Is He The God or My God?

By Pastor Jeff,

John 20:24-28, “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”

In the U.S. we have approximately 330 million people with 244+ million of those over the age of eighteen. According to Pew Research 65% of Americans still consider themselves Christians that adds up to 158+ million Christians; so why is our nation so ungodly with abortion still the number one killer of children with 1700 every day, the rioting, looting, burning of cities, and cries for defunding the police in spite of rising crime around our country.

It’s an easy question to answer because one can call himself or herself whatever you want but it’s your relationship with Jesus Christ is what matters, Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

We find in the Old Testament that very few individuals had a relationship with God. He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, He was the God of Israel. Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David are some of the very few who had a close relationship with God. Unlike the New Testament in that each of has an opportunity to have an individual relationship with Jesus Christ. We now, can have the Lord of all things come into our hearts, John 14:18-20, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

He is not just the Lord God, He needs to become My Lord and My God in our lives, just ask this of yourself;

Is He the savior or is He My Savior? Is He the creator or His My Creator? Is He the provider or is He My Provider? Is He the healer or is He My Healer? Interesting how the change of one word can transform your attitude, your stance, and your relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Don’t just settle to be standing on the outside looking in by only recognizing that there is a Lord, that there is a God but never making Him the ruler of your heart and life. John 20:29, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”We are truly blessed to be able to just like Thomas to call out and declare that Jesus is My Lord and My God!

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Traditions versus Tradition!

traditions

By Pastor Jeff,

Matthew 15:1-9, “Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God” then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Here we find the scribes and Pharisees who loved to burden the people with rules and regulations then exclude themselves from the laws that they should be obeying. They had condemned men for not washing their hands but refused to take care of there own parents. They claimed that they had dedicated their money to the house of God so could not use it to help their parents needs.

Now, not all traditions are a bad thing, after all, we all were told to wash our hands before we ate when we were growing up which is not a bad idea. We all have family traditions that we have carried on sometimes for many generations. Even the word of God tells us that we should keep some traditions, 1 Corinthians 11:1-2, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.”

So, what is the problem with the traditions that the scribes and Pharisees laid upon men? Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” The problem comes when we take a tradition then turn it into a law that we need to obey or find our salvation in jeopardy. I can think of many things that I was taught and even taught myself that became a law that must be obeyed. One significant one that is taught in many churches is found in Malachi 3:8, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.” Pretty clear, Huh? Well if you read the entire book of Malachi you will find out the author was writing to the priest not the people. This offering or tithe was not of money either, it was of sacrifice which in most instances in the Bible we find it was of crops not money. I can spend more time on this subject but I hope I at least made you double think tithe as something you can choose to do rather than have to do!

Other traditions that have been laid on mankind as law are dress, hair, entertainment, discipline, food, and many more that have caused many a saint to walk away form God rather than closer to Him.

Keep this one thing in mind and I believe you will never fall into the trap of turning a tradition into law, 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

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What About Fasting? part 3

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By Pastor Jeff,

Matthew 6:16-18, “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”

Fasting should never be used to place focus on you but with all things we adhere to it should bring glory to Jesus Christ. When it comes to fasting many will ask the question, “how long should I fast?” Some will say a day, three days, a week or like our Lord Jesus Christ we should fast forty days. My comment is God honors what ever you do in the area of prayer and fasting, it could be one meal, multiple meals, multiple days or forty days if God is calling you to do that. I will caution that any long fast should be done only under the direction of the Holy Ghost, I see no where in the epistles that fasting was something done often or long term. It should be done with a sincere heart, for the purpose of drawing closer to God, and for determining direction in your life.

Luke 18:9-14, “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

The next question many have is what constitutes a fast? Some will contend that the only true fast is that you consume water only during the period you have designated. Again my comment is that whatever you sacrifice in prayer and fasting, God WILL honor. If you determine in your heart to give up desserts for a period of time, God WILL honor that, you decide to turn off the TV to read your bible, God WILL honor that! For me whenever I go a couple day fasting I will drink water and fruit juice because I find I lose energy fairly quickly on that. Do you think God will not honor that?

Some of you might of heard of a Daniel fast and lets look at what the bible says, Daniel: 8-16, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.”

God honored the position these four took as He will with any decision you make to glorify Him. Don’t ever make fasting a ritual or become so entrenched in the act that you leave God out. I remember when my children were young and in school, I was making lunch for them when I was fasting and out of habit ate a potato chip, how horrible, I felt that my whole fast was ruined! When I think of that now, it makes me realize how immature I was and how wrong some of the teacher I received was.

1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

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Jesus Loves Me!

jesus loves

By Pastor Jeff,

Romans 5:6-9, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

What a powerful declaration of Jesus’ love for me! I make this a personal statement because the one thing I’ve learned in my 34+ years of being a Born Again Christian is that He really is a personal God. I know God so loved the world and it’s 7.6 billion people currently living on this planet, but when it comes to salvation and having a relationship with the creator of all things, it’s mono to mono! Nobody can make the day to day to decision to live for Christ for me and I can’t make that decision for anyone else even those I whole dear.

Jesus died for ME! Jesus loves ME! Jesus cares for ME! If I was the only sinner on this earth, I believe sincerely that God would took on the form of man, would of suffered, died, and been resurrected so that I could have eternal life! What an awesome God we have the privilege to serve.

I was recently was picking black raspberries in our back yard and had this revelation that of all the places I could of moved to. The one one place Jesus picked for us had wild raspberries on and around it. You may say big deal and probably most would never think a second thought about it. For me it is a big deal, for when I was growing up I had the great opportunity of spending many summers at my Grandparents house up North. I had an uncle a little more than a year older than me whom I spent these summers trying to keep from being bored; which didn’t seem to be an issue if my memory is correct. One of the things we did every summer was go out and pick wild raspberries as time to spend in the outdoors and they sure tasted good in our cereal (when my grandmother didn’t steal them on us and make jam). Of course for me picking them today brings back those wonderful memories as well as the fun of making jam and giving it mostly away to the ones we love. That, to me showed how much Jesus loves me and would care enough for those memories to put me right smack in the middle of several gallons of raspberries!

I love Jesus Christ very much, but His love for me preceded my love for Him from the beginning of time, 1 John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.”

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The Devil isn’t the only liar! (part 4)

Lies .By Pastor Jeff,

Well its been a few days since I did my last blog on “Lies” and a lot has happened that made me step back a bit. I promised a more up beat message and that’s what you will get with this blog. Since then I found out that the doctors have diagnosed that my youngest daughters’ cancer has returned and that the prognosis is not good. I’m not calling the doctors a liar as they go by what they can see and past history as they diagnose patients. But I serve a God who is above past history, of what can be seen, for we find in Isaiah 53:4-5, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

Though man through the fall has been prone to not be truthful, Romans 3:4, “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” Let God be true, despite all the non-truths (lies) that man is guilty of, we have in Jesus Christ a God that cannot lie, Titus 1:1-3, “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;”

This is so important because though mankind has difficulty in keeping our promises in spite of the most sincere of attempts, the promises of Jesus Christ are Amen and Amen! John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This promise is one that all of us so desperately need, “Love” God’s love for us is so great that God through Jesus Christ became a child, grew into a man, taught, healed, suffered and then died for us! It didn’t stop there because the the grave couldn’t hold Him down for on the third day He rose again and told His disciples that soon they would receive another promise, Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

This was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost and thank God it was not just for them for Peter declares in Acts 2:38-39, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” He has one more promise that will be fulfilled soon, John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

And God CAN’T lie!

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