Friday, May 20, 2016

Does anybody really know....

What time it is?

It is very apparent that God has created, within the framework of our space-time
continuum, a linear element called time. Scripture suggests that this 'time' is not
necessarily the same for a God who is eternal and immortal. There are several
aspects of this that seem very interesting to me:

1) Time seems to speed up as we age. I know that is how it works for me! Seems like
each birthday comes along just a little more quickly, the days seem to speed by a bit faster, 
that component of our life called death seems to approach an area of comprehension more
frequently than when we were young and carefree.

2) God does things at a time which is right and appropriate for His goals and will. Jesus
appeared after a prolonged quiet time at the perfect moment for His arrival to be meaningful and successful. His second advent will come at a time known only to God that is the perfect
time in light of the finality of the growth of His church. 

3) Our time here on earth is limited, goes quickly and will end at a time known only
to our Creator. He is aware of all the days of our lives, from first breath to last. The ending
will not be a surprise to Him because our lives are like the pages of a book that eventually
runs out of pages.

4) In light of these things, there is no time like the present. Acceptance of salvation
through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ needs to occur prior to His re-arrival. The
importance of sharing the good news of the Gospel is enhanced by the realization that,
despite God's wonderful patience, there will be an end point to this free gift of grace.
Friends, loved-ones, co-workers who show no signs of being in Christ are in mortal
danger of time running out. While the Holy Spirit remains the element of salvation,
we are agents of introduction who can plant an important seed, start a wonderful
ripple and thus see the blessing of a soul saved, a heart softened and a life enhanced.

Take the TIME to share. Thank God for the time He has blessed you with and look
forward to the glorious time of His arrival to make all things righteous, to collect
His children and be given all things that belong to Him as King.

Praise our God!


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Twice in the yearbook!

Revelation 20:15 - And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

I didn't purchase a copy of my high school yearbook... on purpose. I was the one beside
whose horrible picture were absolutely no words. No clubs, no meritorious achievements,
no awards, nothing. I would have been called the "student most likely to have not been
recognized in the hallways." I just wanted to survive, walk out with a diploma and move
on with life.

Alistair Begg (Truthforlife.org.) mentions a yearbook metaphor when discussing
Revelation that I would respectfully like to build upon.

If we imagine God's yearbook for a moment, and scripture assures us that there are
actually multiple books from which can be seen everything about our earthly lives, we
would discover that all of us, all of God's creatures, are in that book once. This is
because we are spiritually descended from Adam and Eve with the accompanying sinful
nature, baggage that many of us never manage to have removed from our backs through
the grace of God.  All that would accurately be included besides that name, and possibly a
picture, would be 'member of the human race, created by God, destined to die a
physical death by the curse of the original sin.

Now the key is getting our names in that yearbook a second time. Regardless of where
you stand on the concepts of election, free will, etc., there will be a moment in our lives
when we have the choice to accept Jesus Christ as our savior, Lord and King. Statistics
would seem to show that the majority of those found the first time in the yearbook will
reject the call to salvation, re-birth, justification and life offered as a free gift by a God
who is determined to build His church with believers destined to enter eternity in
his presence. In many ways, it is so very difficult to imagine someone turning his back,
closing his ears, hardening his heart and just saying, "NO!"

The "YES Lord Jesus" answer provides a second entry. Beside the entry would be
written,'Child of God, saved by grace, cleansed of sin, reborn into life, blessed
beyond imagination.' I would guess that the picture beside this entry would even
look a bit different. No personal meritorious achievements or awards would be listed
because only the Love of God could bring about this second entry. It's the Book of
Life, the Lamb's Book of Life. You need to be in there. I pray that you are in there!

Praise our God!  



Friday, May 6, 2016

How to kill your own zombie

For whatever the reason, Zombies never really scared me as a kid. They would be in
movies, etc. and I would simply find it ridiculous that anyone could, having been dead,
get up and walk awkwardly toward anything that seemed like food. Why would they
be hungry? Why could you only kill them with a bullet to the head when they were
already dead?

Well, it turns out that zombies are actually very very frightening because all of us have had first-hand experience being one. That's right. Zombie. Walking around this world, dead.
In our cases, unlike those in the movies, we are talking about spiritually dead. That
state of being describes each of us, descendants from Adam, full of sin and dead,
spiritually.  That would mean that 100% of those born of mothers into this world
arrive dead.

The big problem is that we cannot make ourselves alive, again. Try as we might,
doing the best that we can, doing what we feel is good and honorable just won't
make the grade. We can't fix this.

Through God's grace, here is a solution and a way that we can be made alive. It is
through acceptance in the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
He said, as you remember, that we need to be born again, baptized by the Holy
Spirit into true life with Jesus. There is no application necessary, here, no
references, no resume. No one will be offended by the fact that you walk with very
stiff movements, unable to talk real clearly due to your zombie-ness. The fact
is that God, through His abounding grace, is calling for you to come. 

Our biggest problem as zombies is that we actually have the tendency to turn
in the opposite direction. We flee this life-changing, potentially eternal offer
because we are programmed to avoid God. Well, we would be better off being
shot in the head than to turn down life everlasting with God.

So take off those rags, loosen up and respond to God's call. Tell Him, from
your knees that you are a sinner in need of Grace and the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Now would be a great time!

Praise our God.