Judgement / obedience

How to Get to Heaven

James 2.12 commands we speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that givesimages freedom.

God plans to judge everyone. We inherently know this to be true yet suppress it as much as possible from our conscience. When we do think about God holding us accountable we normally give ourselves a passing grade as to our adherence to His commands.

The answer to what God will judge us on and how He will judge us has all been revealed by God so that we can pass the test. (more…)

0 Comments
November 20, 2015
evangelism / heaven / Judgement / obedience

God’s Definition of Greatness

Luke 1.15 promises he will be great in the sight of the Lord.images

Few men don’t desire to be great. Its inherent to our nature. It comes from our origin: we are made in the image of God.

God is great and ever increasing in glory so too those made in His image aspire to greatness. Since being kicked out of paradise for our rebellion we have perverted the object or goal of our greatness. Most of us want others to see and recognize us as great, the reason our natural desire is perverted. (more…)

0 Comments
November 16, 2015
Judgement / obedience

Remaining in God’s Love Part 2

John 15.9-10 warns us to remain in Jesus’ love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love,image just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

If I must remain in God’s love am I not working my way to heaven, the antithesis of orthodox Christianity? Of course not for we cannot even know God until He reveals Himself to us. God must draw us to Himself for us to have a relationship with Him. In addition, He must supply the power and Person we need to remain in that relationship. (more…)

0 Comments
November 10, 2015
Judgement / obedience

Remaining in God’s Love Part 1

John 15.9-10 warns us to remain in Jesus’ love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, imagejust as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

It seems odd to hear God command us to remain in His love. We presume that we just always remain in His love without effort or thought on our part. After all, God so loved the world He gave Himself in His Son to reconcile us to Himself.

Why then would I need to remain in His love since He already loves me? Indeed God loves everyone but the experience of His love occurs only in a relationship with Him through Jesus. (more…)

0 Comments
November 9, 2015
Judgement / obedience / Titus

Why We Need to Read the Bible

Titus 1.16 observes they claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, A Call to Worship and Obediencedisobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

How can anyone know God? Conversely, if there really is a God doesn’t it makes sense He would want us to know Him?

Assuming God would want us to know Him then the answer to how can we know God is simple: read the book He has given to us describing Himself and His requirements for us. Simple enough, but which one? (more…)

0 Comments
November 2, 2015
heaven / Judgement / money

Building Heavenly Treasure Part 2

1 Timothy 6.19 promises, in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for imagesthe coming age. God encourages us to create and store treasure for ourselves in heaven. Think of it as the ultimate retirement savings account.

To earn heavenly treasure we have to think in the economics of heaven. We also have to choose which priority we will live for: short term this life existence or long term eternal life existence.

God warns us we cannot love money and God: we will focus on accumulating either the treasure of this world or the treasure of the world to come. In the passage today God lists additional means for us to accumulate heavenly treasure besides working at reconciling people to Jesus as Savior of the world. (more…)

0 Comments
October 28, 2015
heaven / Judgement / obedience / Theology

Truth Hurts

2 Thessalonians 2:10 observes, they perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.image

Truth hurts. Most of us don’t really like the truth because it has a nasty way of disagreeing with the way we want things to be.

Truth is not swayed by our will or wishes; it doesn’t change because we cry or scream. We become deceitful and lie in order to create an illusion of truth so that we get what we want.

God says He is truth. (more…)

0 Comments
October 21, 2015
Christian Living / heaven / Judgement / obedience / Theology

Believe, Receive and Cleave to Get to Heaven

Colossians 2:6 commands, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in imagesHim. What makes a person a Christian?

The debate has long raged because unlike all of the other religions, there are no ‘3 steps’ to making oneself a Christian. There are however 3 principles that if not evident in our lives should cause us much concern about our belief that we truly are Christians. (more…)

0 Comments
October 14, 2015
Christian Living / heaven / Judgement

What does Freedom Really Mean?

Galatians 5.1 declares it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Freedom to the Apostle, to God, does imagenot mean the same thing as we use the word freedom to mean.

We use freedom to mean doing anything we want without constraint. This was the freedom our forefathers wanted when they rebelled against God because they didn’t want to submit to His one limitation for their lives.

We continue to want this freedom over our lives; no rules, no constraint, no God. (more…)

0 Comments
September 29, 2015
evangelism / Judgement

God is Working on Our Behalf

2 Samuel 14.14 observes, like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, He devises ways so that a banished person does not remainimage banished from Him.

What a great description of God.

This description is not found in any other record book about God except the Bible. The Muslims don’t record such a description. The Hindus don’t record such a description. No other book records that God does not desire human death but devises ways to restore people to Him forever.

So why do people die? (more…)

0 Comments
September 19, 2015