Things or a place in Heaven

 Things or a place in heaven

Psalm 4:2  O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

How often I have asked the same question we see in verse two. Please, allow me to paraphrase it here, “How long will you continue to take that which belongs to God or is intended to honor God and use it for profane purposes? How long will you love those things which are empty and void of any real value? And how long will you seek after lies, falsehoods and delusions?”

It seems there is no end to the ways people can find to seek after emptiness. Take just one moment, please just pause right here and take one moment to think about the real value of the course you are on right now. Are you seeking to fill your life with things? Things will never bring real peace or contentment. ‘Things,’ and it makes no difference what they may be, will always decay, fall apart, or in some way lose any lasting value. And virtually all ‘things’ must stay here when this life ends. The old adage is true, “you can’t take it with you.” So then why do we spend a life time amassing ‘things?’ We have sheds filled with ‘things.’ Our garage doors will no longer close because they bulge with ‘things.’ And yet, not one car, not one house, not even one dollar bill will ever leave this planet with us. And still our lives are focused on things.

Doesn’t Jesus answer this problem in Luke 12:20? “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”

We must begin to see the vanity of earthly possessions and the value of our eternal state. Jesus laid out the basic principle in Matt. 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (v.20) But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (v.21) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

He said everything here will rot and so we must focus on our eternal life. However, if we have no home in heaven then we cannot store treasures in heaven. Do you have a home in heaven? If you died right now, as you are reading this where would you spend eternity? We don’t need more things, we need the home that Jesus went on ahead to prepare for us, John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (v.2) In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (v.3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Those who “believe” Jesus said already have a place in heaven. Do you believe in Jesus?

John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

1John 5:11-12 “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (v.12) He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

If you are not absolutely sure that you are ‘saved’ or ‘born again’ and on your way to heaven please send me a private message and let’s get it settled today. 

Or, click this link: http://christxalted.blogspot.com/2016/01/how-to-be-born-again.html  

Politics in the Church

 

POLITICS IN THE CHURCH

I firmly believe Satan is rejoicing over the political mayhem in America. PREACHERS, stop the politics! It’s over…. Preach Christ. Deal with what we have now. It has almost become in vogue for today’s preacher to express his own political wisdom. God uses governments. He does not design them. No government on this earth is or ever will be what God wants it to be until the Millennium. Get over it, and preach Christ. Moaning and complaining will not change one thing. It’s almost as though we are looking at Trump now and saying, “See, I told you he wasn’t a missionary.” No kidding! Trump is not a Christian minister. He will not lead us into the Celestial City. 

FB pages and personal blogs are over run with the politics of those calling themselves ministers of Christ. You were never called of God to preach politics.… PREACH CHRIST. Can people look at what we post today and find salvation? Or do they only see our political frustrations. Are we no longer called to let the world see Christ in us? And, “yes” that includes our daily posts. Show me one Biblical reference that says we are to set up a Christian government on earth. Do you really believe that the Apostles were happy with their political environment? Still, they were told to obey those in authority over them unless that meant openly opposing the will of God. In fact, there is no mention in the New Testament about setting up any form of government. The only thing we are told to do is to respect and obey the government we are under. Could it be that our rantings after an election undermines that government and becomes sinful? We are not called to rant and rail against those in authority over us, but we are called to PREACH CHRIST.

We are wanting our political environment to change, and we become frustrated when it doesn’t. Then vote. Every two years we can vote. But politics will not change, until hearts change. Stop preaching politics and PREACH CHRIST. We as Christians, and preachers of the Gospel, have gotten caught up in the trap of trying to make the World act like Christians. We today are upset because Trump is not acting like a Christian. He is in office. He is the president. God’s Word tells us (Rom. 13:1ff) to obey the political rulers we do have. We are not told to constantly rail against them. Do you want to see a change in government? Do you want a godly leader in the White House? Do you want to see prayer back in the public schools? Then do it God’s way. Stop trying to make ungodly politicians act like Christians and start winning the lost to Christ. Bring a man to Christ and God will change his heart (II Cor. 5:17). And when godly men are voted into political office you will see godly politicians. We are going about it backward and expecting God to bless. Do what we were called to do first….PREACH CHRIST.

Look at the energy churches spent on politics over the last 18-24 months. Why? Were we called to any particular political view? Were we called to convert the liberals to conservatism. Just imagine what could have happened over this same span of time if we would have obeyed the great commission with the same conviction and energy. The first century church was persecuted for their faith. They were literally tortured for believing in Jesus. Yet, not one time do you see a call to government reform. Instead, there was a concerted effort to win the lost. Have we gotten it backward? Is the cart before the horse? 

Look at the crowds we see in the streets on both sides of issues. Is the problem with their politics? When we read comments on the internet it is easy to see the vile nature of man in the liberal crowd. The evil is all but oozing from their hearts with every camera angle we are offered by the media. But is it any different on the conservative side? Look at the responses that are given on the internet. The snide responses and mocking tones, the rejoicing in what seems to be a turning tide (if it truly is we have yet to learn) reveal a vindictive spirit of revenge. And much of it comes from those who are called to be missionaries to a lost world. How can we win the lost to Christ when we are mocking him to his face? We have gotten it backward. Many of us are trying to win people to conservatism and then attempting to convert them to Christ. Win a man to Christ and he may well become a conservative. But a conservative does not necessarily become a Christian. We must do what we were called to do…. Preach Christ. 

To me, our most serious problem in the Church today is politics. We have been drawn off course. Even in our pews this animosity is alive and well. Until God rules in our hearts He will not rule in our Country, Church or even our homes. 

Please, clear the politics from your posts and do what we were called to do…. PREACH CHRIST.