Tue, Oct 29th - 11:35AM

John 14:21-24

John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

Jesus said the ones that love Him are the ones that obey His teachings. There are a lot of people who claim they love God and believe in God but yet there actions don’t show it. If they truly believed in God and love Him like they claim wouldn’t they want to obey Him and follow the teachings of Christ? The truth is many people love the things of this world more than they do God. They love the sins and pleasures of this world more than they do God. To follow the teachings of Christ would get in the way of how they want to live their lives instead of how God wants them to live their lives.

We hear it all the time. “I believe in God but I don’t understand why?” “Why do I have to give up partying, or drinking, or doing drugs, or sleeping around to be a Christian?” Why can’t I have fun and still be a Christian?” “Why is everything that seems fun a sin?” “Why are there all these rules we have to live by?”

Well believe it or not God is smarter than all of us. There is a reason certain things are sin. These things might seem like fun but people often ignore the destructive nature of the things they call fun. Alcohol and drug abuse destroys millions of lives every year. Not just lives but families, careers, and societies. The media and society often glamorizes casual sex while ignoring the fact of unwanted pregnancies, which lead to abortions and unwanted children, and diseases but must all in our society we worship sex. We have turned our young ladies into the idols of our worship of sex where many young ladies begin to believe their whole value in life is based on their sex appeal. Many young ladies believe their only worth in life is to be somebody plaything. But most of all God expects those who claim to be the children of God and Christians to live a holy and sanctified life free from the snares of this world which are only traps laid by Satan to lead us away from God instead of toward Him. God expects us to live a life that brings honor to Him and not ourselves.

Now lastly, look at verse 24, it says those who don’t follow His teachings don’t love Him. If you say you love God and believe in Him and yet don’t obey His teachings you are liar because if you truly love Him you would obey Him.

Sat, Oct 26th - 10:32AM

John 14:13-14

John 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

When Jesus said you can ask for anything does that really mean anything and He will do it? Of course not. We are instructed to pray according to the will of God. Look at the prayers of Jesus in the Bible. In what we called the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10 Jesus said, “Thy will be done on earth.” When Jesus was praying in the garden before His arrest His prayer was that God’s will be done. (Matthew 26) If Jesus prayed that God’s will be done then shouldn’t our prayer also be that God’s will be done.

I say that because there are many people that teach that if you have enough faith God will give you anything you want. Well there is a few things wrong with that. First, God isn’t a magical genie sitting in heaven waiting to grant our wishes. Second, God is almighty, He isn’t captive to our wishes and desires. Third, God can’t go against His own nature. If I ask for the death of my neighbor because I am mad at him God isn’t going to answer my prayers no matter how much faith I have. And last, this kind of thinking is very self-centered and greedy. It completely ignores the will of God in our lives. 

There is a difference between need and greed. I need money for food, rent, and the other needs of life. To ask for more than I need is greed. I need a house to live in. To ask for a million dollar home is greed. I need a car for transportation. To ask for a luxury car is greed. The point is God doesn’t answer prayers of greed no matter how much faith we have. 

Look what James 4:3 says:

3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (NIV)

God isn’t going to answer your prayers if you ask with the wrong motives and you can’t fool God because God knows the heart.

Fri, Oct 18th - 10:23PM

John 12:47-50

John 12:47 If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (NIV)

Christ came into the world to save the world that whosoever believes in Him and accepts Him as Lord and Savior can have their sins forgiven and eternal life through Him but those who reject Him and His gift of salvation is condemned because they have rejected the only Way to salvation. Christ is the only path to salvation so if you reject the One and only Way to salvation then you are condemned and you will die in your sins and spend an eternity in hell. 

This is not my teaching this is what the Bible says:

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Hebrews 9:27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

If your name is not written in the Book of Life you will not see heaven. How does your name get written in the Book of Life? By accepting Christ as Lord and Savior. Until you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior and be born again then you are still spiritually dead and the penalty of your sins. The Bible says the penalty of sin is death, not physical death because we will all die physically, unless Christ returns first, but spiritual death. The second death as described in Revelation. If you do not have Christ as your Lord and Savior you will spend eternity in hell but Christ provided the way for you to escape this penalty if you would only accept Him.

