pinned this book. We as sinners look at people as good but God is not a man and looks at the depraved heart and sees everyone different than we do. All mankind have evil hearts by birth and that is something we can’t see in those we think are morally good people. You can take the most moral good person you know and if you look deep enough even you can find evil of some sort. This is why there are none righteous on the earth, because all are evil even though we may not see it. However, there are some good souls and they are those who have believed in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who believe that the blood of Jesus cleanses all their sins away. This is the only way to ever please God, the only way to ever be good. The good in us (as Christians) is Christ, and none else. If Christ was not there we would also be evil at heart. But He is and brought to us a new heart. How is your heart, is it in Christ, or are you evil and never pleasing God. Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

Eternality Saved.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit...For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:1 – 2

People who have come to know Christ Jesus in their hearts know that God has changed them; they understand something phenomenal has happened to them. God never touches anything without the thing being touched is different. With this in mind let us also understand that God does noting half way and He would never leave the keeping of something entirely in the hands of man. We are servants of God who work with and under God. We cannot do Gods work on our own; therefore salvation was never left in the hands of man. The scripture speaks boldly about the Holy Spirit saving people. Romans 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." All the children of God are led by the Holy Spirit. Some people want to drum-up in their hearts and minds that they somehow brought about their own salvation a part from the Holy Spirit but the scriptures boldly deny that man on his own (a.) wants too, and (b.) can in Romans 3:11 – 19 as well as many other places. I could never know how the Holy Spirit of God can save a soul and the recipient not know that God has visited and change them. God said in verse 1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…” there in no condemnation ever. The facts are that once one has been redeemed by the Holy Spirit through the blood of Jesus Christ then there can never be any condemnation because the Blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all (not part) of our sins. 1 John 1:7 "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." If the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses all our sins then how could they be any condemnation? It is by the “Spirit of life” and in Christ Jesus and His blood that has “made me free from the law of sin and death." And this is why there is NO condemnation. It stands for reason that if one understands life they should understand that a person cannot be unborn. We are given birth by God through the work of the Holy Spirit and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We now the children of God, and not bastards. Hebrews 12:8 “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” God will never condemn His own dear children. To think that one can be born in and out of the family of God is also an unthinkable thing. Our God, our Father will never bring wrath or condemnation to those who are His own. 1 Peter 1:5 “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Psalms 37:23 - 24 "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. (24.) Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand."

Thank you Lord God For Your Glorious Gift.

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

In the beginning was the Word, and the word was God. In verse 14 it says “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” What a wonderful thing God hath blessed us with, the Saviour of mankind has come, come in the form of a man, in the likeness of sinful flesh, to give His life as a salvation for sinful man. It was before time, before creation, before the angels, it was before the beginning Gen. 1:1, God elected to send His beloved Son to this world. He was the Messiah that Israel was looking for, the Messiah they had hoped for, the Messiah sent from God they looked for in the Old Testament time; and they rejected Him. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." John 1:11 He was totally rejected by the very nation chosen of God and which He was born one of. He was not a blessing to them but rather a curse. A curse that they could not wait to kill for living a sin free life, for resisting Satan’s temptation, for preaching truth, for healing the blind, the mute, and the deaf. This man sent from God was to bring salvation, life, joy, and peace was simply too much for the people to stand, so He must die. John went on to say, “He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. (32.) And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony." John 3:31 – 32 The Israelites hated the blessing from God so much that they shouted CRUCIFY HIM! And crucify Him they did, like a sinner, like the worst among us. They hated Him so much they released a murder to make room for Him at the mount. However, as He had began to die things started to happen, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, the earth did quake, rocks were torn into half, graves were opened and dead bodies of the saints of God walked the streets, God had lifted His hand and slapped the earth to show them what they had done. It was so powerful the centurion (the captain of one hundred men) shouted Truly this was the Son of God "Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God." Matthew 27:54 Indeed this was the Son of man paying the hell penalty for all the elect of God. What a powerful event this was when they crucified the Son of man. Thank God for His glorious gift He has given to us in Christ Jesus. He may have been rejected by His own, He might be rejected by religionist of our time, He may be rejected by world governments, He might be rejected by all lost people, but thank God I believe in Jesus Christ as my eternal salvation. God said salvation is a gift and indeed it is a glorious gift from God to those whom He loves. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23