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Come to Him as a little child

10/8/2014

"6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7

"Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." Mark 10:15

There are so many cares in the world; equally, there is so much pride. As we learned in our last blog post, those who follow the path of pride are resisted by God, and those who follow the path of humility are given grace. (James 4:6)

With so many cares in the world, you would think we would pray more often for His provisions. Elders on social security are getting less and less; medicare doesn't cover even basic needs; government healthcare was rolled out with tons of problems; the price of gas, food, and basic clothing is sometimes not affordable to the hardest working people, either here or around the world.

Many godly, wonderful people are attempting to solve these issues for their fellow human beings. Many more people have taken the problems into their own hands and have forgotten to include God. It is pride that says, “I know better than God, I can solve these problems on my own.” Just because our problems are not solved as fast as we would like it to be solved does not give us the right to solve them on our own. While we probably won’t open the front door and find boxes of food or a stash of money, the Lord may strengthen us to get a second job, provide extra help from unexpected sources, or provide for a miracle.

How do we know if we are trusting the Lord to take care of all our needs? Observe a toddler. What can the toddler do to get food? Nothing; they must wait to be fed from their parents. How can they change their diaper or get new clothes for the day? They must wait for their parents to take care of them. Jesus said something similar about how we must come to Him. You must come to God as a little child (Mark 10:15).

In the eyes of God, are you a little child?

Check out the rest of the audio sermon below.

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Promised Care of God

10/5/2014

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"6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7

While it is very true that the Lord cares for His own children and for you in particular, we must not forget that the beginning of His promised care begins with this condition: we must humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God.”

Eating a slice of “humble pie” can be difficult; yet, grace is given to those who are humble (James 4:6). If we want God’s care and providence to operate in our life, we must believe that God helps those who have submitted themselves to Him. Humility is the opposite of pride. Pride tries to convince us we are better than everyone else, we deserve the best in life, and we don’t really need God’s help in our everyday experiences. Pride began in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) when Satan convinced Eve that if she partook of the fruit that was not to be eaten, she would not die. All 'pride' questions the plans, motives, and truthfulness of God. Just as Eve disbelieved God’s word, when we live our lives in superiority over others or even over the Lord - how can we expect to even recognize God’s loving kindness in our life?

It is equally as possible that doubt (a seed of pride) can also hinder God’s providence in our life. If we bring up a lot of our worries, sins, and concerns to other people, there is always a possibility they will not believe our concerns are of very much significance. If something is a “big deal” to you, it’s a “big deal” to God; don’t convince yourself that since others don’t care, God must not care either. Coming to such a conclusion will cause lack of trust and lack of faith that God can take care of all your needs. Always remember - God cares for you! But don’t let haughtiness stop you from receiving that care.

Listen to the rest of this audio sermon here:

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Sin and forgiveness taken seriously

10/1/2014

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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Are we serious in getting rid of things in our life that displease the Lord? If we have understood all the Lord went through when He died for us, we will take sin and the pursuit of forgiveness seriously.

We have not taken sin seriously if we try to obtain forgiveness from someone other than the Lord; sometimes, we feel it's easier to confess our sins to a disinterested party or to someone who we hope will assure us of our right standing before God. Another sign of the lack of seriousness in obtaining forgiveness for wrong doing is is that we try to do good works in the hope of acquiring favor from God. While going to church, volunteering for ministry, or giving money to your local congregation are all commendable actions - they cannot provide the forgiveness necessary to restore lost fellowship with Him.

Instead, let us take seriously God’s plea; He desires fellowship with us and provides a way back to Him. He will never stop loving us, but sin will hinder and stunt our spiritual growth. While society might tell us we must strive for good self esteem, if we are away from God - we must condemn the sin in our life and, through repentance and faith, show the Lord we mean business. This is a voluntary act of our will; we do not merely agree what we have done is wrong but, in a sense, we condemn our sin by abandoning it, turning away from it, ensuring there is no way to fall back into it, and cutting it off completely. Do not fear, however; the Lord is fully able to thrill our hearts so that any sin will soon lose all its attraction as we bask in the glory of the Risen Savior!

To learn more about forgiveness of sin, listen to the audio broadcast below.

