Are You Following The Lord Daily?

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Before you answer that question, give it some thought. I know that most Christians believe that they are properly serving the Lord and following Him to their best ability, but are you truly doing enough. There are a lot of Christians who fail the Lord more than they think, and therefore are not picking up their cross and following Him. Also let us notice the word daily, do you do it daily. The word daily actually means - for the day, or throughout the day, “or "day by day". With this thought in mind, I ask again, how is your walk with the Lord? I wished that believers in Jesus Christ would put this at the top of their thoughts for just one single day and see what thoughts they have collected at the end of the day. Keep a record, or notes throughout the entire day from the time you get up until the time you go to bed. During that day list (honestly) things done for self, things done for others, and things done for the Lord. I believe if we were completely honest, the Lord would have the least in its section. Just because you do something for others does not mean it belongs in the “for the Lord” section. I believe the hardest thing for us to do is to deny ourselves. We are naturally tuned in selfishness because of the fall of Adam. Sin itself is selfishness. If we call ourselves “Christians” then we must compare the definition of the word to ourselves and see if the definition fits our life. The word Christian means – a follower of Christ – and it is often we find people who attend church sometimes, people who just consider themselves Christian, or people who think they are followers of the Lord, calling themselves Christians. I must ask the question here, according to the definition, when one is saved, are those believers in Christ or are they Christians. Maybe these two thoughts need to be more examined in our thinking. Maybe a believer in Jesus Christ should be a “believer” and one who follows the Lord a Christian. (This is just a thought folks, I am not trying to change doctrine.) But maybe we do use the word “Christian” to loosely. Let me ask this question, if a person that is saved and fails to follow Jesus Christ, are they a believer or a Christian? Now, if you are a “Christian” how good of a Christian are you? Jesus said “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself” This self-denial means throughout your day, while you are keeping these three sections, what you did for self, others, and the Lord, check the self-side and see if you denied self-enough for the Lord. Let us see if we denied ourselves enough to say we were “good Christians”. Folks, we indeed use the word Christian to loosely, I believe a follower of Christ is more than a believer in Christ, but also a follower of Christ, putting Jesus first in everything in our day. Before you do anything in life, ask how does it work with my service to Jesus. If a job or a promotion includes affecting your church service or you service to the Lord, it is not worth the promotion. If something will keep you out of church, then it is not worth it. If you are not serving the Lord the most every day you are not doing enough for the Lord. Here is the hardest part for us, every moment of everyday of your life belongs Lord for His benefit. We have no self-time, only Jesus-following time. I know some of you all will ask, how is your daily walk, but my daily walk is not your daily walk. Please understand, you must answer for yourself and no one else. God said “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another...For every man shall bear his own burden.” Galatians 6:4-5 If you use my life to judge or gauge your own life you will fail, but if you use the life of Jesus to measure your own life then you will succeed in being a good Christian. Let me close with this passage, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:11-14

What Power Does God Have?

Romans 9:21 "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"

The Apostle Paul is asking a very profound question that I believe we all need to ask ourselves, “Does God have the power over mankind”? If you were to listen to most Preachers, churches, or even Christians today the answer would be, NO! To hear them say it God has no power over the clay as a Potter at all, but rather the clay controls the Potter and the Potter can do nothing unless the clay “will’s it”. BUT, please allow me a few words of support to the scriptures, the Apostle Paul, and most certainly the bibles Author God the Potter. One would be wise to listen to the scriptures and not the commentary of the scriptures. What Paul is writing here is about the Sovereignty of God the Potter. That nasty word “sovereign” that is not allowed in most churches today. God has the right as Creator of all things to do as He pleases, even to make “vessels of mercy”, or “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”. He does not ask the “vessels” what they want to be, nor does He care which they want to be. He did not ask Lucifer if he wanted to be the devil, He did not ask Judas Iscariot if he wanted to betray Jesus, just like God did not ask a believer in Jesus Christ if they wanted to be saved, or a Preacher if they wanted to be a Pastor or Missionary. See God can take a little dirt from the ground He had just created and make a man, give him a wife He just made from the man’s rib, cause both of them to glorify Him, and then allow them to sin and fall. God never asks can He, He just does His blessed will. See He is Jehovah God and He has no one to ask permission of, nor does He wait for request. God has the right to do AS HE PLEASES with the clay, Vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor it does not matter. If you are a vessel of honor then it is God who made you that vessel, so give Him the glory for it. God never asked Pharaoh if he wanted his heart hardened, God just did it, even though it cost him his son’s life and then his own. Pharaoh died and went to hell because that is what God chose for him. God could have showed mercy and saved him, but God chose him a vessel of dishonor and sent him to hell. See, people do not choose to be vessels of honor, God and His mercy makes them vessels of honor. But here is the real question that should make every lost person quiver in their shoes, “what vessel did God make you” honor or dishonor? One does not just come to Jesus Christ, the Father must DRAW you. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44 So next time someone tells you that this Sovereign Grace stuff is baseless, read your bible. The only choice is that of the Potter and not the clay.

