Faith vs Sincerity

Faith vs Sincerity

"Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth this man stands here before you whole. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:10, 12 (NKJV)

One of my favorite illustrations about "misguided faith" comes from an advertising piece put out by a business firm. On it was glued a small seed with the claim that if you have as much faith in our business as you do in this mustard seed, you will be guaranteed great results.

Some months later a customer wrote back to the company saying, "You will be interested to know that I planted your mustard seed and it is now grown into a healthy plant bearing great tomatoes!"

I wonder how many times I've been hoodwinked by a less than honest sales person or manipulated by false advertising. Guess most of us have been at one time or another.

Of much greater significance is how many of us are deceived by the promoters of false religions.

Too many believe if they live a good life that will get them into heaven. Others, like I used to believe, believe that if they do enough good things to outnumber the bad things they've done, that will get them into God's heaven. Others believe that as all roads lead to Rome so all religions lead to God. Not so. Such beliefs, no matter how sincere, couldn't be farther from the truth.

The religious Pharisees of Christ's day were zealots in their sincerity but were wrong -- totally wrong -- in that they missed the very Messiah (Savior) for whom they were looking because he didn't come in the way or did what they expected him to do.

There are many religions today, too, that have very sincere zealots and religious people who are equally as wrong even though they sincerely believe that they have THE truth!

Jesus made it clear -- very clear -- that he was the only way to God. "I am the way, the truth, and the life," Jesus stated emphatically. "No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6 (NKJV)

And God's Word, the Bible, affirms: "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

And that name is Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. Only in him can forgiveness of sins, salvation, and the gift of eternal life be found. Furthermore, had there been other ways to God, why on earth would Jesus have come to earth to suffer an incredibly excruciating death on the cross to pay the penalty of all your sins and mine?

The question we all need to ask ourselves, "Have I trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior? To help you do this read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for Jesus and that my trust is only in him for my eternal salvation and a home in heaven to be with you forever. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

ACTS International

Eternal Blessings

Eternal Blessings

"Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 21).

This beautiful text contains the last of over 40 New Testament occurrences of the phrase "eternal life," or "everlasting life" (same Greek words). We receive God's promise of life everlasting, of course, only through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ for "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36).

This is not just eternal existence, however. The Scriptures give many wonderful promises of eternal blessings as well. We shall have an eternal home, "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (II Corinthians 5:1).

We are also joint heirs with Christ, "that by means of death . . . they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance" (Hebrews 9:15).

God will wipe away all tears, for our heavenly Father "hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace" (II Thessalonians 2:16).

There will even be unending glory for every believer, for He "hath called us unto His eternal glory" (I Peter 5:10).

Therefore, as Paul says, "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (II Corinthians 4:17).

These eternal blessings are all ours through Jesus Christ, for He is "the author of eternal salvation" and has "obtained eternal redemption for us," all accomplished through His own shed "blood of the everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 5:9; 9:12; 13:20).

We shall, in fact, reign as kings, with Him, in "the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (II Peter 1:11), where we "shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 22:5). Best of all, however, we shall be with our Saviour throughout the endless ages to come.

Henry Morris

What we may be

What we may be

"We know what we are, but not what we may be," said Shakespeare. Tutors in life have a great impact on what we'll become, and teachers take many forms. Media, text books, experts, parents, pop stars, Hollywood -- all shapers and molders. Not all information received is helpful. Destructive models abound, but there is one trustworthy teacher who can lead each person to a higher standard.

Not too long ago, a Muslim clerk asked me if I wanted to buy a lottery ticket. When I responded that I don't gamble my dollars in the Texas lottery, he asked me if I was a Christian. He told me Allah didn't like gambling either.

Then he said to me, "This Jesus of yours, I admire him." Many non-Christians admire Jesus, his justice, his connection with the common man and his hands-on-compassion, and he is recognized as someone to emulate.

What if each person who thinks highly of Jesus decided to become a student and imitate the ways Jesus loved his neighbors. Throughout his ministry, he conversed, helped, and touched those who are often shunned -- those with too many problems.

We sometimes avoid communicating with folks who are drowning in difficulties. It's easier to not let them into our lives than to embrace them and their plethora of setbacks.

