What Must I Do?

The common question of a lot of people is what must I do to be saved. What steps must I take, what list must I follow, what work must I do, what rules must I obey, to earn God's salvation? There is one answer to all of man's questions and the answer is, nothing. There is nothing that you must do. There is nothing that you can do. Christ did it all. God did it all.

"this is the work of God, that you believe on him who He has sent." John 6:29

The main thing that we must do is to simply believe. Until you have believed there is nothing you can do. Once you have believed there is a lot that you can do to live the Christian life. Until you have been born again you cannot even see the kingdom of God. Once you have been born again you not only can see it, you can experience it and live in it.

The other thing that we can do is to ask Jesus to save us. You have to ask Christ to save you. You have to open your mouth and ask.

"For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13

So you believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth. A child can do this. Why can't you? 

Do Not Be Afraid

"Thus saith the Lord unto you,  be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. ...You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you." 2Chronicles 20:15,17

There are times in life when you have to fight. There are times in life when you have to be strong and courageous. I understand this. But then, there are times when God fights for us. There are times when the obstacle is too large or the enemy is too strong, or we do not know what to do. It is times when we are spent and our resources are used up And our spiritual weapons seem weak that God has not yet begun to show us what He can do.

In all of life and in your ministry to God's people you need to know that the battle is not against people or circumstance only. And that always, the battel is not ours, but Gods. It is in times like this when we need to stand still and shut up. We need to rest and we need to wait and we need to not worry. God is still God and you and I are not God.

Do not be afraid or dismayed. You do not need to fight. And watch what God will do when we let Him be God. Christ has promised to go with us to the end. He is faithful who promised. The salvation of the Lord is with you today.

Why We Go To Church

Last night at the end of the service one of our pastors prayed for me. Immediately I felt a dark cloud of despair lift off of me. I felt in my body that something had changed. Today I fell happy and joyful and at peace. 

This is just one more reason why we go to church. This is another reason why our local church is better than some mega church with a celebrity pastor. We have pastors who can actually pray for us with grace and power.

Today is a new day. 

"In righteousness you shall be established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near you." Isaiah 54:14

The Gospel is good news, not just to the world, but to me!

Faith, Faith, Faith

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things that do appear." Hebrews 11:3

You do not need truckloads of faith to simply believe that what God said in His word is true. You need truckloads of study and advanced degrees to begin to understand the rational view of life. If you read the first two chapters of Genesis and you accept that God created the natural world, you are exercising faith. If you prayed a sinners prayer and were born again you have exercised faith. You do not need a whole lot of faith. You just need to use what you have.

In our text we read that faith has substance. Faith has evidence. Faith sees things and makes things and understands things about God. Faith is taking God at His word.

Science is exclusive, reserved for those with special knowledge. Faith is inclusive, anyone can believe in God and can live by His word. Faith is how we connect, and how we trust, and how we obey a God we cannot see. Rationalism is self centered and self exalting. Faith is Christ centered and God exalting. It is because they did not or would not honor God that God turned them over to wander in the wasteland of rational science, to waste their lives on things that do not matter.

Every time you pay your tithes, you have faith. Every time you pray, you have faith.  You have more faith than you think. It only takes a little faith to do a whole lot.

"...and be not faithless, but believing." John 20:27b

The Creation Thumbnail

 " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Genesis 1:1-2

There are some theologians who think that there is a historical gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. That God created a perfect world which became dark and empty. They tie this ruin to the fall of Lucifer. I think that this is a big stretch of the scriptures.

How about looking at Genesis 1:1 as the title page or the heading. Then beginning in 1:2 the writer begins to lay out how God created the natural world and in what order they were created. This doesn't just involve planet earth. It involves the entire universe. Before there was a natural world, there was darkness. The first thing that God created was light. Viewing Genesis 1:1 as the title makes it much easier to understand for me.

The first two chapters of Genesis were never intended to be a scientific explanation of the creation story and the origin of life. It was not important in God's mind that we know the physics of creation. It gives us a thumbnail of how life and the universe came to be. Science wears itself out trying to come up with a story that omits God.

I Shall Not Die

 "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." Psalm 118:17

This verse jumped out at me today. I have wondered at times if my life was over. When someone I know dies it makes me wonder how long I have to live. But today the Lord spoke this word to me and I am confident than I still have many years yet to live.

Life must be lived to the end. I intend to do that to the best of my abilities. I went through a season of illness. I seem to be in a renewed season of wellness again. thank God for that!

Grief Lessons From Job

One last thing that I want to deal with about death and dying and grief. It is not only the spouse who is grieving, it is their friends and family members. And the problem is that people want to help but they do not know what to do. They are afraid to hurt you. They are afraid that you are contagious. 

Here is the story involving our old friend Job. 

"Now when Job's three friends had heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came...to mourn with him and to comfort him....So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great." Job 2:11,13

First, no one criticized Job for grieving.

Second, no one spoke to him. They were just there.

Third, grief is "very great".

Fourth, in chapter 3, Job is angry at God. This bothered Job's friends. It did not bother God.

Sometimes just being there is enough. Do not try to fix the grieving person, Let them grieve. Give them food, give them a hug, give them some tangible help. One of Kathy's friends came over and did my dishes. Ladies from church brought me meals. It was not until Job's friends began correcting him that they got into trouble with God. And God was the grownup in the story. He let Job rant. Then God dealt with Job as a grownup. Then God put Job in his place. And God gave him twice as much as he had lost. God can absorb our anger.

The worst thing you can do to a grieving person is to ignore them. They are so lonely, and you ignoring them only confirms what they feel inside.