Are you Salty?

  Are you Salty?

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16

Are you Salty? Are you as a Christian living a life discernibly different from the world around you. My first pastor use to ask if you were on trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence that you were indeed living for Christ?

Francis of Assisi said it best,

“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” 

                                                                                  Francis of Assisi.

As Christians our light should be shining at all times. We shouldn’t have to tell people we are Christians, nor should we be always quoting scripture and hitting them over the head with the bible.

Our lives should be a testimony of our love for Christ. Again to quote Francis of Assisi,

“The deeds you do

 may be the only sermon some persons will hear today” 

                                                                                             Francis of Assisi.

Think about it.  

Confessing your sins to God

  Confessing your sins to God

The gospel of Luke records,

"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 

But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?  

We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." 

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'" 

Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:39-43.

The crucifixion illustrates how we get to heaven.

During Chris’s crucifixion two criminals hung with him. One hurled insults at him telling him if he was the Christ to save himself and them.

The other believed Jesus was the Christ confessed that he was a sinner and asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. 

To which Jesus replied,

“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”

The apostle John wrote,

  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." 1 John 1:9,10.

The condemned man admitted he was a sinner, that he had done wrong. He believed Jesus to be who he said he was, The Son of God and asked Jesus to simply remember him when He entered his Kingdom.

Have you confessed your sin large or small to God?

If not why not do so today?

Please think about it.

Christians believe

  Christians believe

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  

        If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." 1John 1:9-10

For the most part I believe people believe in an after life. They believe in a heaven and a hell. Most people however believe that if you live a good life, a life where the good outweighs the bad you'll get to heaven. Christians don't believe it's quite  that way.

While Christians believe you must do as much good in this life as you can we are still not perfect enough to stand before a Holy God.

Christians acknowledge that man makes mistakes big ones, and little ones. That no man is completely good. That even the best people has the potential to do evil things. That even the most evil of men have the potential to repent of their wrong doing.

C. S. Lewis said,

"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us." C.S. Lewis

Lewis also said,

"He (Jesus) died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less."   C.S. Lewis

Do you believe this?

Please think about it.

A Message from Athens to us

 A message from Athens to us

Two thousand years ago give or take a few years, the Apostle Paul was invited by the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers of Athens to speak to them about Christ. The message he gave that day is as relevant today as when he spoke it. The book of Acts records the incident.

“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.  

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  

A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  

Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  

You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”  

(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 

“Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  

For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  

And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  

God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  

‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.  

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  

For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  

At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.” Acts 17:16-34.

As I said this message is as important today as it was then. And interestingly enough people today seem divided as the Athenians were. Some will sneer, some want to hear more and some will become followers of Christ Jesus.

In which group are you.

Please think about it.

Truths about Jesus

  Truths about Jesus

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  

If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.  

The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  

But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:  

Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1John 1:5-26

Some simple truths from John.

1/ “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”

2/ “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not  live by the truth.”

3/ “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,  and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

4/ “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us....”

5/ “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

6/ “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and  purify us from all unrighteousness.”

7/ “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands...”

8/ “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” 

John also makes it clear that if we sin we,

“...we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

As Christians it is important for us to live a life as close to the ideals Jesus set out for us as possible.

John recognizes that we are human and that we do sin and thus have one who speaks in our defense, Jesus Christ.

Please think about it.

A workman Approved

  A workman approved

The apostle Paul when writing to Timothy states:

“Do your best to present yourself to God

as one approved,

a workman who does not need to be ashamed

                                and who correctly handles the Word of truth.”                                                                                                     2Timothy 2:15.

Here Paul tells Timothy and through Timothy us to correctly handle “the Word of truth” 

In chapter four of 2Timothy we read,

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2Timothy 4:3,4.

It is easy to deliberately misuse the scriptures. There are many high profile evangelist and pastors out there who have done and still are misinterpreting God’s word. As such, as believers in Christ Jesus we must be careful. We must pray and study the scriptures for ourselves. We need as Paul states,

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2Timothy 2:15.

Are you doing this?

Please think about it.

Getting to Heaven (a hot button issue)

 Getting to heaven (a hot button Issue)

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  Psalm 139:13-16.

Someone trying to put me on the spot in front of my pastor and others, asked me, “Can a Gay man get to heaven.”

I quoted the above verses from Psalm 139. 

I informed the man that God knows us intimately that according to the Psalmist God created our inmost being. That He knitted us together in our mothers womb. To me that means God knows our very genetic code and what makes us, us.

God does not discriminate against anyone be they gay or strait, from Canada or from anywhere else in the world. God Loves all people equally and knows why they are like they are.

When Jesus said,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

He did not put limits on God’s love. He did not discriminate between races or sexual orientation. He simply said, “whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

So yes anyone can get to heaven. They simply have to listen to the words of Jesus who gives all people everywhere a choice when He said,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. John 3:16-18.

Jesus said,

Do not judge, or you too will be judged." Matthew 7:1.

This is especially true when judging where a person will spend eternity. That is between them and God.

The apostle Paul wrote,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9.

Salvation is a free gift from God open to all who will believe in Jesus Christ no matter who they are.

Please think about it.