But those with seemingly unsolvable problems, Jesus readily drew into his life. He ate with the hated tax collectors and allowed a prostitute to wash his feet with her tears. He chose Judas, taught and loved him even knowing that he would betray him.

Jesus spoke about his life mission in simple statements: he came to seek and save the lost, and he came to do the will and goodness of God. Good teachers and role models -- there's always room for more. Far too many lemons are getting into the limelight with lewd lyrics and gyrations that would make Elvis roll over in his grave.

The Lord spoke these words to and through Jeremiah, "If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will be my spokesman" (Jeremiah 15:19). The world needs extractors, workers who are taught by the Master to esteem the precious and recognize the empty activities of life.

Shakespeare said we don't know "what we may be." Jesus said if you follow me, you'll be my hands in this world. He encourages sorting, sorting through the world's junkyard and mining the worthwhile. If you are sick of ungodly role models, follow Jesus, become more like him. Read his story. Live out his character. Purpose what you "may be." He will even come along side of your everyday life and help you mine the world for human treasures.

Cathy Messecar
www.christianbook.com

Faith... Father... First!

Faith... Father... First!

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7

What happens when you worry?
You bring tomorrow's difficulty into today.

God didn't give you grace for tomorrow's difficulties.
He only gives you grace for today.

When you reach into tomorrow's troubles --
you overload today's circuit.

Worry doesn't take the sorrow out of tomorrow.
It takes the strength out of today.

When you meet tomorrow --
you're out of breath because you're already overloaded from today.

Worry, therefore, does not make you ready for the future.
It really makes you unready.

Yesterday is just a canceled cheque.
Tomorrow is a promissory note.
Today has all the cash you can handle.
Spend it wisely.

Worry will eat your breakfast!
It'll eat your lunch and dinner, too!!!

Confess your worries as sin because they are.
Put your concerns at the throne of Almighty God.

"O you of little faith! Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". Matthew 6:30-33

The Keys to overcome worry are three fold:
Faith... Father... First!

Trust God to:
provide, preserve and protect!

Amen!

My Manna

Lord, I've Got Nothing!

Lord, I've Got Nothing!

Lord, I've got nothing!

My mind is jumbled with thoughts that range from excitement, hope, and anticipation, to confusion, discouragement, and frustration. I am amazed at the way things have happened in the past, and I wonder what sort of things will happen in the future. I dwell on the mistakes I have made, and I marvel the mistakes You have helped me avoid.

Lord, I've got nothing!

I read Your word and I understand that You direct my path and that Your Word lights the path that I walk. Yet, there are times when I am afraid to take another step. I read of how You have delivered Your servants from all types of disaster and calamity, and I realize that I have often been a recipient of that deliverance. I read of how You hear me when I have no words and answer me before I speak.

Lord, I've got nothing!

I look ahead of me to the tasks on my calendar for the week and wonder how I will ever get it all done. I don't have the energy. I don't have the desire. I don't have the motivation. Then, I look back and see all the things that You enabled me to do last week when I had just as little energy, desire and motivation.

Lord, I've got nothing!

People ask me questions for which I have no answers. People come to me for advice as I go to others for advice. People look to me for wisdom and knowledge as I come to you for wisdom and knowledge.

Lord, I've got nothing!

I am tired. I am weak. I am worn. I am a struggler. I am a sinner. I am a child. I am a human. I have questions. I have fears. I have temptations. I have pride. I am self-conscious. I am selfish. At times I am a mess.

I cry out to You, Lord, and I confess that I have nothing! As my cries grow silent I hear You say:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3)

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39, NIV)

"You can do all things through me for I will give you strength." (Philippians 4:13)

Lord, I have nothing! But, when I stop, listen, and hear Your voice I realize I have You, and You know me, and You have me. That's all I need.

Tom Norvell

Teflon Love

Teflon Love

OK, I'm not much of a cook, but when my wife's really busy and under the weather, we get to eat my cooking for dinner. Which means a very limited menu which will, invariably, include the grilled cheese option. Now, as I prepare this gourmet specialty, I reach for my trusty skillet - the one that's coated with Teflon. You don't have to be a headliner on the Food Channel to know that life is much easier when you have a pan that things don't stick to; they sort of just slide right off.

