Happy New Year

Have you ever wondered why so many people heed warnings over the slightest risks?  It seems like a few people can get sick because they use a certain product and everybody goes into a panic.  Do you remember the peanut butter scare?  People began to get sick after eating Peter Pan and the Wal-Mart brand of peanut butter so they pulled them off the shelf.  We have seen Toyota go through the ringer over the gas pedal sticking and apparently Children’s Tylenol is never coming back.  Seriously, I have not seen it on the shelf in a long time.  Now I am not making light of the illness and even deaths that created these recalls, but why is it we take heed to these warnings that probably will have no impact on us while at the same time we ignore God’s word?  Ten out of ten people I know are going to die.  The Bible is filled with warnings for those who die apart from him, but so many don’t pay any attention to the warnings.  You know what I think is sad?  Is the fact that not only do we ignore his warnings we don’t love his word.

Recently my lovely wife saw an intruder in our house.  She was terrified!  I mean she screamed and come running through the house and I could see the panic in her eyes.  Of course I was then expected to attack and kill this vile beast who found our home as a temptation to dwell in and call his own domain.  When I asked her what was wrong she sad “I SAW A RAT”!  Well it was nearly midnight and I was very tired and I have no traps or poison because we have never seen any rodents in the house.  Sometimes you just have to be the man of the house and tell your wife you are not going to jump at their every request especially 12 o’clock at night!  So here I am at Wal-Mart at midnight buying every trap and rodent killing mechanism they have.  Needless to say a few days go by and all traps are clear.  Then one day she opens up the junk closet (oh don’t act like you don’t have a junk closet) and she smells something dead.  You probably know the next seen.  So here I am cleaning out the junk closet and I pull every item out.  I just knew I would find this rat that she described as approximately 5 inches laying in the back corner.  Oh no, couldn’t be that easy.  Instead after going through every box and container I find it in the very last bag to go.  By the way it was a mouse about 2 inches counting the tail.

Now that was the funny part of my story but here is the reality of the story.  After I disinfected the closet I began to go through my junk closet and throw things away.  Guess what I found in my junk closet? A Bible?  Not a Bible but instead several Bibles.  You know God has overly blessed me.  He has given me so much that I am at a point in my life that I can store Bibles in a closet of junk.  I told my wife we have more Bibles than anybody I know.  Did you know that the Jews kiss the Torah (Old Testament) if it gets knocked to the ground?  There are 450 people murdered everyday for preaching the Bible.  There are thousands of people in the world everyday who read their Bible in secret to keep from being killed, and I have his word in a closet of junk.

We need to quit storing God’s word away and start reading his word.  I believe we too often have lost a love for his word in the Junk of this world.  I hope that in this New Year God brings you a joy of service for him.  I hope you fall in love with his word and you share his word with others.  Remember his word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11).  May we not hide his word but instead display it for the entire world to hear!

Jesus Saves,

RR 

Merry Christmas

Well it is almost here!

There are just to many people this time of year who let this joyous time pass by them and they never take the opportunity to celebrate the glory of God.  I hear people say "well I will be glad when its over".  Come on man!  I can understand people wanting a tough day of work to hurry and go by, but not Christmas!  I can honestly say I enjoy this time of year more than I ever have.  I love it!  I not only enjoy it more because I have children, but it is because my love for Jesus Christ!

Think about this.  When people sing Christmas songs Christ is honored and people don't even realize.  Don't get me wrong "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" isn't exactly honoring God, but there are tons of musicians who record Christmas music and are singing of the glorious Savior.

My point is simple.  He will be praised!  Jesus Christ has suffered humility.  The Bible says "he humbled himself even unto death." However the days of humility is over, and his arrival is the beginning of the Kingdom.  Jesus will be honored.  It doesn't matter how much a person denies the deity of the Lord, one day they will bow before him.  There is coming a day when the trees will clap at the presence of the King.  Until then there will always be some who praise him.

I love the Christmas story because I love my savior.  I can not show my love for him by my righteousness because there is no good within me, but I can tell his story.  I can sing his praises, and I can share his Gospel!

I hope you take the time this Christmas to love like Jesus.  We only get so many Christmas days on this earth with the people we love.  So tell those around you how you love them, and share the story of Jesus with somebody!

Jesus Saves,
RR    

Kingdom Characteristics VII

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed is the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God”.

Our society offers so many remedies for a constant sickness that dwells with each man and woman.  We are desperate for peace.  The Natural man is convinced that we must do something to repay for the bad we have done.  Have you ever thought about other religions and how they work?  All of them require that the only way to a redemptive state is to outweigh your bad with good.  Some of them do not even offer a redemptive state.  There is without question no belief like that of the teachings of Jesus Christ and his disciples.  None!  Some may say that is a narrow view.  I say show me one like it. 

The beauty in the teachings of the Bible is that we cannot achieve redemption.  There is no way to make up for all of our wrong.  Now some may say how could that be a good thing?  Let me give you an example.  Let’s say you’re driving down the road and you look down to change the radio station when you look up there is an antique car in its original structure and you smash into it.  There is no way you can ever change this situation.  Sure you can get the car fixed, but it will not be the same. 

