Tag: Heaven

Would You Drop Everything To Follow Jesus?

Would you give up everything you have, all your possessions, which God allowed you to have, to follow Jesus, to serve him and learn from the ultimate teacher?  What an honor it would that would be.  

 Matthew 19:16 “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” (Bible Gateway King James Version 2020)

I don’t know how long it would take to sell all your things and donate the proceeds to the poor, but can you imagine the opportunity to go and serve Jesus?  Jesus knew the man wouldn’t sell his belongings and donate his wealth to the poor and come and follow him.  What would you do?  I would like to think that I would.  Now, I believe I would, but a few years ago, I may not have.  Now, I know what an honor it would be and we should want to do this, not because we are sure to be rewarded in Heaven, but because Jesus died for our sins.  It’s the least we can do.   

God allows us to have our possession anyway.  Why not give it all back for him, for we will be paid back (rewarded) in Heaven.  “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” (Bible Gateway King James Version 2020).  What would you do? 

The Holy Spirit

I’m taking a class with BMA Seminary; Introduction to Christian Teaching.  I believe it will help me learn more about the Bible and I hope it will compliment my writing.  One of the required books I need for the course is the Baptist Expositor, Leader.  I was reading the first lesson of Leader/Spring 2020 book and the first lesson is on Acts 1:1-11. 

I’ll summarize what’s taken place: “The apostles, were told to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit Who would empower them to witness for Jesus.  Jesus told them that their witnessing would be far-reaching beginning at home and going to the uttermost part of the earth.  What a gigantic task that lay before them!  How can such a task be accomplished?  They key to their success would be the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Baptist Expositor Leader/Spring 2020)

“Today believers do not have to wait for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  He came 2,000 years ago to empower the church and has faithfully dome so ever since.  We can tap into that power right now and be witnesses for Jesus.  Are you utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit now to be an effective witness for Jesus?  We should work hard at our witness for Jesus knowing that one day He will return to this earth just as He ascended into Heaven.”  (Baptist Expositor Leader/Spring 2020)

We were just talking about this at Church, well we had Brotherhood breakfast at Church; we’re Baptists so we eat a lot, and the devotion was about asking God to use us to witness to others.  If we have faith and pray to be used as a witness, the Holy Spirit will make give us the words and confidence to be an effective witness.  I know it’s hard to step out and have faith to talk to others about Christ, but that’s what were supposed to do, we are supposed to build the Kingdom.  I read a statistic that shocked me; only 32 percent   of the World’s population believe in Jesus.  This is going to sound BOLD, but I wish it was 100%!  Hell wasn’t intended for us; it was intended for the Devil and his demonic angels.  Matthew 25:41 says “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (King James Version of the Holy Bible Holman KJV Study Bible 2012).  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be on the left-hand side, bound for everlasting fire!

The sad thing is that you just have to BELIEVE in Jesus, that he died on the cross for your sins and accept him into your heart, and your life and repent from your sins.  We’re all sinners, but believers are saved by God’s grace because we are sinners, we’re not perfect.

So, ask to be used by God to witness to others and let the Holy Spirit work in you.    

Doing What We Want To Do

I was at an event called Fields of Faith Wednesday at Bearcat Stadium in Mena, Arkansas.  Before I go any farther, I want to explain what this is. 

Fields of Faith is a student led event where students invite, pray for, share with and challenge their peers to read the Bible and follow Jesus Christ.  The venue is an athletic field to provide a neutral rally- point where a community can come together.

And it was awesome seeing young adults come together and worship Jesus.  There was pizza provided by a local pizza place, there was a band.  There were testimonials and guest speakers.  I would certainly call it a success.

But I heard the phrase doing whatever we wanted to do in some testimonials and this applies to us at Church as well, sometimes we hear someone say that they just did whatever they wanted to do when they were younger or before they were saved, referring to going out drinking, getting drunk, passing out, doing drugs, cheating, lying, stealing, basically living Worldly.  Instead of doing whatever we want to, shouldn’t we want to follow Jesus, shouldn’t we want to do the right thing, read our Bibles and worship God.  The more we read the Bible the more we learn how we as Christians need to live our lives. 

I’m not trying to pick on the kids.  It’s just some constructive criticism that applies to all of us even at Church.  And I’m not trying to sound better than anyone either.  I’m a sinner too.  I just want to change the perception that living for Christ is a choice we should want to do as opposed to living a sinful Worldly life.  We can still do what we want to do and live for Jesus Christ and leave the Worldly sinful life behind.  It’s the least we can do for Jesus since he died for our sins and with the grace of God we can all have everlasting life in Heaven, all we have to do is believe in Jesus.

Are you doing whatever you want when you read the Bible, go to Church, pray and worship God or are you doing whatever you want and living a sinful Worldly life? 