Most churches, most families, most workplaces could use some Teflon, don't you think? I'm talking people who don't let things stick to them; they just let them slide right off. I hope you are one or that you want to become one!

The Apostle Peter is talking about that kind of relationships in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Peter 4:8. He simply says, "Above all..." Now, what follows is going to be his most important point. "...love each other deeply." Why? He says, "Because love covers a multitude of sins." He was talking to people who were undergoing a lot of pressure, a lot of pain for their commitment to Jesus Christ. The last thing they needed was grief from each other! So he recommends sort of a Teflon approach to relationships: love people enough that your love will enable you to overlook their wrongdoings.

Overlooking love - that's Teflon love! "Un-love" keeps score all the time; it marks down every time it gets offended or wounded, it harbors, and it never forgets an offense. If you're that kind of person in your relationships, then when someone crosses you, you don't let it go, you let it grow.

But Jesus-style love has no scorecard. If you love as He's told us to, then you simply refuse to store the negatives from other people or about other people. You're Teflon, and the negatives don't stick to you. They slide off.

Could it be that you've been allowing hard feelings toward someone you know to start growing in you? Is there some resentment, some anger, some bitterness that you've allowed to stick to your soul toward someone in your family; maybe even your mate or your child or your parent? Or maybe it's hard feelings toward someone at church, or where you work, in a ministry you're involved with. The Bible calls it a "root of bitterness" and says what will happen if you allow it to grow in you much longer. "It will cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews 12:15).

If there's any unforgiveness in your heart, hear your Lord's word, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another." You may say, "Yeah, but what about the way they treated me?" God shoots down all our "yeah buts" with His next sentence, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13). You don't treat people as they've treated you; you treat them as Jesus has treated you!

So ask your Lord for a dose of His love that will cover rather than harbor the wrongs against you. Love enough to cover not just a few of them, but a multitude of sins. Things don't stick to someone who has God's Teflon love. They slide off!

Ron Hutchcraft

Called unto Holiness

Called unto Holiness

"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." 1 Thessalonians 4:7

What is holiness of life? Immediately, many think of some pious individual, separated into an isolated lifestyle that knows nothing of the reality of life. That is not what Paul is talking about here. Holiness is conformity to the mind and will of God, which is applicable to both our heart and our walk, integrated into every phase of our life. Why is this so difficult? He who made us, knows best how we should live, what would be best for our good, and glorifying to Him. That's true, but we have such a struggle, a constant battle. We always want to raise the ugly head of SELF and seek after the ways of the flesh. WHY?

When Adam sinned, he received a sinful nature that was at enmity with God. A nature that puts self first and everything else, including God, wherever it may fall. We have inherited that sinful nature. However, when we received Christ as Savior, we became a new creation with a spiritual nature born of God, and when surrendered to Him, is glorifying to God. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who reveals to us God's Word, opens our minds to understand what it says, leads us in the paths of life, instructs us in the way we should live, and enlightens us to His will.

He seeks to bring us into a holy life, a life characterized by righteousness, not ours, but HIS. Paul said, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Philippians 3:9). To this end, Jesus lived and died "that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). We are to turn from the natural pull of our sinful nature and surrender to the claims of our new spiritual nature given to us by God at conversion.

God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy. Paul says, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?... Being made free from sin, and become the servants of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life" (Romans 6:16, 22).

A life characterized by His righteousness is to have HIS LIFE LIVED THROUGH US. It is when the totality of our life, our will, our desires, our hope, the very essence of our life is in His sovereign control. What others see is not our life but HIS. The striving to be holy becomes a yielding to His holiness. The only thing in our life that will last in eternity will be what HE DOES THROUGH US.

To be holy is to completely surrender our will to His Will, our way to His Way, and our life to His lordship. Could there be a more blessed life than to be under His care and loving control? Could there be any greater joy than to be led by His Spirit and motivated by His love? As the Holy Spirit begins to open our lives and hearts to a new and living relationship with Christ, only then will we start becoming like Him, being conformed to the image of HIS SON. He has called us to holiness.

Ed Powell

[Shared by Bro. Dinesh Pandian]