Jesus is Lord!

1 Corinthians 15:21-28
21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. 22 Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will be raised. 24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having put down all enemies of every kind. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For the Scriptures say, God has given him authority over all things. (Of course, when it says authority over all things, it does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28 Then, when he has conquered all things, the Son will present himself to God, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

The work of Christ, yet to come, is to defeat all evil on earth. First, He defeated sin and death on the cross, and in the end He will defeat Satan and all evil once and for all time. World events may seem out of control, and justice may seem to have vanished, but God is still in control. He is allowing evil to remain for a time until He it is time to send Jesus to earth again. Then the end will come and Satan will have no more authority to ruin the lives of the deceived. Christ will completely defeat him and present to God the Father a perfect world. Let the knowledge of the coming King give you peace in these times of uncertainty.  God is still on the throne no matter who controls our country.

Have a God Day!

Psalm 34:8-10
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in him! 9 Let the Lord’s people show him reverence, for those who honor him will have all they need. 10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will never lack any good thing.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Trusting God when nothing seems to happen is difficult. But is harder to live with the consequences of taking matters into our own hands. Resist the temptation to think that God has forgotten you. Have patience and courage to wait for God to act. It is easier to live in need of answer than to live in regret of a decision.

Have a God Day!

Colossians 1:15-23
15  Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. 16 Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. 17 He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.  18 Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Jesus Christ was fully human and fully God. He was the visible image of the invisible God. Without knowing the deity of Christ, you can go no further. If He was not God but only a man, then He could not have been without sin. And if He was a sinner just like you and me, then He could not have died for our sin.  If He was not fully human then He could not have died. But Jesus Christ has always been God and will always be God. He has no equal. Satan is not a god, he is a created being, created by God and is not in any way His equal. Further more, when God came to earth as a human, He reconciled us to Himself. Christ’s death provided a way for all people to come to God. This does not mean that all have been saved but it cleared the way for anyone who will trust Christ to be saved. We can have peace with God and be reconciled to Him by accepting Christ, who died in our place for our sin. This is the Gospel of Good News. God came to earth and died for our sin. If you have not made peace with God, do so today though the work of Jesus Christ.  He is the only name under heaven that you can be saved!

Have a God Day!

Matthew 14:25-31
25 About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost. 27 But Jesus spoke to them at once. It’s all right, he said. I am here! Don’t be afraid.28 Then Peter called to him, Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water.29 All right, come, Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, Lord! he shouted. 31 Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. You don’t have much faith, Jesus said. Why did you doubt me? 32 And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Living in this sinful world for our Lord Jesus Christ is a lot like walking on water. We are asked by God to step out of the norm and step into the supernatural. We are asked to live pure and holy lives that go against everything this world believes. Walking with Christ is not what the world expects.  Lies and deceit are given by many but Christians are asked to return love for hate and to be the righteousness of Christ to the world. We might as well be walking on water living for Christ is as supernatural.  We need to compare our walk in this life with Christ to Peter’s walking on the water. He was not alone, Jesus was right there with Peter as He is with us today. We need to keep our eyes on Christ as Peter did to keep on top of the water.  We need to keep our eyes on Christ to keep on top of the filth of this world.  If you are struggling in your walk with Christ, you need to look at your focus. Are your eyes on Christ or are they on the world of pain and sin around you. You will be able to stay afloat only with your eyes on Christ.

Have a God Day!

John 15:4-8
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. 5 Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! 8 My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Are you connected to the vine? If the answer is yes, then you should also be connected to the other branches. It is impossible to be connected to Christ Jesus without being connected to other Christians. Your relationship with God is not done alone. We need other Christians to be strengthened and to keep us moving toward our goal of righteousness. And they need what we have to offer to keep them focused on Christ. God never intended that we serve Him alone. We are all part of the body of Christ with Him as our head. And being connected to another group of Christians is not an option. Do you have Christians friends that can help you with spiritual issues that come up? What is your connection to Christ through others? Are you worshipping regularly with other Christians?  If not then you will wither and die because you cannot be connected to the Vine without being connected to other branches. Find a Bible teaching church and become involved with service and find Christian friends to help you with your walk with Christ.

Have a God Day!

James 1:22-25
22 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself. 23 For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law the law that sets you free and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Living a pure live before the Lord is not a quest for perfection as much as it is a quest for freedom from those things that prevent us from living effectively for Christ. The Word has a powerful way of opening up to us the things we need to change.  But it will also confirm the things we are doing right. As we look at our lives in comparison to Christ we realize how far we have to go, but we also can see times when He is reflected in our lives. This is the function of the Word through the power of the Holy Spirit. We measure our conduct and character against the Lord Jesus and then allow God to shape us into His likeness. It is more than just knowing. James 2:19 tells us that, “Even the demons believe and tremble!” It is applying what you know to how you live. It is a message to obey. So when you understand the Word, remember it and let your behavior reflect what you believe.

