Sermon On the Mount

ETERNITY

 

The subject of eternal life has been on my mind for some time, so I thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts and some scripture with you. I know we can all agree that the word eternal means forever, but have you ever considered what forever means? I know the Bible says God is, was and always will be. In other words there is no beginning and no end. I believe we must be very careful with our choices when we consider the result is eternal, forever. The Bible tells us that we have two choices, one is very right and one is very wrong. We are born in sin because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. In Roman’s 5:12 Paul tells, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned—for before the law was given sin was in the world.” and we all now know that the penalty for sin is death, which means separation from God. Whether this separation is temporary or not depends on the choice that we make. One might say that Adam and Eve made one of our choices for us, See Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As we are born with a sin nature because of the fall of Adam and Eve, we are eternally separated from God until the moment we choose to accept His free gift. At that instant we change our course from the road of eternal damnation to the glorious path of eternal salvation. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish.”

 

We now understand that we (anyone) can alter the course of our destiny. Each one of us will stand before God at the appointed time and what He sees depends on you and only you. Romans 14: 10, “…For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.” It is written: As surely as it is written, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.” There will be no second chance. Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment; “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

 

I am closing in on my point, which is, if we are born in sin and therefore separated from God for eternity, then when we accept His free gift we are instantly living in the eternal bliss of salvation. Jesus didn’t say He would give us eternal life at some future date; He says you have eternal life, now; John 3:16 says will; have eternal life. He didn’t say later.  What a blessing this is for me and I pray it to be the same for you. Imagine, living in the eternal is living with God in the present and forevermore. WOW!

 

Let us now examine some scripture that my beautiful daughter Kitt researched for me for this letter (daughter-in-law actually, if we ever had a daughter she would be the one). God has indeed blessed Dean and us with a very special person. We love you, Kitt.

 

John 3:16 says we will have everlasting (eternal) when we believe in Jesus.

John 5:24 says believing in Jesus results in eternal life and doesn’t come into judgment but is (immediately) passed from death unto life.

John 17:3 states, ‘Jesus says to the Father that eternal life means we will know the Father and Jesus’. We get to know Him when we accept Him, right?

Romans 6:23…sin separates us from God and accepting Jesus as our Savior is eternal life, now.

1 John 5:11 says that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.

1 John 5:20…Read this one carefully…this is the true God (now and forever and of course as always) and this is the eternal life.

2^nd Corinthians 5:17 says, “we are a new creation” when we accept Jesus, now not later, but now. In other words we change from lost in sin to saved in Jesus, now and for eternity. Jesus gives us eternal life the instant we accept Him.

 

Last but not least is John 10:27, 28, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” He gave us not only eternal life, but the added assurance that we will never perish, thus no one can take what Jesus has given us.’ Praise the Lord for His grace and mercy.

 

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Sermon On the Net

LIFE WITHOUT A FUTURE

 

The most traumatic and depressing thought could very well be that our lives will terminate without a future, in which we will simply cease to exist. I believe this will not be the way it will end for anyone. The evidence that is available pretty much assures us that we do have a future and will exist forever; the question remaining is where? Hebrews 9:27, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,…” Why would there be a judgment if it were not for the fact that some kind of life would continue?

 

I don’t believe God created us to just live and die. Think about that for a while, why would He do that? So many people, unfortunately, believe in exactly that, i.e., we live and we die. God gave us life; He continues to nurture us and waits for us, for He is a just and patient God. He promised us many mansions in Heaven and all we have to do to assure our residency there is to ask Him. John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” Jesus said in Mark 9:23, “If you can believe, all things are possible.” These words are so precious and are ours to treasure if only we believe in Him.

 

Life without a future beyond would indeed be sad. Personally I look forward to my future. I don’t live each day wanting to die because living on this earth is only part of the reason for my existence. The other part is to enjoy what God has given me. John 10:10 says, “…I have come that they may have life, and live it to the full.” And fools are we if we don’t. Be as the eagle as he soars high above the problems and concerns of his world. Let’s lift ourselves up and out to life everlasting and the beginning.

 

Many people question events that occur in life, such as death, sickness, disease, misery, stress and natural disasters and many in ignorance, blame God. Why do people starve to death if we have a loving God? Why is it that the world has experienced peace only 10% (as I have heard) of the time since creation? Why are people being tortured and murdered today? Why?

