November 2017 - GraceAndWorks

Dear Members and Friends of the Church:

I secretly visited your Bible classes recently and was overjoyed to see that so many of you had not come. I heard some lessons that were not very well prepared and other teachers said no visits had been made during the week. I was simply delighted! It thrilled me to see some leave the worship service right after the Lord’s Supper was over, indicating that they were not going to let the proclamation of God’s Word come near to them. I saw some others come just in time for the worship to sit glassy-eyed with their mouths shut while a few sang the hymns. Then they dozed or acted bored to death while the preacher went through his Sunday morning ritual and hum-drum or “bore-a-story.” I was especially pleased to note how many failed to bring an offering. I love to see the church in financial difficulty.

Think you know what this means? Not so fast, my friends. As I was thinking about this particular subject, I started asking different individuals what this meant and I found most people don’t know the meaning. Most think it is about lying or not. Most of us have probably told some “Little white lies” somewhere or sometime in our life and we have heard, “Just tell the truth and that will set you free”. Soooo, what if you confess to a crime, do the police set you free? If you’ve done something wrong at home and your parents tell you to tell the truth, you do, and there are times you got in trouble and maybe even got grounded or some other consequence happened. Did that set you free? You probably felt better by coming clean with the truth, but you didn’t get set free. What if you did something really wrong at work and has to fess up the truth? There was a consequence, maybe even dismissed from your job. Did that set you free?  Don’t get me wrong, it is always better to tell the truth. One nice thing about telling the truth is that you don’t have to try to remember what you said. Tell a lie, and pretty soon you are telling another one to cover for the first one and then another one and another one, and you get caught up with because you can’t remember what the lies were all about.

Now back to what “The Truth Will Set You Free” really means and where it came from.

John 14:1-7 says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Fathers house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me”.

Jesus, is the TRUTH and he will set you free. He was born on this earth, He lived on this earth, He died on this earth, He was buried on this earth and he was resurrected from this earth. He died for our sins so we might have salvation simply by obeying what God says to do. His shed blood set us free. The TRUTH (Jesus) will set you free.
Hear
Believe
Repent
Confess
Be Baptized
Live a righteous life.
That’s what God commands and if we want to be saved at Judgement Day, that’s what we will do!!

Have a good week all. SMILE God loves YOU!!

Matthew 7:13 says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” According to scripture, not everyone is going to Heaven.

1st: We’ll look at who is not going.

1st Corinthians 6:9-10; Do you not know that these will not inherit the Kingdom of God?

The unrighteous

Those deceived

Fornicators

Idolaters

Adulterers

Homosexuals

Sodomites

Thieves

Those who are covetous

Drunkards

Revilers

Extortioners

1st John 2:15-17:

Lovers of the world

Those who have the lust of the flesh

Those with lust of the eyes

Those with a pride of life

Do not love the world or things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

2nd: Those who will inherit the Kingdom of God:

Romans 10:17, Hear the word of God

John 8:24, Believe that Jesus is the Son of God

Matthew 10:32, Confess that belief

Luke 13:3, Repent of your sins

Mark 16:16, Be baptized

Revelation 2:10 Remain faithful.

John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

1st John 2:3-6:

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

The Bible is our map and lays out very plainly the plan God has for our salvation. Are you on the right road?

Have a good day all!!

SMILE God loves YOU!!

 

 

 

 

Are you a “Mustard Seed”, “Leaven”, or a “Tare”? We’ve been studying, in Bible class, the parables that Jesus talked about in Matthew 13. As we were studying, and as I further studied, I got to thinking how these can also pertain to us as individuals. So, I want to put a little different spin on the parables as they pertain to our life.

THE “Mustard Seed” is a very small seed, when planted and nurtured properly, will turn into a large tree. As individuals, we are like the “Mustard Seed”. We start off as babies and if nurtured properly with the right food, knowledge, and upbringing we will grow into the strong individual that God wants us to be. We will stand upright and strong and produce good fruit and works. Standing steadfast in our daily lives and our Christian lives is a task that takes good character, strong will, and the right knowledge. Are you doing the things that will take you from the “Mustard Seed” to a full grown  tree?

A little “Leaven” leavens the whole loaf!! I was looking at this and myself wondering if I were the “Leaven” in life, would everyone around me grow? Would they flourish? Would people be better because of my influence? Then I figured, if that were to happen, I would have to be strong in my beliefs, convictions, knowledge, and the ability to stand steadfast. This would hold true in both my everyday life and my Christian life. Strive to do good works so those around you will have a positive influence.

Then there are the “Tares”. “Tares” are nothing more than weeds and we all know what weeds will do in the yard and/or garden. They can disrupt the growth and production of healthy plants. “Tares” are completely different from the “Mustard Seed” and “Leaven” in that they “Tare” down, instead of building up. So, what kind of things would be declared a “Tare”? GOSSIP–talking about others and creating disruption. DISOBEDIENCE–to your boss, family, and God. No CONSIDERATION of others–it’s all about me and I don’t care about you!! Uncontrollable ANGER–no patience and won’t listen. FILTHY language–do not take the Lord’s name in vain (OMG, For Christ’s sake, G-damn, etc). And the biggy–LYING!! Why can’t we just tell the truth? Why do we have to distort the truth? In God’s word, why to we tend to pull things out of context to prove our point? God already said what was what. Why would we think we are smarter than God?

A little different look at the parables and some questions for you to ponder on.

SMILE God loves YOU!! Have a good week all.