God provided a way for you to escape the just penalty of your sins and disobedience to Him but what is He to do if you reject His gift of salvation? He isn’t going to force anyone into heaven. If you reject Him and His gift of salvation what is He to do but give you what you want? If you reject salvation than it is obvious you chose to remain under the penalty of your sins and you have chosen hell over salvation so God will give you what you ask for.

Wed, Oct 16th - 8:02PM

John 12:42-43

John 12:42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: 43For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Isn’t this a sad statement? Many of the rulers believed in Christ but refused to confess their belief because they were afraid they might be put out of the synagogue by the Phaisees. Well Jesus said if you refuse to confess you know Him before men He will refuse to know you before God (Matthew 10:32-33) and since Jesus is the only Way to the Father that means if He refuses to acknowledge you to God you are not going to heaven. Because Jesus is the only Way to heaven and if you refuse to acknowledge the Way to heaven you are not going to heaven. Romans 10:9-10 tells us we not only have to believe in Christ but have to confess Christ. 

Well the same thing is going on today in so many churches. So many of our churches and leaders are more interested in pleasing society and trying to be appealing to society than they are in pleasing God. When you have churches and leaders sided with those who are attacking Christianity in this country instead of standing beside their brothers in Christ you know we have problems. So many of our churches and leaders are more interested in being politically correct than Biblically correct. They are more interested in the praise of men than the praise of God. The Bible tells us that each and every one of us will stand before the judgment seat of God someday to give an account of our lives. What possible excuse could you give to God for refusing to acknowledge Him and His Word before man? 

Tue, Oct 15th - 7:30PM

John 12:39-41

John 12:39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40“He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their hearts,

so they can neither see with their eyes,

nor understand with their hearts,

nor turn—and I would heal them.”

41Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. (NIV)

Isaiah spoke these words in Isaiah chapter 6 when God commissioned Isaiah as a prophet to Israel. God warned Isaiah that all though He was sending Him as a prophet to Israel they would not listen to him because their hearts had been turned away from God. It wasn’t that God didn’t want them to believe but He knew their hearts and knew they would reject His word so God allowed their hearts to be hardened so that they couldn’t see or understand or turn back to God. The Bible says the Word of God is powerful and it will not return back void. The Word of God is going to have an effect one way or another. Either it is going to be believed and accepted by the hearer or it is going to be rejected and every time the Word of God is rejected the hearer’s heart turns a little bit harder to the truth. Look at these militant atheists that fight so hard against a God they claim don’t exist.  They are a perfect example of a heart that has been hardened to the truth of the Word of God.

In Jesus time the Jews claimed to be the children of God but yet God was before them in the flesh and they refused to accept Him and wanted Him dead because to the Jewish leaders He was a threat to their power over the people. Jesus performed miracle after miracle before them and they refuse to believe Him and accused Him of being in league with Satan and since they refused to believe God allowed their hearts to be hardened so that they cannot see the truth or understand the truth or be able to turn back to Him. He gave them what they wanted. After the Jews rejected the Gospel of Christ and had Christ crucified the good news of the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles so that whosoever believed in Christ could be the children of God. 

But there is good news in all of this. We know the Gospel has the power to penetrate even the hardest of hearts. Paul had made it his mission to destroy Christianity and he had the blood of Christians on his hands but when he meet Christ on the road to Damascus even this hardest of hearts couldn’t resist the Gospel. No one is beyond hope of salvation because the Gospel can penetrate the most rebellious and hardest of hearts. That means we have to preach the Word and witness to those who have hardened their hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to work on the individual and if they refuse then we have done our part because the sad truth is many will never believe no matter what because they refuse to believe and God is going to give them what they want. He will turn from them and they will bear the consequences of rejecting Him and His gift of salvation through Christ.

Sat, Oct 12th - 10:16PM

John 12:27

John 12:27 Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. (NIV)

Jesus came to the earth to die for the sins of mankind. He gave His life freely for us. No one took it from Him. He gave it up freely as a sin sacrifice for our sins. I have heard many people say that Jesus got caught up in events beyond His control and it cost Him His life. This is completely false. Jesus was the Son of God; no one had the power to take His life unless He gave it up freely.