Have a God Day!

1 Corinthians 12:3-11
3 So I want you to know how to discern what is truly from God: No one speaking by the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, and no one is able to say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. 6 There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another he gives the gift of special knowledge. 9 The Spirit gives special faith to another, and to someone else he gives the power to heal the sick. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and to another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to know whether it is really the Spirit of God or another spirit that is speaking. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, and another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Anyone can claim to speak for God, and the world today is full of false teachers. Paul gives us a test to help us discern whether or not a message is really from God. Does the message confess that Jesus Christ is Lord? When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us, and we are born into God’s family. Christians all received the same Spirit. No one born of the Spirit can claim anything other than Jesus Christ as Lord. If someone claims to have a word from God, but can not say, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” then the word is not from Christ. So when someone comes to you claiming the Word of God, test it to see if it is true. Do they claim that Jesus Christ is God and that He was a Man who gave His perfect life in our place so we could be reconciled to God? If so they are a part of the family of God and are a brother in Christ. This is the true test. We may all have different interests and gifts, but we are all united by the same Spirit. The Spirit of Christ Jesus.

Have a God Day!

Romans 10:5-17
5 For Moses wrote that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. 6 But the way of getting right with God through faith says, “You don’t need to go to heaven” (to find Christ and bring him down to help you). 7 And it says, “You don’t need to go to the place of the dead” (to bring Christ back to life again). 8 Salvation that comes from trusting Christ which is the message we preach is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, “The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” 9 For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They all have the same Lord, who generously gives his riches to all who ask for them. 13 For “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news the Good News about Christ.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

For anyone who confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead will be saved. But saved from what? What are we heading to that we need to be saved from? Sin always separates us from God. And a life without God is a life headed toward eternal damnation.  The Law was given to show our sin. No one could keep the Law perfectly, all of us have failed. and if we have failed on one point, we have failed in all. So God’s plan has always been to send His Son to take our place for the judgment of breaking the Laws of God. We couldn’t do it for ourselves because of our sin. But a Man without sin could die for all sin. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He was God and He was Man and He was without any sin at all. He was perfect by the power of the Holy Spirit in Him. And when He died, He died for every sin that was ever committed and every sin that would ever be committed. So, forgiveness is there for all, but unless you believe it, you will not receive it. For anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. but we have to believe it and then receive it to make it true for us, even though it is there for all. Do not delay, believe and receive the grace of God given to all who will believe.

Have a God Day!

Matthew 14:13-21
13 As soon as Jesus heard the news, he went off by himself in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed by land from many villages. 14 A vast crowd was there as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 That evening the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and it is getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus replied, “That isn’t necessary you feed them.” 17 “Impossible!” they exclaimed. “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” 18 “Bring them here,” he said. 19 Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. And he took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and asked God’s blessing on the food. Breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave some of the bread and fish to each disciple, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate as much as they wanted, and they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. 21 About five thousand men had eaten from those five loaves, in addition to all the women and children!
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

We often feel that our contribution to Jesus is meager. We feel that we have nothing to offer or what we do have is not big enough. We compare what we have to give with what others are giving and feel we do not measure up. So, we feel that what we have is not good enough to give. But Christ sees things differently. The talents and skills we have are exactly what He has given to us and when we say they are not good enough, we are saying that God did not do it right. We are not to judge what God will do with what we offer in service to Him. He will take whatever it is and use it for His good. He will multiple it to His purpose. Just because we cannot see the end result is no excuse for not offering what we have for His purpose. He will multiple our talents and gifts when we bring them to Him for use. So do not hold back from serving the body of Christ just because what you have is small and does not seem important to you. Let Christ decide what to do with your offering and you believe Him and step out in faith. Believe that He gave you the offering in the first place and give it back to Him.

Have a God Day!

James 1:22-25
22 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself. 23 For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law the law that sets you free and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Reading the Word of God is an important element to your walk with Christ. But it is more than just reading, it is understanding and applying it that will make it real in our lives. We must turn what we read into experience. Many life-giving concepts in the Word become powerful, personal truths you will never forget when those concepts become experiential in your life. Faith does indeed come by hearing the Word, but faith grows by experiencing the Word. Faith and experience turn hope into reality. In order for the Word of God to be real to our lives, we must know it, understand it, and experience it. This comes only by applying the truths we know from the Word of God to situations in our lives. An example would be, feeling a complete sense of peace, when your life is in extreme turmoil. When you are uncertain of what tomorrow will bring or even if there will be a tomorrow, you rest in peace, knowing that God cares about you and will make all things work for good according to His purpose because you love Him. This comes only from knowing the Word and then applying it to your situation. Grow your faith muscle by taking the Word and making it real in your life. Take one small verse and apply it to a situation in your life and see if the Word of God is true. God will not disappoint you as you step out in faith.

Have a God Day!