Life in Jesus

"Tis only one life, twill soon be past.  Only what's done for Christ will last."  This is a favorite phrase that I have seen a few times over the years.  I know that it isn't in scripture, but the basic concept follows around a scriptural principle.  

There are a lot of people who think that just doing good deeds, going to church, praying, etc. makes one a Christian and thus will save a person from going to Hell.  That is far from the truth.  While those things are good  to do, they do not guarantee one's salvation.  What makes a person a Christian, and thus guaranteeing Eternal Life with the Father, is the belief in Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior, and actively seeking Him each and every day.  For the Word says in the Old Testament, "All our works are as filthy rags".  What that verse means, is that if we try to earn our salvation by doing good works, we are deceiving ourselves.  For Jesus said, "I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life.  No man cometh unto The Father, except by Me!"  Yes, God is a loving God, but He is also a just and righteous God.  Because He is righteous, sin can't reside in His presence.  When we have accepted Jesus as Lord into our hearts and lives, we have the righteousness through Christ, and thus we can be in God's presence for all eternity.  Yes, faith without works is dead, but also the reverse is true. Works without faith is dead too.  We need faith in Jesus, but the works part is the spiritual fruits actively abiding in our lives.

May God Bless each and every one of you reading this post.  I know that I haven't posted in a while, but I am going to try to make an effort to post more frequently.  O:-)

It's a New Year!

Today is the beginning of the rest of our lives. One year is past, and another new one is here.  Do you have any regrets about last year, or are you happy with whatever happened?  Whichever way life has gone, Jesus and our Heavenly Father have it all in control.  For in His Precious Word, it states that He knows every hair on our heads, and also has known us since we were in the womb.  This means that He knows EVERYTHING about us.  He has given us a hope and a future.

What is one of the biggest obstacles that happens when we all look into the future?  We ALL, including your truly, worry.  How can we help to prevent worry?  There is a BIG promise in His Word.  It says in Matthew that we don't need to worry, because he has it all covered. ( I am just paraphrasing what the Word says.  This is  very close to what it says, just not exact word for word.)  Anyhoo, Matthew states that if He cares for the birds by clothing them and giving them shelter, how much more will He take care of us?

What causes our worries?  They are caused by all of us looking at the events of the world through our natural eyes.  Two verses come to mind.  One states that we are to trust the Lord with all of our heart, AND LEAN NOT ON OUR UNDERSTANDING.  It also states in another verse to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things shall be ours as well.  To paraphrase this, it states that if we put Him first, and put on our spiritual eyes, He will take provide all of our needs.

On another final note, do you often feel inadequate?  It is normal that we feel that way from time to time.  "And such confidence we have in God through Christ Jesus.  Not that we are adequate to consider anything as coming as from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." 2 Cor 3 vs. 4-5.  A song also comes to mind.  It says, "My hope is found on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness".  Sure, life will never be easy, but God through Jesus has given us the tools through the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide us through life's obstacles.  The first thing that we have to do, is to get ourselves and our foolish pride out of the way, so that He can work mightily in our lives.  May God Bless each and every one of you in this New Year 2012!  O:-)

 

Family

There is nothing greater than having the love of a family. However, in this complicated world that we live in, there seems to be a breakdown of traditional family values.

Every person is unique and wonderful, since we are all created in God's own image.

It also states that he knows everything about us. He knows every hair on our head. He even knows every thought that we have, even before we have one. He even knew us when we were in the womb.

You are probably thinking, then why does he allow some family to get out of love for each other? This. Goes back to the Garden of Eden. Ever since Eve and Adam ate from the Tree Of Life, there have been troubles. We all lost the ability to walk and talk with God on a one on one, and a. Face to face basis.

That was the beginning of the freedom of choice. God wants us to choose our paths. He wants us to follow Him out of our love for Him. He doesn't want us to be like robots, where He controls every move.

However, with this "free choice", it unleashes a lot of problems, if they aren't dealt with by following His Word. For it says, "From within the heart comes all kinds of evil. From within man comes murder, envy, strife, covetousness, greed, bitterness, anger, rage...".