If you read the Old Testament it details the way the Messiah would die and why He would die. So the death of Christ was planned and executed according to the will of God. These prophecies of the death of Christ were written hundreds of years before they happened and the death of Christ happened just as prophesied. So those who make the ridiculous claim that Jesus didn’t planned to die and that He just got caught up in events beyond His control are either false teachers or they are completely ignorant of the Word of God. 

Jesus died on the cross so that whosoever believes in Him and accepts Him as Lord and Savior can have their sins forgiven and eternal life through Him. The Bible says the penalty of sin is death and that we all have sinned. Under the Old Testament God allowed an animal to be sacrificed for the sins of man but under the New Testament Christ became the sin sacrifice for all of mankind on the cross. This doesn’t mean we are all saved automatically as taught by the Universalists. It means those who believe on Christ, repent of their sins, and accept Christ as Lord and Savior can be born again and have eternal life through Christ. The Bible says we are born once in the flesh and born into sin but when we accept Christ as Savior we are born again. We are no longer a sinful man headed to hell but now we are a forgiven man headed to heaven because it is through Christ and Christ alone we can have our sins forgiven and eternal life with the Father in heaven. It is through Christ alone that you can have your sins forgiven because it is only Christ that has paid the way for your sins to be forgiven. There is no other way to heaven because all others ways are traps lay by Satan to lead man away from God instead of toward Him. 

Fri, Oct 11th - 10:22PM

John 12:26

John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

The Bible says we cannot have two masters. If you claim to be a follower of Christ then that means you accept Christ as your Master and Lord. If you claim to be a follower of Christ then that means you are a disciple of Christ. A disciple follows the ways of the Master and learns from His teachings and lives to live a life pleasing to the Master. A disciple leaves his old life behind to follow the Master. He leaves the old life behind and lives the life that the Master desires him to live.

A lot of people who call themselves Christian struggle with this idea of leaving the old life behind. They want the best of both worlds. They want to continue to do the things they did in the past but yet reap the benefits of being a Christian. In other words they want to continue to enjoy their sins and yet believe they are going to go to heaven. If you really are not serious about following Christ completely then you were probably never saved to begin with. Being saved means you have made a commitment to leaving your sins behind, you believe Christ is the Savior, and you are committed to following Him and leaving the old life behind. 

This doesn’t just apply to individuals but churches to. We have a lot of churches trying to live with one foot in the world and one in service to God. This doesn’t work. Once again Christ said we can’t serve two masters but a lot of churches are trying to do that. They claim to be serving God but yet many are more interested in being politically correct instead of Biblically correct. Many are more interested in pleasing society than they are in pleasing God. The recent debates about marriage make this very clear. We have many of our Mainline Protestant churches that have caved into the pressures of society to accept what they have deemed normal instead of what the Bible has deemed correct. Any serious student of the Bible knows how God feels about marriage and homosexuality but many have forsaken the Word of God to appear pleasing to society. Well in the end God is the judge and God will judge them for compromising with the world.

If you claim to be Christian then you need to ask yourself the hard question. Are you ready to leave the old life behind and follow Christ completely no matter where that might lead you? Are you ready to give yourself completely to Him and live to fulfill the will of God not your own?

Thu, Oct 10th - 7:40PM

John 12:25

John 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

The Bible tells us in John 3 that we must be born again to go to heaven. We are born once physically into a world of sin and corruption and we are born with a sinful nature. Every one of us are sinners on our way to hell until we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. This is when we are born again, this is when we are saved when we turned from our old sinful nature and accept Christ as our Savior. We are no longer sinners headed to hell but Disciples of Christ on our way to heaven. This is when we no longer live to please our sinful and selfish nature but now we live to do the will of God and to do what pleases Him. We no longer live to fulfill our on pleasures but we live to please God. 

To be a true disciple of Christ you must put the old sinful life behind you and live to follow Christ. A disciple lives to please the Master and follows the life of the Master. We learn to live the Christian life by living the life Christ lived and the life He would have us to live. That means we no longer live to fulfill the desires of the flesh but we live to please God. The things of this world such as money, possessions, and power are no longer important to us. What is important is pleasing God. 