 

Let’s stop and meditate for a moment and think about life and its perplexing problems. Perhaps we can arrive at a reasonable answer. What was there before Adam and Eve? God of course; God has always existed in Heaven with His Angels. I believe that it was and still is a very happy and desirable place to be. One day a high ranking angel called Lucifer, apparently became disillusioned with his Heavenly bliss and decided, along with his band of angels, to revolt against God. Of course he could not accomplish his goal and God cast him and his angels from Heaven and he eventually settled upon the earth with great power. He became the prince of the power of the air to rule the earth. Lucifer influences the peoples of this world and always has. We do have demons on this earth and Satan is the ruler. Mark 16:17 (one of many verses supporting this) says, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons…” Let’s not fool ourselves, they are real.

 

Following this episode, God created Adam and Eve to live on the earth and to enjoy its fruits forever in the Garden of Eden; Heaven on earth, if you will. It was God’s intention then, as it is now, for His creation to enjoy their lives forever.

 

However, along came Satan in the Garden and he influenced Adam and Eve to disobey God’s one command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Genesis 3:4, Lucifer said to Eve: “You will surely not die. For God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan is the father of evil and has the power to influence, not to destroy, but to infect people with his disobedient personality. At that moment in time, the whole of God’s plan changed (or did it?) and sin entered the world. Satan (evil) was first and sin with all of its consequences followed; the Curse was upon us. The consequences of sin are all the things that we question today and blame God. No, God did not cause any bad thing to happen, we did it all to ourselves as we continue to do today. Do you think that anyone would have acted any different then Adam and Eve given similar circumstances? I think not, just look at the history of mankind and events of the day. Satan is alive and well and is doing his job. He cannot kill us but he does have the power to influence us and destroy our testimony. There is a book called ‘Satan is Alive and Well’, I would suggest you read it if you have any doubts of what I am writing.

 

Sin is not just doing something wrong, no; sin is the wedge between us and God, and Satan is constantly trying to drive it deeper and deeper until he succeeds in totally separating us from God unless we accept His free gift of Jesus. This is why the Bible says “separation from God,” but the gift of God is our ticket to get back into His graces and be one with Him. The gift of God of course is acceptance of His Son, Jesus because He paid for the cost of sin on the cross, once for all.

 

When God created Adam and Eve He didn’t create robots, or people without a will to make their own choices. No, because He is a loving God He gave us the freedom to live our lives the way we want to and the right to choose how we live and our very own destiny. Because of Satan’s influence many people have and continue to remain on the road to sin to which they were born, and its consequences. When we read of disasters happening around the world let’s not be hasty and say it was an act of God or try to blame Him. If anyone is to blame, I believe it’s safe to say satan is the cause because he is the creator of sin and sin causes all those things some people blame God for. Let’s not forget the earth is under a Curse since the time of Adam, thanks to the devil. God is love and He loves all. Love does not cause problems, love eliminates them. In conclusion of this point I would hope you agree with me we should not blame God for adversity. Let’s lay the claim to its rightful owners; mankind and Lucifer.

 

There is a further point I would like to address which is the reason God allows Satan to do what he does. God does have a plan for him, a plan that he and all his followers, past and present will participate in eventually. In God’s own time and plan satan will be bound in chains and cast into hell for eternity. It is at that time that satan will realize what it was that he gave up when he decided in his attempt to overthrow God. It will be too late for him and for anyone who chose not to follow God.

 

Those of you who accepted the free gift of God will forever be united with Him as you are now and will live to enjoy the bliss of Heaven and the new earth where there will be no sin or any of those things that sin encompasses. It will be as God originally planned. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Anyone reading this article has the opportunity to be free from the dominion of satan and its consequences; consequences that he will not avoid. He made his choice long ago and you need to make your choice before it’s too late. Please remember that each person is born with the sin of Adam and Eve, therefore, unless you choose to claim the free gift of God you will not spend eternity with Him. Quite the contrary, you will spend eternity in your current state, separated from God. The Bible states in Romans 3:23: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

 

If you will pray this simple prayer right now you will be assured of the future of your life will be with God in Heaven; Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner separated from you and I confess my sins to you and ask you to forgive me and come into my heart. I believe you died for me on the cross and I accept your invitation of life eternal. Amen

 

 

 

 

Sermon On the Net

THE GLORY OF GOD

In the book, Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren does an outstanding job of ‘The Reason for Everything.’ I was so impressed by his approach that I felt compelled to ‘borrow’ a page from his book for this topic, which is actually putting into action his point number five.