What Is Meant By “Err”

James 1:16 “Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

This is a little word, but carries a powerful meaning. The word itself means - go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way – but I believe here the Lord is telling us to beware that life and things in life do not lead us astray causing us to fall away from the church or the truths of God’s word. Life is difficult and the world is loaded with temptations. It is easy to give into the temptation of the world or Statin himself. The world that we live in today is loaded with greater temptations of drugs, fun, excitement, or anything that will take our mind off of God or His word. Churches have erred from truth and soundness in order to have a heavier population in the churches, and larger populations means more cash in the offering plate. People are tempted to avoid church by T.V, radio, of even the internet but there is no substitute for church. Satan has created many ways to make Christian believers to err. God will tempt us to try us but never to cause up to fall.  “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:” James 1:13 There is so much we as believers in Jesus Christ do not know or understand, but this I know while God will test us He will never cause us to fall. If we look at Job, he was heavily tempted by Satan, he took just about everything poor Job had, and with God’s blessings. See, God already knew how Job would react and God allowed these things to happen to show Satan how faithful Job was to God. It is true that God created evil because He created Lucifer to be the Devil. He created Esau to show He does not love everyone, and He created Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus Christ His Own Son. We simply do not always know or even understand why God does things or why He allows Satan to do certain things to us and to this world. While we are in this flesh there is so much about God that we will never understand, we will simply wander around trying to figure it all out like Job did. But the greatest lesson we can learn from Job is that he was faithful. It would have been easy to have obeyed his wife “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” Job 2:9 But Job called her a foolish woman and continued to be faithful to God. We might ask why God is doing these things to us, but truly we do not know if God is doing them or is Satan doing them. The best thing for us to do as Christians is to be like Job, and continue to be faithful to God. When we “err” or fall away from the church, the bible truths, or even to fall away from God, we are wrong to do so. Our life as Christians should be dedicated to God in every aspect, and it is our job to keep our faith strong. The first sign of “err” is our lack of church responsibility. As long as you are in church you are getting rejuvenated in the Lord, in your faith, and in your life. No, or little church activity is like little to no exercise, you weaken. Then life is like a set of dominos, once that first one falls, (the lack of church) then everything else begins to fall, like dominos tipping each other over till all have fallen. Beloved, it is our job to keep ourselves from err, God will give us the strength and ability to pass the err test of live, but it is still a work on our part. Never give up, God is still in control, even if the sky is falling, God is still in control. As long as we have strong faith and continue to attend church, God will continue to give us the faith to stand strong in this world of temptation. Prayer also is a must, the stronger your prayer life the stronger your church attendance, the stronger your truth will be and the stronger you will be to be able (like Job) to withstand the wales of the Devil and not ERR. 

What Is Meant By “Err”

James 1:16 “Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

This is a little word, but carries a powerful meaning. The word itself means - go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way – but I believe here the Lord is telling us to beware that life and things in life do not lead us astray causing us to fall away from the church or the truths of God’s word. Life is difficult and the world is loaded with temptations. It is easy to give into the temptation of the world or Statin himself. The world that we live in today is loaded with greater temptations of drugs, fun, excitement, or anything that will take our mind off of God or His word. Churches have erred from truth and soundness in order to have a heavier population in the churches, and larger populations means more cash in the offering plate. People are tempted to avoid church by T.V, radio, of even the internet but there is no substitute for church. Satan has created many ways to make Christian believers to err. God will tempt us to try us but never to cause up to fall.  “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:” James 1:13 There is so much we as believers in Jesus Christ do not know or understand, but this I know while God will test us He will never cause us to fall. If we look at Job, he was heavily tempted by Satan, he took just about everything poor Job had, and with God’s blessings. See, God already knew how Job would react and God allowed these things to happen to show Satan how faithful Job was to God. It is true that God created evil because He created Lucifer to be the Devil. He created Esau to show He does not love everyone, and He created Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus Christ His Own Son. We simply do not always know or even understand why God does things or why He allows Satan to do certain things to us and to this world. While we are in this flesh there is so much about God that we will never understand, we will simply wander around trying to figure it all out like Job did. But the greatest lesson we can learn from Job is that he was faithful. It would have been easy to have obeyed his wife “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” Job 2:9 But Job called her a foolish woman and continued to be faithful to God. We might ask why God is doing these things to us, but truly we do not know if God is doing them or is Satan doing them. The best thing for us to do as Christians is to be like Job, and continue to be faithful to God. When we “err” or fall away from the church, the bible truths, or even to fall away from God, we are wrong to do so. Our life as Christians should be dedicated to God in every aspect, and it is our job to keep our faith strong. The first sign of “err” is our lack of church responsibility. As long as you are in church you are getting rejuvenated in the Lord, in your faith, and in your life. No, or little church activity is like little to no exercise, you weaken. Then life is like a set of dominos, once that first one falls, (the lack of church) then everything else begins to fall, like dominos tipping each other over till all have fallen. Beloved, it is our job to keep ourselves from err, God will give us the strength and ability to pass the err test of live, but it is still a work on our part. Never give up, God is still in control, even if the sky is falling, God is still in control. As long as we have strong faith and continue to attend church, God will continue to give us the faith to stand strong in this world of temptation. Prayer also is a must, the stronger your prayer life the stronger your church attendance, the stronger your truth will be and the stronger you will be to be able (like Job) to withstand the wales of the Devil and not ERR.