Monthly Archives: August 2013

Go With God 2

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Genesis 24:58, “And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.”

As we go about our lives we need to be followers of Christ.  As we continue the thought of “Go With God” my thought is about our service.  We need to Go with God in service.  There are far too many people who name Christ as Saviour; but, you never see them doing anything for Him or in His name.  This should bother us.

Jesus warned us that we are powerless to do works for Him unless we are doing them with Him working through us.  Look at what He says in John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”  Are you attempting great things for God?  I would urge you to do just that.  We need to attempt great things for God with Him helping.  This way these things will be accomplished.

What if we never attempt anything?  Look at Luke 9:62, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  this is talking about our service and not our salvation.  Nonetheless, we need to be attempting great things for God and with His help we will accomplish them.

So, how are you doing?

Go With God 1

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Genesis 24:58, “And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.”

In our day there are millions of voices that call for our undivided attention.  It is difficult at least to decide which voice or voices to listen to.  Listening to God is a vital attribute of our Christian life.  If we do not listen to God then we will be handicapped in our Christian life.  The sad thing is that some who call themselves Christian will not listen to our Father.

When we trust Jesus Christ as our Saviour it is like getting married (like in our title passage).  We decide that we will go where He goes.  We have to resign ourselves to God with God no matter.

The very most important thing is to go with God in salvation.  Look at Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  There are not multiple roads to Heaven.  There is only one Way and His name is Jesus.

So, as you go down the road of life I hope you will “Go With God” especially in salvation.  He is the Way.

So, how are you doing?

How To Hear From The Father 5

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Today will be the last installment in our series on “How To Hear From The Father”.  I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed sharing it.  There is on last thing that will help us hear the Father.

We need to always be growing in the grace of God.  As we grow we will be better able to hear and discern the voice of our Father.  Look at II Peter 3:18, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”  You must notice that this is not a suggestion.  It is a command to all of us.

As we grow we will become more acutely aware of our Father’s voice.  This will make it easier to hear Him when He calls us.  We need to be able to know with our eyes closed so to speak when He speaks to us.   Here is a big one.  Are you listening for Him and to Him?

So, how are you doing?

How To Hear From The Father 4

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John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”  When it comes to listening for the voice of our Father I sometimes rely upon others to help me discern the message.  Godly counselors are vital.  We have to be careful who we choose as friends because they can pull us away from the LORD.  We have enough outside influences to do that and we don’t need another one.

In the case of the Apostle Paul, he needed someone to come along side of him.  God sent Aquilla and Priscilla.  Look at Acts 18:26, “And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.”  Sometimes we need someone to come along side of us and just explain things a little more clearly.  I know that I have three Pastor friends that I call upon regularly when I have a question.  One day I hope to be the one getting the phone calls.  Until then I will keep pressing on and trying to listen intently to my Father and discern what He is telling me.  There is one named The Holy Spirit and He is an awesome counselor.

So, how are you doing?

How To Hear From The Father 3

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John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”  The third principle that I would like to share with you is this.  Get a notebook.  We have looked at get alone and get a Bible and now get a notebook.  You might think this is strange.  Yet, it is not all that strange.

As you read your Bible take notes.  As you pray, take notes.  Yes, I am serious.  If we are going to seriously talk to our Heavenly Father then we need to expect to hear back from Him.  If you have a notebook and pen ready (or pencil) then you will be ready to write down what He says.  I would highly encourage this.  I have lost track of the number of sermon outlines that God had impressed upon my mind and I forgot them because I did not write them down.  Look at Habakkuk 2:2, “And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”

Think about it this way.  If nothing else you are leaving a valuable tool to those left when you go to Heaven.  When they leaf through the notebooks of the years of your life they will be strengthened to follow Christ.  This is a simple task with enormous rewards.

Another way of saying this is to journal.  It is the same thing.  That was a popular thing to do in the recent past.  Writing helps this Pastor I can assure you.  It is my opinion that it would help you also.

So, how are you doing?

How To Hear From The Father 2

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As we continue our theme of listening to our Father I thought about listening to Him.  How can I listen to Him?  God has spoken to us in His Word.  So, we need to get alone to begin with and then we need to get a Bible.  We speak to God in prayer and He speaks to us through His Word.  Remember what He said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”

I love what the prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 15:16, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.”  The Word of God should be something that is pleasant to us.  We should spend time everyday reading it.  This is how God speaks to us today.  He uses other methods; but, this is His primary method.

Do you have a daily Bible reading schedule?  If you do not and would like one, please contact me and I will get on to you.  With that said.

So, how are you doing?

How To Hear From The Father 1

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Yesterday I introduced the topic of how to listen to the voice of our Heavenly Father.  Today I would like to continue that thought.  Again we go to John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”

If we are going to hear the voice of our Heavenly Father we must get alone.  Today we have all kind of electronic devices with ear phones, ear buds, headphones and the like.  We need to shut this junk off and listen for the voice of the Heavenly Father.  It is no wonder that our world in in a downward tailspin.  For the most part people are listening to the news paper, the horoscopes and God forbid Dear Abby.

Jesus set the example for us in Mark 1:35, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”  Jesus did two very important things here.  First of all He got up early.  Secondly He went somewhere that was solitary.  He got alone with the Father early in the morning.  It was quality time and quantity time.

Jesus also tells us how to accomplish this in Matthew 6:6, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”  We desperately need to get alone with God and listen to Him.

So, how are you doing?

How To Hear From the Father

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As I was working on some messages for this coming week of being a candidate at two different Churches God impressed upon me the truth of listening to Him.  This is essential if we are going to discern His will in these situations.

He first reminded me of John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”  Growing up on the farm we dove cattle different places based upon our needs.  The sheep were led and never driven.  Trying to drive sheep is like trying to nail jello to the wall.  Impossible!

When leading the sheep they will respond to the master’s voice and not a stranger.  This is good counsel for you and I.  We need to listen to the voice of our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ.  Everyone else is just noise.

The next time you are in need of counsel maybe you should take time and listen for the voice of the Father and get your guidance that way.

So, how are you doing?

A Model

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Last night at the photography club that I attend there was a presentation on photographing a model.  It was quite interesting.  The guy who was the presenter was quite good at his craft.  He is a real professional who produces fantastic work.

As I was sitting in the audience watching him interact with the young model I was thinking about my Christian life and that of others.  Just yesterday family and friends said goodbye to one of the most wonderful men God created.  I thought about his life and the things that people said about him through tears flowing down their faces.

I looked up the word model and it could not be found in the Scriptures.  I looked it up in an electronic dictionary.  Model is described as “representation of something (sometimes on a smaller scale)”.  This definition is taken from the WordWeb dictionary.

Now I begin to think about my own life even deeper.  I wonder if I am a “model” of Christ.  Well this could be a sobering find.  It is my desire to be like Christ; but, I don’t always do that.  I wonder if you and I would be labeled as those long ago in Antioch.  Look at the description given to our forefathers in the faith in Acts 11:26, “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”  They were described as “little Christs”.

So, how are you doing?

What Do You Say?

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What do you say when you have nothing to say?

Psalm 32:9, “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.”

So, how are you doing?