Tag: Jesus died on the cross

It’s Ok to Not be OK Devotion

Have someone pray and eat.

You guys probably greeted each other when you came in.  You know when someone asks you how are you?  What do we normally say?  We’re doing good, or doing fine, or we are great.  But are we always doing great?  We are broken people, living in a fallen world.  It’s ok, to not be ok all the time.  You probably shouldn’t wallow in your pity, but we are not always ok and that’s ok.  

Maybe you watched the news, that will depress you, or maybe someone recently died in your family, or you’re just not feeling good, or you’re sick of being sick.  Or you’re having a bad day at work, or your home life just isn’t that great.

Men, lean on your brothers when you are having a hard time, we are here for each other.  Simon Sinek is a motivational speaker.  Simon says “Do you have 8 minutes to spend with a friend?  In his video Simon says that his friend stated, you didn’t respond to my message when I needed you and Simon says, well your message didn’t indicate you needed me, or needed help, it started out like every other message.  If you need help, let someone know, hey I really need you today.  I’m having a hard day, or a tough time.   

He goes on to say it just takes 8 minutes to make someone feel better, listen to their problems, pray with them and pray for them. 

Ask Eddy to say Ecclesiastes

Turn to Ecc. 3:1 (Take turns reading)

1: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2: a time to be born, and a time to die;
 a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. (Bible Gateway ESV 2025)

There is a time for everything, sometimes we are on the mountain, and sometimes we are in the valley. 

But what is our hope in?  Jesus Christ.  Our hope is in Jesus Christ.  If you believe in the good news, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul lays it out for us, 15:1 “Now I would remind you, brothers,[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (Bible Gateway ESV 2025)

If you believe in that, if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, we are going to spend eternity in Heaven with the Lord.

How long is eternity?  When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sign God’s praise than when we first begun.  

It’s ok, to not be ok, down here on this earth, but Jesus is coming back! And we are going to spend eternity with Him.   

Steven share with the group how you get someone to open up and share what’s troubling them. So, let’s practice saying that we are not doing that good.  Break into groups and ask each other how you are doing, and I want you to say I’m not doing that good today. 

Now, I want you to ask how I can pray for you, and I want you to take turns praying for each other.

Does anyone have anything else on your heart?

Next month’s meeting, outside at a campfire?  Watch a movie: The Forge?  And if you want to give the next month’s devotion, let me know.

The Days of Noah (Devotional)

I’ve got a question for you:  Doesn’t it feel like we are living in the Days of Noah?  What’s going on out there?  Are you paying attention to what’s going on in the world?  

On Friday, there was a shooting at a grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas, and on Thursday you probably received an Amber alert on your phone about someone that allegedly killed multiple people was found in Morrilton, Arkansas.  That’s too close to home.  it’s getting dangerous out there. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,[d] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (Bible Gateway ESV 2024)

1 Corinthians 15: 50: “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (Bible Gateway ESV 2024)

The other day I was leaving work.  I walked out of the building to where our parking lot is and this strange feeling came over me, that I have never experienced before.  I felt a strong feeling that Jesus could come back at any time, or I could die at any second.  I thought, I might not make it across the parking lot to the truck.  So, I walked across the parking lot and got in the truck and here I am.  No-one knows when Jesus will return except the Father, but it sure feels like it could be any second.  It feels like we are living in the time of Noah. 

Matthew 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,[b] but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  (Bible Gateway ESV 2024)

Men, I don’t know when Jesus is coming back, and I don’t know when I am going to die, but I know one thing for sure.  I’m either going to die or Jesus is going to come back.  One of those two things are going to happen, and that goes for all of us and I know we are running out of time. 

Genesis 6: 11 “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh,[c] for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Bible Gateway ESV 2024)

17 “For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” (Bible Gateway ESV 2024)

This is from Got questions .org 2024 I searched what was it like in the days of Noah:

“The biblical account of Noah begins in Genesis 6. Approximately 1,600 years had passed since the creation of Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:26–27). As the earth’s population exploded in number, it also exploded with evil. Long forgotten was the righteous sacrifice of Abel (Genesis 4:4) as “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Verses 11 and 12 say, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” However, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (verse 8).

When Jesus described the events that will surround His second coming, He said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26–27). Jesus was pointing out that, although the people of Noah’s day were totally depraved, they were not the least bit concerned about it. They were carrying on the events of their lives without a single thought of the judgment of God. Noah is described as a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), meaning he had spent years warning his friends and neighbors what the Holy God was about to do. No one listened.

The depravity and ungodly lifestyles of the entire world at that time were enough to cause the Lord to “regret that He had made man” (Genesis 6:6). Many scholars believe that part of the need to destroy every human being except Noah and his family was the sin mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4, when “the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.” As evil reproduced and overtook the world, the most merciful act God could perform was to start over.

It is interesting that God allowed Noah nearly one hundred years to complete the building of the ark. Through all that time, God patiently waited (1 Peter 3:20). Scripture seems to imply that Noah preached to the people of that time about what was coming (Hebrews 11:7). They did not believe Noah and were content with their wickedness and idolatry. Their hearts were hard and their ears dull. No one repented, and no one cared to seek God.

Jesus said that the world will be much the same before He returns to set up His earthly kingdom (Matthew 25:31–33). He warned us to “be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Second Timothy 3:1–4 gives us a clear picture of the state of the world before Jesus comes and most likely also describes the world in the days of Noah. That verse says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” It is becoming increasingly obvious that, to understand what the world was like in the days of Noah, we only need to watch the evening news.”  (Got questions. Org 2024)

2 Peter 3:8“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.[c]

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (Bible Gateway ESV 2024)

This is something that is on my heart is that only eight people made it on the Ark, eight people!    When God destroyed the earth, he could only find eight people that were called righteous! There’s more people in this room right now. (Hopefully) And like I said before, it feels like we are living in the times of Noah. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way Salvation is being saved or rescued from the penalty of sin. We are all sinners, and the consequence of sin is death—not just physical death, but eternal separation from God. To be saved from your sin, you must do three things: Ask forgiveness for your sins; be willing to turn from your sins; and believe that Jesus Christ—our Lord and Savior—died for your sins and rose again. If you have done these things, you are saved! You have salvation, which means you have accepted God’s love and forgiveness, are adopted into His family and have fellowship with His people—your fellow Christians. You are free from the power of sin—a child of God! The Bible promises you eternity in heaven (Romans 10:9-10). How Are We Saved? John 3:16-17 and John 10:10 tell of the great love God has for us. Because of His love, He wants us to come to Him just as we are. He wants to have a personal relationship with us and longs for us to talk to Him freely about our sins and our needs. God revealed His love for us by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins more than 2,000 years ago. Jesus understands us because He lived as a man on earth for 33 years. He lived a sinless life and paid the price for our sins by offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice on the cross. He rose from the dead three days later and went up into heaven, where He intercedes on our behalf (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

Guys I don’t know all your hearts, but God does.  I don’t know your walk with Christ.  But if you need to talk to someone about that.  There are people in this room that you can talk to.