One of the hardest things for believers to do is leave the things of this world behind. Satan doesn’t make it easy. He makes the things of the world look exciting and glorious while hiding the pain they bring. TV and movies often glorify the party lifestyle while ignoring the effects of drug abuse and alcohol abuse has on the individual, the family, and society as a whole. Society sells the message that we must have money and possessions and strive to be successful while hiding the fact that these things never satisfy and people often sacrifice those who are the closest to them to pursue these things. Satan sells the message that sexual satisfaction should be pursued outside of marriage while hiding the ugly facts of unwanted pregnancy, disease, and the loss of innocence of so many of our young people. 

The things of this world never truly satisfy and people sacrifice eternity with God pursuing these things instead of pursuing a true saving relationship with God. To be a child of God you must leave the old sinful life behind and be born again as a disciple who lives to please God.

Wed, Oct 9th - 2:12PM

John 12:24

Sun, Oct 6th - 10:15PM

Joshua 24:14-15

Joshua 24:14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 15And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

This is a decision that every Christian head of the house needs to make. Are you and your household going to serve the gods of this world, money, lust, greed, worldliness, etc., or are you going to serve God? Is your house built on the sure foundation of God and His Word or is built on the shallow foundation of the things of this world? Is your house built on the strong foundation of Christ so that it can face all the storms thrown at it or it is built on a foundation of sand and the shallow hopes of this world so that when the storms come it falls apart? 

The family unit is the basic building block of any society. The way the family goes is the way society goes. When there is corruption in the family there is corruption in society. When there is a lack of respect, morals, and values in the family then the same problems are going to arise in society because if kids are not taught these things in the home then who is going to teach them? When kids are not taught the ways of God in the home then who is going to teach them? Is it the Sunday school teacher or the pastor’s job to teach your kids how to live the Christian life or is the parent’s job? It should always start in the home first. That is part of the problem we are having now. Parents are expecting others to teach their kids so they don’t have to.

A lot of Christians fail to grasp the importance of the marriage debate. The debate is not just about homosexual rights it is about the government and special interest groups trying to redefine what is a family. Satan knows the importance of family. If the family crumbles then society crumbles with it. God has determined what a family is in the Bible and any attempt to redefine that is sin because it is disobeying the will of God. It is the arrogance of man believing he knows what is best for society over God.

Where there are strong Biblical families I can show you a healthy society.  Show me a neighborhood or a society that is falling apart and I can show you families that wrecked with drug abuse, alcohol abuse and have forsaken God. So who are you and your household going to serve? 

Thu, Oct 3rd - 7:34PM

John 11:45-48

John 11:45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

⁴⁶ But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.

⁴⁸ If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

These verses are so telling of what was the problem with the Jewish religious leadership. They were more concern with their potential loss of prestige and power than anything. They admit they Jesus did miracles, no one could deny this fact but they had hardened their hearts to the possibility that He could in fact be the Son of God as He claimed and refused to believe in Him. They were more concerned with the political implications if they recognized Jesus as the Christ than they were in pleasing God and sadly the same continues today. 

Well human nature is human nature and it really hasn’t changed in 2000 years. We still have religious leaders today and Christians who are more interesting in pleasing men than in pleasing God. They know the truth of the Bible. They know the Bible is very clear that without Christ as man’s Savior he is heading to hell. The Bible is very clear about this but many churches refuse to preach this out of fear of offending someone or completely deny the fact that the Bible teaches of hell. The Bible is very clear that Christ is the one and only way to heaven and all other religions are false ways and only lead to hell but many churches today avoid this subject, deny this fact or has accepted the false teaching of universal salvation. The Bible is very clear on God’s design for marriage which is one man and one woman united for life but today we have so many churches ignoring the Word of God or denying that this is what it teaches. And of course we have those churches and Christians who say the Bible is not really the Word of God and pick and choose what to take from it. Of course they choose to ignore all those nasty parts about sin and hell and judgment. Well they are not fooling God. 

We will all stand before the judgment seat of God someday so you need to decide are you more interested in being politically correct or Biblically correct? Are you more interesting in pleasing man and society are in pleasing God? Do you have the faith to be a Christian of courage and take a stand on the Word of God or are you going to bow to the pressures to conform? Are you like the Jewish leaders more concerned with the political and social ramifications in taking a Biblical stand in today’s liberal society than you are in pleasing God?