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God's forgiveness for those who confess

9/28/2014

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9

Is there any hope for those who, after having accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, have fallen back into sin? No sin is too small or too big that it does not need forgiveness. Perhaps you were rude to a clerk at the store; maybe you told a little ‘white lie’; or maybe you have a sinful habit like looking with lust toward others either in the movies or on your computer. The reality is that sometimes Christians may still sin; even though John says our spirits can never sin (1 John 5:18), if we are not careful - we can sometimes walk back in darkness. What hope do we have?

First, realize that disobeying God is not inevitable. This verse does not say “when we confess our sin”, but “IF we confess our sin”. As a child of God, we should not go looking for sin or assume that we can’t help but fall every now and then. This verse is not a license to do wrong, but rather a help for those who are truly struggling to be godly in this evil world.

Second, we ought to know we are not alone in fighting the flesh. Sin affects all of us in different ways. As we strive for the holiness that Christ Jesus has asked of us - you may catch the attention of the evil one who will do all he can to place enticing, worldly pleasures before you. But understand we are all struggling with our sin nature and the way to overcome it is to choose not to be conformed to this world, but rather to be transformed by the renewing of our mind by reading the Bible! (Romans 12:1-2)

Third, confess your sins to God and God alone. No one, not a priest, a pastor, a parent, a friend, or a spouse can act as a mediator and forgive your sins. Only Jesus can forgive your sins, but you must first confess each one of them to Him. To confess means to acknowledge we have done wrong according to God’s word and recognize we may have hurt people along the way. When we agree with God that we have done wrong, He forgives us and cleanses us! Hallelujah!

To learn more about God’s forgiveness, listen to the sermon below!

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Forgot God’s will? Time to take a u-turn.

10/13/2013

"13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."

James 4:13-15

The most often asked question from Christians is this: how can I know what God wants me to do in my life? Have you been disappointed not receiving the answer, or receiving an answer you didn’t think was the right one?

If you are asking about God’s will, you are already on the right track! Don’t be like the merchants of James 4:13 who decided to ignore God’s plan all together and make their own plan. They decided to buy goods at one town and resell the same goods in another town to gain a large profit; they felt they could make a lot of money. They never thought to themselves, will the Lord give us another day to do this?

Do you want God's wisdom?

9/29/2013

“This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” James 3:15-16 KJV

The difference between the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God is simply amazing. God's wisdom does not cause us to do wrong or hurt other people. God's wisdom holds us together. On the other hand, following the wisdom of common, contemporary thinking leads us away from our loving Father. In some instances, worldly wisdom may cause us to want to get angry with people every time they don't agree with us; then we wonder why there is confusion and hurt.

If you realize you are following the wisdom of the world in your life and you want to change - what type of wisdom should we have?

God's good and perfect gifts!

8/18/2013

James 1:17 - "17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

There are many gifts that our heavenly Father might give to us on a daily basis; but for those who are walking in a relationship with Christ, we need the gift of overcoming sin and living in holiness. Consider God's goodness to us: remembering God's goodness will keep us from sin.

Lord – Lead Us Not Into Temptation, Lead us into You.

8/11/2013

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” James 1:12

We can fall into our own pity parties in the trials that we go through; whether they be testings from God, from Satan, or maybe even our own silly mistakes – we humans seem to love to complain about the woes that are ailing us. We are not the only ones going through trials; and our trials are not unique to the human race. We must be vigilant in not falling into these pitfalls that James 1 warns us about:

Jesus Is Enough

8/10/2013

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2-4

A pastor was once in downtown Cincinnati when a man came up and asked him for a drink. He specifically asked for a “pop” or soda; the minister used this opportunity to teach his students that the man thought he wanted soda to drink, but what his body was really craving was water. He really wanted water, but he didn't know it.

Christlike Through Trials

8/6/2013

"2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:2-4

Another reason why we need to go through the fires of temptations and testing is to develop a Christ like spirit! This is the meaning behind being “entire”; all Christians need to reflect the love and character of their Savior! Discipleship means picking up our cross daily and following after Him; it may seem a huge responsibility to become what the Bible calls a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1-2); but actually, it is our reasonable service.

<<Previous

Come to Him as a little child

Promised Care of God

Sin and forgiveness taken seriously

God's forgiveness for those who confess

Forgot God’s will? Time to take a u-turn.

Do you want God's wisdom?

God's good and perfect gifts!

Lord – Lead Us Not Into Temptation, Lead us into You.

Jesus Is Enough

Christlike Through Trials

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