 

The reason we are here and everything on the earth is really for the glory of God. Revelation 7:8 states “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power: for you created everything.” In the universe there are only two of God’s creations that fail to bring glory to Him: fallen angels (demons) and us (people).

 

How can we bring glory to God? Jesus told the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” John 17:4, Therefore, as Jesus honored the father, we can also honor Him. There are actually five ways we can honor God in the very same way He honored the Father.

 

We can honor God by worshiping Him, not by duty or guilt, but out of love and appreciation.. Romans 12:1 tells us to, “present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” The next verse tells us “not to be conformed to this world, but rather be conformed to the things of God. The bottom line is that we are to “use our whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God,” Romans 6:13.

 

We can honor God by loving other believers. There are three wonderful verses of scripture that Rick Warren touches on: “Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life,” 1 John 3:14, “Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified,” Romans 15:7, and finally as Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” I would encourage you all to read 1^st Corinthians 13, a great description of love.

 

We can honor God by developing Christ-like characteristics. When we become part of God’s family He wants us to mature spiritually. The more we mature as spiritual Christians, the more honoring it is to God. The Bible says, “As the spirit of God works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.” 2^nd Corinthians 3:18. The Bible also tells us that we should always be “…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ­­—to the glory and praise of God.” This is pleasing to God, Philippians 1:11.

 

We can honor God by serving others. God has blessed each one of us with certain gifts and it would certainly be honoring to God to use our gifts in the service of others. 1^st Peter 4:10 says,  “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” We can bring glory to God by telling others about Him, just as Jesus did. This has to be viewed as one of life’s greatest privileges. Once we know the truth, He expects us to share. Perhaps the most effective method of telling others is to live the first four points of this message; however we must always be ready to tell others with love and respect; a soft voice is heard by many. A point to ponder is where we would be if someone didn’t vocalize the way of salvation to us. The Bible says, “…so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”

 

AND THIS IS THE REASON WE ARE HERE, PRAISE THE LORD.

 

 

 

 

Sermon On the Net

THE GLORY OF GOD

In the book, Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren does an outstanding job of ‘The Reason for Everything.’ I was so impressed by his approach that I felt compelled to ‘borrow’ a page from his book for this topic, which is actually putting into action his point number five.

 

The reason we are here and everything on the earth is really for the glory of God. Revelation 7:8 states “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power: for you created everything.” In the universe there are only two of God’s creations that fail to bring glory to Him: fallen angels (demons) and us (people).

 

How can we bring glory to God? Jesus told the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” John 17:4, Therefore, as Jesus honored the father, we can also honor Him. There are actually five ways we can honor God in the very same way He honored the Father.

 

We can honor God by worshiping Him, not by duty or guilt, but out of love and appreciation.. Romans 12:1 tells us to, “present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” The next verse tells us “not to be conformed to this world, but rather be conformed to the things of God. The bottom line is that we are to “use our whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God,” Romans 6:13.

 

We can honor God by loving other believers. There are three wonderful verses of scripture that Rick Warren touches on: “Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life,” 1 John 3:14, “Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified,” Romans 15:7, and finally as Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” I would encourage you all to read 1^st Corinthians 13, a great description of love.

 

We can honor God by developing Christ-like characteristics. When we become part of God’s family He wants us to mature spiritually. The more we mature as spiritual Christians, the more honoring it is to God. The Bible says, “As the spirit of God works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.” 2^nd Corinthians 3:18. The Bible also tells us that we should always be “…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ­­—to the glory and praise of God.” This is pleasing to God, Philippians 1:11.

 

We can honor God by serving others. God has blessed each one of us with certain gifts and it would certainly be honoring to God to use our gifts in the service of others. 1^st Peter 4:10 says,  “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” We can bring glory to God by telling others about Him, just as Jesus did. This has to be viewed as one of life’s greatest privileges. Once we know the truth, He expects us to share. Perhaps the most effective method of telling others is to live the first four points of this message; however we must always be ready to tell others with love and respect; a soft voice is heard by many. A point to ponder is where we would be if someone didn’t vocalize the way of salvation to us. The Bible says, “…so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”

 

AND THIS IS THE REASON WE ARE HERE, PRAISE THE LORD.