CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

 

Christmas, 2018 is almost here, it’s only two days away! Are you ready, and are your gifts wrapped? What gifts are you expecting, or hoping to receive, and how meticulously are you going to unwrap your presents?

Presents we receive are reminders that we’re loved, and that others care about us. Quite often, we don’t really need or have very good use for the presents we get, and that explains the reason people return gifts for exchange.

There’s one gift we’re all getting; it’s nicely wrapped, and should be unwrapped with care and gratitude! The sender, God, loves us so much, He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ. He is the perfect gift; we each need Him!

Accepting Him brings salvation, joy, and peace. Returning this gift to the Sender will be a big mistake, because the benefits of this gift are needful and beneficial for this life, and throughout eternity! Don’t live without it (Him).

Jesus is the reason for the season; He was born to die! God knew we each need to be delivered from sin, so out of love He sent us His Son, born of a virgin. He lived without sin, among us, and then He died a cruel and painful death. He rose on the third day, and now He lives forever more! Faith in Him will allow one to live forever with God in heaven, after this life. 

How do you plan to respond to the Sender, and what are you going to give Him in exchange? I encourage you to give him your heart! I hope you’ll be fascinated with this gift, accept and cherish Him, and He will come and live in your heart, and make you a new person! Merry Christmas!  

THINK ABOUT IT! PHASE # 4

The past three weeks, we’ve been talking about preparing to spend eternity in one of two places: heaven or hell. We talked about how to get to heaven—repenting of our sins and placing our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, because He died in our place on the cross. We also talked a bit about heaven: It is God’s home: an elegant place with no pain, tears, or suffering. Only the saved (faith in Jesus) will go there, and when we’re there, we will be worshiping God Almighty! I promised to describe hell, the alternative to heaven, this week.

Hell, according to the Scriptures, was created for the devil and his demons. It is a place of eternal fire (see Matthew 25:41); “The devil who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev 20:10 NLT).   But a people who want nothing to do with God will also go there: “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life” (Matt 25:46 NLT). Those who go there will be in torment, “And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur … The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night … ” (Revelation 14:10-11 NLT). 

Does the description of hell concern you? “Forever and ever” means just that! Can you stand being tormented day and night, non-stop? Think about it! I wouldn’t wish this kind of suffering on even my worst enemy, let alone on myself. Please, please, please, if you’ve never given eternity much thought in the past, or if you simply don’t care, please reconsider. If you don’t repent now, nothing is going to change your destination when the time comes. No excuse you could come up with will change anything. This is your opportunity; don’t miss it!

Please think about this question, and respond honestly to yourself; the Bible asks, “What makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus” (Hebrews 2:3 NLT). In other words, if we ignore this invitation, we cannot escape the consequences -- hell!      

THINK ABOUT IT! PHASE # 3

 Two weeks ago, we talked about the fact that life on earth is going to end sooner or later. When this life ends, you can’t change your eternal destination, hence the need to make the decision that guarantees eternity with God in heaven.  Once this opportunity is missed, one cannot get it back, but while one still has the opportunity, this is what the Scriptures say, “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NLT). 

Last week, we talked about having to choose between two places e to spend eternity: Heaven or hell, with no middle place! In order to spend eternity in heaven, one would have to repent and be saved by placing faith in Jesus. Remember, being created by God doesn’t make one a child of God; sin took care of that by interrupting the God/man relationship. That relationship has to be restored for one to be able to call God, “Father.” And it’s only through repentance and faith in Jesus that that relationship is restored. Jesus stated, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT).

To go to hell, one would have to ignore God’s offer for salvation—don’t repent, and live any way one would like, and one would be sure to get to hell. How sad. Why would anyone really choose to go to hell? It’s my prayer that after we compare heaven and hell, you’ll choose heaven.

Heaven is described as God’s home! The prophet Jeremiah prophesied, years before Jesus was born, “In that day, Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the Lord.’ And nations will come there to honor the Lord” (Jeremiah 3:17 NLT). When Jesus was on earth, He promised the disciples, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:2-3 NLT).

Again, heaven is described as “Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering” (Hebrews 12:22 NLT).

What an amazing place! Heaven a real place: it is God’s home, and He is there. The wall’s foundation is made of precious stones, the gates are made of pearls, and the main street is made of transparent gold. The place is illuminated by God’s glory, and therefore has no need of the sun or moon (see Rev 21:19-23). In addition, sin will be nowhere to be found.

You might be wondering, “What are we going to be doing in heaven this whole time?” Some people actually think it’ll be boring, but it will be far from that. The Bible tells us what we’ll be doing-worshipping Him: “…the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads … And they will reign forever and ever” (Rev 22:3-5 NLT).

One might also ask, “Who else is going to be in heaven?” Well, the Bible states clearly, “After this, I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe, and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb [Jesus]. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, ‘Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:9-10 NLT). Are you going to be in that crowd?

At the appointed time, Jesus will come back to escort God’s children home,to heaven! God promises there’ll be no sin, pain, sorrow, crying, tears, or death in heaven (see Isaiah 25:8; Rev 21:4). What an awesome promise!

Would you like to be where God is? Well, this is your chance; don’t postpone making your decision, because if He comes, or you die, without having made that decision, it will be too late. I don’t know how anyone could want anything other than heaven. Haven’t we had enough pain and suffering here on earth? Of course we have; let’s look forward to something better! Sin has put us through the mill; this is our chance to break free. Can you imagine a place where life goes on uninterrupted and never ends, where we’re free from diseases, with no children with unheard of cancers or murders, lying, stealing, or conflicts? My name is written in the Lamb’s book of life already, and when I get there, I’ll be dressed in a white robe. How about you?

