Tag: love

God’s Promise: Unconditional Love

In this series, I hope to remind everyone of God’s promises.  It is something I need to remind myself from time to time.  God always keeps His promises and what He says is always true.  It is something we should always aspire to do.  As Jesus said, “let your yes be yes, and your no, no.”

 

Today, we will discuss God’s unconditional love.  He tells us that He will always love us.  Our Father demonstrated that by sending His only Son to this earth to die for us.  Jesus gave His life freely so that we may live.  There is no greater love than that. Continue reading “God’s Promise: Unconditional Love”

No Need to Fear

Jesus clouds
The Lord is my Light

Psalm 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

With all the talk of violence and mass shootings and gun laws and the direction our country and this world is heading, one thing we can be sure of is that God is in control and there is no need to fear.  Many would ask, then why does God allow these things to happen?  I do not know the answer, but we live in a fallen world.  We are not God’s puppets, and there are evil people in this world and Satan is allowed to roam this earth…for now.  But I believe his time is short.  It appears we are living Matthew 24.  But, those of us who believe in Jesus Christ, who follow Him, have nothing to fear.  God assures us of this and there are better things to come.  No matter what we are going through, God is with us and He will guide us and He will give us all that we need.  No matter what happens to us on this earth, we have so much to look forward to.  There is no need to fear. Continue reading “No Need to Fear”

What to do to Grow in the Spirit

In my our previous post, we discussed how God helps us to mature as a believer.  Today we will look at what the scripture says what our part is.  We don’t just sit back and watch God work.  He wants us to do something.  As a believer the Spirit indwells in us and guides us to live in a way that honors God and in so doing, our faith will grow and so will our character.  In our daily lives as well as the ministry God has called each of us to do, we need to be like Peter and get out of the boat and obey what Jesus commands us to do.  The other twelve sat in the boat and watched while Peter walked on water. Continue reading “What to do to Grow in the Spirit”

Love and Forgiveness

God is a loving and forgiving God.  He is also just and sin is detrimental to any relationship with him.  Sin cannot be in His presence.  But, He wants to have a relationship with us and He loves us so much that He provided a way to atone for our sins.  As the Israelites, His chosen people, were delivered from the bondage of the Egyptians, a system was created to appease God of sin.  That is a long story for another time, but basically, a blood offering was needed,  a sacrifice for the sins of the people.  But, because of the sins of the people, including the priests, this was needed over and over, every year.  Read through Hebrews to learn more about this.  So, God the Father, sent His only Son, Jesus, who had no sin, to be that blood sacrifice to redeem all who believe.  Jesus Christ came to this earth, becoming fully man and fully God, giving freely His life, taking the sins of the world on His shoulders, being nailed to a cross and being raised from the dead on the third day.  He showed true love, unconditional love.  Because of what Christ did, we can be forgiven.
Continue reading “Love and Forgiveness”

Don’t Be a “Pew-sitter”

As we go through our series on “I am Saved…Now what to do?”, we will discuss the importance of being involved in your local church.  Probably one of the first things to do after you accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life is to find a good church, one that teaches the Bible with no compromise, one that disciples new believers, one who has a community of believers to help each other grow and encourage one another, one who is a praying church.  Check out their mission statement, tenets of faith and what they offer.  I am a strong believer in small groups.  This is where people really get to know each other as they study God’s word.  I also am a strong believer that everyone has a ministry that God has appointed them to do.  We all need to be an active member of our church, participating in Bible studies, small groups, Sunday school, and ministries.  Seek what the Lord has called you to do.  Help where help is needed.  That is a good way to discover your gifts and your calling.  Don’t wait for it to come to you…but also know when to say no.  God will lead you.  Too many people come to Sunday services and think that is enough.  I call them “pew-sitters.”  Getting fed through the music and sermons is great, but there is more to it than that.  How do you help to “feed” others?  I believe this is what God meant when He says, “I know the plans that I have for you…to give you a future and a hope.”  (See Jeremiah 29:11) Continue reading “Don’t Be a “Pew-sitter””