We have a choice to go through life our own way, or to go through it with God's guidance through His Word.
In it, it is said, "Thy Word is A Light unto my feet, and a Light unto my Path.". It also says, "I have hidden my heart in Thy Word, so that I may not sin against Thee.".
Now what does that mean? Does that mean that God will prevent us from sinning? Not at all! What it is implying that if we meditate on His Word, it will help us to make better decisions to get closer to the heart of God.

"For the Fruits of The Spirit are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Kindness, and Self Control." This verse can be found in Philippians 4.

In other words, if left to our own devices and only relying on rationalizations in our own minds, we will have loads of troubles.

Just like a car's owner's manual helps us to get to know our cars, The Bible is God's "Owner's Manual" that helps us to get to know Him better, and gives us the tools that we need to work through every day life.

Family relationships are the responsibility of each and every person in it. We all make mistakes, and it only makes things worse when blame sets in.

No faults that anyone has gives anyone the justification for others to hold grudges. It is much better to get whatever issues out on the table, deal with them, then press on and strive to have a wholesome future together. It will never be easy, but by using the precepts found in "The Good Book", life will be a lot easier. When we hold grudges, it actually hurts the grudge maker worse Than the person that the grudge is against.

"May the Peace Of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and forevermore, Amen".

Worry

I have touched on this in one of my previous blogs, and am touching on it again. What is the cause of most of our stresses in life? It is the worry monster. Jesus has told me, again and again, the passage in the book of Matthew Chapter 6. I am not quoting verse by verse, but this is my own paraphrase. If God is going to take care of the birds, make sure they have clothing, food, and shelter, won't he do the same exact thing for us? In this day that we live in, things can get out of hand in a big way, and very quickly. We all do this one thing. We all focus on the temporary problems, instead of the solutions. Some of us just shut down and stress about the mountain before us, some of us "crawl into a hole", get depressed, and pull the sheets over our heads. Some of us make jokes about the circumstances, and others have what I call "alligator skin" and let it roll off our back, and then look for the solutions, instead of focusing on the problem.

Jesus has said that He will never leave us nor forsake us, He is with us forever. He is preparing a mansion for us, for that great and glorious day, when we will live with Him forever. He loves us and cares deeply for all of us.

>>Pastor Jax<< O:-)

Fall Season 2011

As the season changes, we all start doing a lot of things to prepare for the Winter. We start to put away summer clothes, mow the lawn for the last time, rake leaves, put away our hoses, start paying more attention to the air in our tires, light the pilot light in our furnaces, and more. Wow! That's a lot of stuff to do! To think about all of the stuff that has to be done, can sometimes feel overwhelming.

That brings me to another thought: How prepared are we for when Jesus returns?

I have been around some people who won't accept Jesus until they are perfect themselves. That is not at all possible at all. If we spend all of our lives trying to be perfect, we are wasting our time. The only perfect man was Jesus. He was able to be perfect, because He is God in the flesh. He didn't sin. However, the rest of we humans don't have it like that. Ever since the sin in the Garden Of Eden, mankind was given the choice. We can choose to live for ourselves, or to live for God. Some people think that if they are a good person, God will accept them into Heaven. NOT! Some people think that if they give to the poor, they will go to Heaven. NOT! While doing good things for the human race are good to do, they in and of themselves, won't bring us righteousness before God. For "All of our works are like filthy rags", as the Word says. It also says, "For by grace have you been saved, THROUGH FAITH. It is not of your own doing, lest any man should boast."

There is only ONE WAY for us to be righteous enough to spend eternity with God. That is by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. As He said, "For I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life! For no one can go to the Father, except through Me!" You see, God says in the Bible,"I am Holy, and those who worship me MUST be Holy.". God is righteous, and thus we must be. Sin is like a wedge that keeps us from God. Without Jesus, we are dead in our sins, and going to Hell.