This leads to the point of this verse.  Peace comes from the Prince of Peace.  Even many Christians today do not understand this teaching.  We cannot fix our messed up wretched lives.  One phrase that we have always heard proves this.  “You cannot change the past”.  How many times have you heard this?  How many times have you said this?  By our own admission we cannot ever do enough to earn peace with God.  This is why the Bible is the greatest series of words on the planet and is the number one all time bestselling book.  Only in Christ is our sins blotted out.  The bible says in the book of Psalms that he cast our sins as far as the East is from the West.  Only in Jesus Christ written word known as the Holy Bible do we have a true redemptive promise, and that is because he is the only risen Savior.  There is no comparison to Jesus.

In this verse it is a characteristic of the believer to be a peacemaker.  How does one become a peacemaker when we cannot create peace for our self?  Well, it is done by having Jesus Christ be the Lord of your life.  Now notice the reward in this verse “they shall be called the children of God”.  This is not a title given by man.  Christians got there name by men who were making a derogative comment about the earlier believers and it stuck.  However this title is given by God.  Jesus does not see me as a Christian he sees me as a child!  Think about that.  God’s people are peacemakers not troublemakers, and he has called us to be Children of the most High God.

Can you say “I am a child of God”?  If you cannot say that without absolute confidence then please know that he wants you to be his child.  He wants a relationship with you.  It will not come by your works and good deeds.  It will come by your faith in him.  When you give your life to him you will be changed and then you will begin a life as a peacemaker not a peace seeker.

Jesus Saves,

RR

Kingdom Characteristics VI

I have not posted in a couple days because I wanted to make sure that I took my time on this post.  Today I want to look at Matthew 5:8 and let me just say this verse is the key verse.  It is the pinnacle of the Beatitudes.


Matthew 5:8 "Blessed is the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Like I said this is the key verse and I believe “pure” is the key word in the verse.  Remember the background?  The Pharisees and the Sadducees are plotting against Christ every chance they get.  This is the case throughout the four gospels.  When you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John always keep in mind that Jesus is preaching to the hearts of men and women.  His word pierces them and this angers the Pharisees.  Jesus exposes them.  He points out their self-righteousness.  Jesus isn’t trying to fill Church pews.  He doesn’t care about the next business meeting.  He isn’t worried about hurting someone’s feelings.  He preaches the truth because he is the Truth!

Purity is a rarity then and now.  What does it mean to have a pure heart?  Jeremiah said, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer 17:9)  The Pharisees advertised purity but they had wicked hearts.  They had no compassion for the poor, or the hurting.  They were full of crap!  You can quote me on that.  Jesus is saying in this verse those who are “pure” or in other words “real”.  Real inside not counterfeit.  He is saying the Holy Spirit only produces a life of fruit bearing, and those who will be in his Kingdom exercise this trait.  When we are saved we are born again.  Our heart belongs to God.  This doesn’t mean you want sin or have corrupted intentions from time to time, but it should not be common.  Your life should automatically glorify Christ if you are saved.  Most of the people I know believe they are going to heaven, but does their life glorify Christ?

So what makes this verse so important?  In order to have a pure heart the previous verses have to apply to your life.  You have to be poor in spirit or in other words you have to know how desperate you are without Christ.  You have to be someone who mourns.  This world is so corrupted and there are so many hurting today that we should mourn for the lost and afflicted.  Jesus wept for Jerusalem and we should weep for our communities.  You have to be meek or in other words self disciplined to abstain from sin.  Sin is death and the heart that is full of sin is dead.  Jesus said blessed is the “pure in heart”, and you cannot be pure in heart and live a life corrupted with sin.  You also have to have a hunger and thirst for God.  If you are going to be pure in heart you are going to have delight in the reading of his word.  Zephaniah 3:17 says, “ the lord will rejoice over thee”.  One-sided relationships don’t last.  If you belong to Christ then you will rejoice in him and you will want to learn more about him.  Also if you are pure in heart then you will have mercy.  God has saved sinners from wretchedness.  Who are we to not offer mercy to others?

The reason this verse is the pinnacle is because of where we end and that is in the hands of persecution.  Verses 10-12 describe trouble to the believer because we live in a world that is not ours.  (I will go further into that in the next few posts.)  Calvinist love to boast of Romans 8:35-39 as verses of scripture to claim assurance of salvation.  They have nothing to do with the assurance of salvation.  A state of non-assurance of salvation is an oxymoron.  You cannot be saved unless you believe.  Romans 8:35-37 is about withstanding persecution.  The pure hearted believer endures though persecution.  Jesus is driving this point home because in order to live a life free from sin and contrary to the Pharisees there will be a cost.  That cost is suffering.  Jesus is the example.  The pure hearted righteousness of God endured the cross.  He humbled himself even unto death.  Praise God for his love and may our hearts be pure!

Jesus Saves,

RR