God Be Merciful To Me A Sinner

Luke 18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
Now this man was humble before the Lord. He would not even raise his eyes to heaven because he knew he was wicked. He beat his chest in absolute shame of his sin. He did not try to explain why he sinned or that he might not be as bad as some others! He just humbly begged for forgiveness. Have you been at that place? Have you come to the realization that only Christ can save the lost soul from eternal Hell? It is not what you have done or what you will do but what Christ did! You can be moral, you can do good things, you can be as good a person as you can be but you can not make atonement to God for sinful man!! Christ was the atonement provided by God. He was the only acceptable atonement. He was obedient to His call, from God, as a one time sacrifice for all eternity. He is waiting for those who seek Him!

Lord, I humbly ask for the souls of men. Awaken them to the good news of Your inspired Word. Amen

The Kingdom of God is in the Midst of You

Luke 17:21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Do you know what the implications of these words are? Our body is the residing place of the Spirit of God. When you received salvation from Christ, His Spirit came!

Oh Lord, this grips my soul! Create in me a clean heart, show me how to be like You. Amen

We must, at all cost, proclaim the redeeming gospel of Christ. Lord, give us tongues on fire with Your word. Let us show the lost world they are headed for eternity without You. Help me to hold my anger, my judging of others, my disobedience, and all things evil. Teach me to seek You with a whole heart.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

Only You Lord have the power to save through the blood of the cross. Teach me to speak Your Word so the lost may hear and repent. Amen

Don't be like the ones who are waiting for the promised Messiah, He has come!!

Blinded

2 Cor.4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

It is hard to know some people will not see the truth of who Christ is! They have hard hearts, so deeply have they entrusted their souls to Satan, they are blinded to the truth. They are completely wicked and follow Satan in his willful rebellion against the supreme God of all things. We all started out this way, being under the bondage of sin, but God in his mercy delivered us. We are the ones who fall before Christ for mercy and salvation, who believe He died and rose again and eagerly wait for His return. We heard the Holy Spirit as we were told the truth of who Christ is!

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.


Acts 26:18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'


2 Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.


2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.


2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.


Galatians 1:4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father


Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.


Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven


Our call is to share the gospel!


Luke 24:47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.


Lord God, give us peace in You. Amen

Neither Will They Be Convinced

Luke 16:30-31 

30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 

31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

What would compel you to know that Christ is king, that He alone saves the souls of lost men?  This evil generation ask for a sign, when all around creation testifies of God Almighty! The bible gives knowledge to all who seek to know the Lord, but does this nation seek the Lord and His wisdom?



John 5:47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

Acts 18:28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Romans 4:21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised

The One and Only Way

Today would have been my Mom's birthday! She and my Dad died in 1998, just a few months apart. I and my brothers had been blessed with a loving home. My parents taught us right from wrong and that the choices we would make would have good or bad consequences. I had the awesome privilege of seeing my Dad saved while he was in his sixties. My Mom and Dad took us to church where our foundations were laid for later decisions we would make about being Christ followers. I know that I caused my parents a lot of grief because of my stubbornness! I hope they forgave me when I grew up and changed. I was not saved until I was in my twenties. I had the privilege of  hearing fine preaching from my old pastors, Dr. Arendall and Brother Dean. I knew that I was lost and needed Christ when I would hear these two men of God preach. I began to read my bible and study. I really did not go deep enough into bible study until I started attending Brook Hills. We had a pastor who was very good at presenting the gospel but not living it. He left in disgrace because of unrepentant sin with a woman. God is good in that when man fails, He does not! All of us who put our trust in man will be disappointed. God alone is worthy of all our praise and honor. Our present pastor is the most humble man you will ever meet! He makes no excuses about the gospel! The bible is real, it is God's authority and there is only one way to be reconciled to holy God. Through His Son Jesus, is the one and only acceptable way! If I could tell you only one thing about Christ, it would be, He saves your soul from Hell! He will take the most self centered heart and turn it toward compassion for others! You will be a new creation in Christ! I did not say you would be perfect! You will surely fail. You will yield to sin. You will not remain in sin. You will suffer when you sin. Your bible knowledge will show you, your heart and mind will have no peace and you will repent!

Salvation and the new man:
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh
2 Cor.5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Lord, how can we ignore so great a salvation? Open hearts to Your salvation! Amen

Wisdom:

Proverbs 2:10-11  for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you

Fear of the Lord:

Proverbs 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Job 28:28  And he said to man,’Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,  and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Pray for wisdom:

James 1:5  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God,who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Discernment:

Daniel 2:21  He changes times and seasons;  he removes kings and sets up kings;he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

Psalm 119:66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.

Proverbs 16:22 Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly

Jesus - A Man Of Sorrows

Sin, in the heart of man, brings death and destruction. Jesus knew what sin in the heart meant for mankind and it grieved His heart. Every evil done by man is a result of sin. Hate sin with all your being!! The first sin committed in the garden by Adam and Eve were the beginnings of our walk in sin. They listened to the Satan and yielded to temptation and entered into rebellion against God.


Gen.3:1-6 

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 
3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 
4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.


Matt.23:37-39 
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 
38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 
39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"


Is this not what the world is doing today? Are we not chief in rebellion against God? Look all around at the evil men do! Denying God's word, greed, crime, perverted assaults against children, all manner of lust, and tearing down the sanctity of marriage between man and woman. Lord, forgive us! How can we deny the sweet gift of salvation? Escape from the bondage of sin has been given to us, by Christ, through His death and resurrection. Our house is indeed left desolate, just as the people of Jerusalem. God is speaking to us about our impending destruction due to sinful rebellion. Look around to the signs of peril. No peace, destructive weather, illness, faintness of heart, an unstable economy, poor leadership in government, scandals of powerful men, and those who willingly pervert the truth of gospel to lead people in a direction contrary to God's teachings. Wake up before it is too late and you find yourself in eternity separated from God.

John 3:16-18 

16 "For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

God's word says who will not go into everlasting peace.
1 Cor.6:9-10 
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 
21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

God's plan!
1Cor.6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 


Let us pray for forgiveness, use self control against sin, flee from temptation and obey the Lord!
Lord, You are mighty to save, an all consuming power against sin and our coming King. We fall at Your throne of grace to receive mercy and pardon. By Your power and for Your glory among the nations! Amen and Amen

Sinners As Sinners

Christ came for sinners! He was numbered with the transgressors! He intercedes for sinners! Spurgeon said" Consider the plan." It was a plan of salvation and of neccessity it was intended to bless the sinner. The plan was based on grace, meaning it was for persons who did not derserve it. So if you think you need to change yourself before you ask Christ for forgiveness, you are wrong. Christ is the one who changes every man into a new creation. He wants a sinner just like you! You are who salvation was for, while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you! Christ bore your sins! He felt the weight of your sin and my sin. He removed them so they are no more! There are some that make light of sinning but it was Christ who took the weight of sin and He was innocent. Come as you are with the blackest of souls, Christ wants you. I can not make you believe in Christ. It is free to all who will believe. Don't think it too good to be true. Don't think it too simple to snatch you from Hell. It is what Christ has done on the cross, period!!!

1 Tim.1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Luke 22:37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors.' For what is written about me has its fulfillment."

Heb.7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermostthose who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Ps.103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Eph.2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.2Cor.5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Lord, we ask for the nations for Your glory. Open eyes to Your words of life. Amen