Some people think that just going to church will turn them into a Christian. Well, when you go to McDonald's turn you into a Big Mac? NO! All we have to do is to accept Jesus into our heart, and to be "Bananas for Jesus!" We are to not love in words only, but also by making a conscious choice to live every day trying to be obedient to Him. Sure, we will often trip and fall flat on our face, but He will help us. For the Word also says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths!". It is up to us to choose to LIVE FOR HIM, or live to cater to our own sinful, futile way, without HIS guidance. »Pastor Jax« O:-)

Tragedy

Tragedy from ten years ago



Why do we worry? Why do we fear? In the sad remembrance of one of the worst tragedies of the US and the world, the news media is one of the worst tragedies concerning this sad memory. The problem is that they seemingly feed into the same hate as the terrorists whom they despise.

What is the bad terminology that they use that seemingly glorifies terrorism? It is the term: ANNIVERSARY OF 9/1/1. I may not be the brightest bulb in the universe, but I think that I have a pretty good grasp of what love is. Ever since I've been alive for 53 years, ANNIVERSARY has always meant that it is something or someone to celebrate. Would we rather CELEBRATE the "Anniversary" of all the people who died, or have a memorial or a tribute to those people who died on this day ten years ago?

One more term that is also very annoying to me is "US, Government, or Military Intelligence". As I know from the time that I served in the US Navy, those terms are oxymorons. In my experience, there is no intelligence in anything to do with the government. There is the right way, the wrong way, and then the government way. A lot of their decisions are contrary to rational thought. Instead of the system using the brains of the people behind it, incompetence is often covered up by making trite phases.

You are probably wondering why this is such an issue. By being stupid, this creates anger, resentment, and fear among believers and non-believers. There's big money being made from instilling fear into the hearts of people.

I remember this day vividly, as if it were yesterday. :( Speaking of the fear factor, even the news media in the mainstream and Christian world, spoke of silly things such as: stockpiling food and emergency generators. Just the previous year to this tragic day, in the year 2000,or Y2K, similar hype had gone on. We were being convinced that because of the fact that computers couldn't recognize the dawning of a new century, we were supposedly doomed to die in the wake of the computer glitch. The computer programmers for Microsoft and other operating systems developed a patch to move us all forward.

So, what are we all to do to protect us from all of this hype and uncaring terminology? The answer to ALL of life's questions can be found in our "User's Manual For Life." This is more commonly called " The Word of God, or " The Bible." The scripture that comes to me speaks of God's love. In the Greek language, this is known as Agape love. That is the perfect kind of love: unconditional love. God's Love is the perfect example of that. For it says in 1 John 4: "15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."

What does all of this mean? Does it mean that we should just love our genealogical brother, and hate everyone else? By no means! This has a figurative meaning. It means that our brother, (or sister), means everyone that we talk to. We are all in the human race, so we are all related. By loving God first, then loving others, we are activating His Angels to protect us from all this fear.
»Pastor Jax« O:-)

Light of the World

 
John 8:12 reads, "Then Jesus again spoke to them saying," I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life!"

How much light do you shine into others lives?  In our fast paced life nowadays, we all, even me, sometimes get so wrapped up in our own lives, that we don't get involved in others lives.  The only Jesus that others will see is the Jesus in you and me.

 In  Galatians 2 verse 20, it reads," I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself up for me." 
That is the hardest part.  Dying to ourselves.  Does that mean that we physically die?  No, we must try to "die" to our sinful nature.  Some people think that people of God who are in the leadership roles must be perfect to lead others.  Not so at all!  Not to use this as an excuse, but we are all human!  For anyone to expect anyone else to be perfect, will be very disappointed.  It is a constant battle of good versus evil.  We can either choose to do wrong, or choose to do right.  God gave us all free choice to either follow Him, or go our own way.  Oftentimes, He allows us to learn from our mistakes, so that He can strengthen us in order to help others who are going through similar circumstances as we are or have been through.

God Bless everyone!

>>Pastor Jax<< O:-)