The alternative to heaven is hell, but I’ll not encourage that, because the description is very frightening! More about that next week. Please, please, I’m pleading with you; call on Jesus today. Don’t miss heaven! 

---

THINK ABOUT IT! Phase # 2

Last week, we looked at eternity, and the fact that it has no pauses, stops, or end. While in this life though, it could be redirected. In other words, one doesn't have to continue on a path that leads to an eternity of pain and suffering. As long as one is on this side of eternity, one has the opportunity to choose a different path, leading to an eternity of joy and peace.

What options does one have for eternity, and how does one get there? one has two options from which to choose--heaven or hell, with no middle place. How does one get to either place? In order to be able to spend eternity in heaven, one has to be a child of God, not just created.  In other words, being created by God (which we all are), does not make you His child. In order to become His child, one needs to repent of sin, ask God for forgiveness and be saved through the death of Jesus Christ (see Acts 10:42-43). In order to spend eternity in hell, one has to choose to ignore the love of God through Jesus Christ.

Next week, we'll look at the difference between the two place, and why one place is better than the other.

THINK ABOUT IT! Phase # 1

This life is short, and ends sooner or later. Eternity is very long, it has no pauses, stops, or end. Everybody is going to be in eternity someday. Are you ready, and where are you going to spend it? Once it starts for you, there'll be no turning back. Think about it. Jesus saves! Call on Him today., its urgent!

“Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NLT).

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 NLT).

ETERNAL LIFE STARTS ON EARTH

Some of the synonyms of ‘eternal’ are: without end, everlasting, endless, unending, and perpetual. Henceeternal life is life that goes on without ever coming to an end. According to Scripture, for the Christian, eternal life starts here on earth, goes through this earthly life, and continues into life after death when we see Jesus face to face. It is important to mention that, unbelievers will face eternity as well: their eternity however, will be without Christ and their existence will not be life but death-which is the second death mentioned in Revelation (see Rev 20:14-15). As sad as it sounds, their eternity will be with the devil and his angels in hell. That is the reason they need to believe in Jesus now while they have time.

It is reasonable to assume that eternal life is futuristic, after death or after we see Jesus face to face. Scripture however does not teach that. Jesus defines eternal life this way, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” John 17:3 NIV).

Again, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has (not will have) eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over From death to life” (John 5:24 NIV). In reference to His sheep in John 10:28, Jesus said, “I give (not will give) them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. Also, “I write these things
to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have (not will have) eternal life” (1 John 5:13 NIV). Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? If yes, then your eternal life has already started; it started the minute you believed. John also says in John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has (not will have) eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

Since we already have eternal life, how should we live? We need to live with gratitude, assurance, confidence, humility, excitement, and expectation. Not all of God’s promises of heaven can be realized now, because we still live in our old tents of sin. But that day is coming when we will be clothed with immortality, and we can then experience everything the Father has promised us. Until then, let us practice some of the heavenly life as much as we can in these our mortal bodies. Things
like praise and worship, joy and obedience will keep us focused on our heavenly home. Amen!

AT THE RED SEA

When they started their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, the Israelites had no idea what they
were going to encounter on their journey. In fact Moses didn’t know initially what he was going to encounter either when God said to Him at Horeb, “. . . I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:7-10 NIV). They must just have assumed, “God called us; it is going to be smooth sailing.” Wrong! God called them, yes, but smooth sailing, No! He never
promised them that. It is so easy for us to assume that, being called equals to smooth sailing. They soon discovered it was going to be one challenge after another.

The first challenge was that Pharaoh refused to let them go by saying, “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2 NIV). Eight chapters later, the Israelites left Egypt, but more trouble was awaiting them in the
desert. One of such challenges was their experience at the Red Sea. They found themselves sandwiched between the Red Sea, in front of them, and the Egyptian army behind them. The dilemma was obvious; the Red Sea had stopped their progress, and the army behind them would attack if they couldn’t get out of their reach. The Egyptians were pressing in on them; they were nervous, they were terrified! They cried out to the Lord, and then they yelled at Moses! They said to
him, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt . . . .It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert” (Exodus 14:11-12 NIV)!

Moses, their leader did what came to him naturally, he called on God. When we are in the will of God as Moses was, it is easy to know what to do when things go wrong in the process, pray. God answered Moses’ prayer! “Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground" (Exodus 14:15 NIV). Moses did exactly as God commanded and asked no questions. When we ask God for directions, we need to be ready to do exactly as He commands whether or not we understand it; whether or not we agree with Him. When God directs, He does not need our input or suggestions. He expects us to obey.

To the Israelites’ surprise, the sea parted and they were able to walk on dry ground to the other side. (What a blessing to have God fearing, prayerful, obedient leaders, both in the Church and elsewhere). We need to support our leaders with our prayers, so that they will be prayerful and obedient to God. If Moses had doubted God, and not followed His directions, the outcome could
have been very different.

Are you at a Red Sea in your life? Are you unsure of what the next step should be? Then do what Moses did, pray, trust, and obey; do as God directs. God always (not sometimes) has a plan of good intentions to deliver us and to bring Him glory.

Also, let us remember that because God called or promised, does not mean the path will be easy. It will be more realistic to assume the road will be rough any time we are called to a task, than to think the other way around. Mary the mother of Jesus was called to carry and bear the Savior; what a blessing, and yet what a heartache. Abram (Abraham) was called to leave home, relocate, start a family, and be the father of many nations. What an honor, but also what trouble. As we embrace the honor of being called, let us also prayerfully embrace the uncertainties that go along with the call.