Sleeping Too Close to the Getting in Spot

Our Sunday school teacher told the Sunday school a story the other day and I wanted to share it with you.

He said, one night a small child rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. His Mom came in and picked the child up off the ground and consoled him and after the boy was calmed down put him back in bed. The Mom asked why did you fall out of bed and the boy thought about it for a while and after a minute or so said, well I guess I went to sleep too close to the getting in spot.

Our Sunday school teacher compared that to us as Christians. He said sometimes if we aren’t careful after getting saved, we may grow stagnant and go to sleep too close to the getting in spot. We think we are saved now and we don’t need to put forth any effort in our relationship with God. We’re good, we’re saved, right?

God already knows everything about us, he made us, but what do we know about God? I think the least we can do for giving his only son to die on the Cross for us, so we can be saved by God’s grace and go to Heaven is to spend some time and effort on our relationship with him. How do we get to know God, by meditating in our Bible (not just reading it), praying, and going to Church, to name a few and to be as close in our lives as possible to live like Jesus, yes Jesus was perfect and we are not, but we should strive to live like Jesus and to love like Jesus after all being a Christian is about loving others.

The Sunday school teacher also shared a story about sharing a garden with his neighbors and they would plant the garden, harvest the garden and share the crops from the garden. He said the men were all God fearing Christians, but he noticed one of the neighbor’s brothers stopped going to Church because he was afraid God would call on him to be a preacher like his other brothers.

It’s sad that some of us are afraid to step outside of our comfort zone to serve the Lord, whether that is being a Sunday school teacher, leading the music in our Church, preaching, serving on the pulpit committee, being a deacon, or all the other positions that are required for a Church to be successful. Aren’t we supposed to serve God?

Be careful not to go to sleep too close to the getting in spot and step out of your comfort zone to help your Church by serving God.

Reality Outreach Ministries

Dwayne and Renee Corbin, U.S. Ministry President/Team came to the sleepy little town of Mena, Arkansas and it changed my life. I have never been a part of anything as rewarding as working with this wonderful Christian family that is so dedicated to bringing people to Jesus.

To be in the production of Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames, you have to dedicate some time but it is well worth it. There was a lot of praying, learning lines and practicing involved. We started on a Saturday in the morning at 9 a.m. and was at Church all day, praying, reading our lines and practicing, then we went home memorized our lines and came back Sunday, sang worship songs, prayed and practiced for our show that started Sunday night at 7 p.m., again all day, then had another show Monday and Tuesday.

I have to say, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. It’s more fun than fishing (and I love to go fishing), going to a water park, or anything, I can think of. It was very rewarding to watch people accept Jesus into their lives. And I have grown spiritually as well. There is a lot of prayer involved to be a part of Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames. It also brought our Church closer together. I would recommend every Church to reach out to Reality Outreach Ministries and book them to come to your Church. Honestly, I don’t want them to leave.

https://realityoutreach.org/

Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames

The production Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames is in our sleepy little town of Mena, Arkansas and when they arrived and asked for people to be in the production, to be honest, I really didn’t want to be in it, but since there wasn’t many people I was chosen to be in more than one scene, but I sure am glad I was picked.

But I have to say in the first scene, I have to beat Jesus up and nail him to the cross. Do you know how hard it is to beat the man up that died for all of our sins? And even worse, to nail the man responsible for all us to be able to enter Heaven to the cross? And even worse than that stab Jesus with a spear, which is the reason he dies. I’d much rather be in my Christian family scene.

But it is so rewarding seeing people accept Jesus into their lives as their Savior. It’s like nothing I have ever been a part of and frankly, I don’t want it to end. We have two more nights of the production. I pray that there are so many people tonight and tomorrow night that they stay for more nights, we’ll see.

Heaven’s Gates & Hell’s Flames is life changing for the people in the production and the people being saved. If you get a chance I encourage you to be involved in it in your Church.

The Perception of a Christian

I have this perception of a Christian and I have pretty high standards for Christians, it’s pretty much perfection. And maybe I need to work on that. We are going to make mistakes, we are not perfect, sometimes we may say a curse word (under our breath), we may overreact to a situation, or we may even get a ticket as long as we realize our shortcomings and work on changing them. It’s like having weaknesses. I have many. When you are in a job interview and are asked what are your weaknesses. I think the best thing is to state them (one of two, don’t offer up too many.) It shows that your cognizant of your weaknesses, you have identified your weaknesses and you are working on them to change them from weaknesses to strengths.

As a Christian, I believe in Christ. I am saved and I have asked God to forgive me of my sins. I believe (faith) when I die, I will live eternally in Heaven. I will strive to be a better person each day with strong morals and ethics. That’s the best we can do as Christians.

What is your perception of a Christian?