What does the Lord require of you?

I shared this with the FCA group at Waverly this morning and wanted to share it with you also. Here is the verse:



Micah 6:8

8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the LORD require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?



God tells us in this verse that He has shown us what is good. Where does God show us what is good? In His Word of course. This is again why it is so very important that we are reading His Word daily!!! In the beginning everything was good in the eyes of God...until the fall of man. Sin entered into the world and now very little is good. It takes work and the power of the Holy Spirit for man to be good in Christ. Christ only can make us good when we accept Him as Lord and Savior. In these next verses God reveals what He requires of us outside salvation to be good! First He says to do justly. Treat others fairly. That doesn't sound to hard does it? But it is. As humans we tend to treat some better and some worse than others but God says he wants us to treat folks justly or fairly or equally...How are you doing in this area? Second, God says to love mercy! Oh my...can you honestly say you love mercy? We love that God has mercy on us but do we have mercy on others? We are to apply the same mercy to others as God has shown us!!! This is very hard but can be done through the power of Christ! Thirdly, and the key to all of these requirements is to walk humbly with God. Are you walking with God this morning? Have you spent time with Him reading and praying? If we are truly walking with the Lord this morning all His requirements will fall right into place and will not be hard to do!!!!



After we receive Christ, God does expect us to meet His requirements. As the book of James says this work for the Lord proves our faith!



Tom

Just a reminder....

As we start out on this Monday let us remember these Words from Christ to Peter:



Matthew 26:75

75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.



Will we deny Christ today? We will have many opportunities through the day and through the week to share Christ with others. We can share by our words of how Christ loves us and others. We also can share by the way we live our lives each day. We have the choice like Peter each day to live and stand for Christ or we can deny Him which should cause us shame when we do.



So how about this Monday, whom shall you serve this day????



Tom

Never gets old!

I don't know about you but for me these verses never get old even though they are the most well known in the Bible.



John 3:16-17

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.



I think often about this verse. How can God love me or you this much? To give your only son up for a sinner like me. It is just hard to comprehend. It is such good news for us though. Because God gave up His Son for our sins if we believe this we will not perish but have everlasting life. WOW! God has made it so simple but yet so many still don't believe. Verse 17 says God did not send Jesus to condemn us like we deserve but that through Jesus's death on the cross we will be saved! That is LOVE!



Thank you Father for saving a filthy rag like me.



Tom

Where is your heart?

Isaiah 29:13

13 Therefore the Lord said:





“ Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths

And honor Me with their lips,

But have removed their hearts far from Me,

And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,



Another great Word from the Lord. How many folks talk a good game? We talk about how much we love the Lord and how close we are to God but it that the truth? Thousands of years ago the Prophet Isaiah was dealing with the same thing. Israel would talk about how much they loved God. They would talk about how close they were to God. But Isaiah said that the Lord says their hearts are far from me. Isn't that the same for many inside and outside the church today? For so many their hearts are far from God and is proved by the way they live their lives. Instead of living by the Word of God they live by what man thinks is right or wrong. The same thing was going on in Isaiah's day. God was warning them to get back to a right relationship with Him! God told them not to take counsel from man but from him. When we do that and we follow after God's Word we prove where our heart is.



So what about it today? Where is your heart? Trusting in man or God?



Tom

Are you going to get any rewards?

As we continue on in Matthew 16:24-27. Today we will look at the last part of theses verses:



Matthew 16:27

27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.



Well in previous lessons were asked "what would we give in exchange for our souls?". That was a very thought provoking question. Today we are told Jesus one day will come in all his glory along with His angles. Oh what a day that will be. It will be so exciting for those who have trusted in Christ. For those who haven't well it will be horrible. This verse also tells us that when Jesus comes he will also reward according to each ones works. Let me remind you that your work doesn't get you to heaven. Only faith in Jesus Christ gets you to heaven. The rewards are going to be given for your service to Christ after you have received Him as Lord and Savior of your life. You will be rewarded for things like sharing the gospel to the lost, loving others, self-control, giving out of your abundance, faithfulness to the Word of God, tithing, and many other things found in the Word of God. The book of James also tells us that our work for the Lord proves our faith. So let me ask you this morning if Jesus came right now would you be receiving any rewards? Secondly, would there be any proof of your faith????



I can hardly wait for the return of Christ...how about you???



Tom

What is worth your soul?

We have been looking at verses from Matthew 16:24-27 the last few days so today we will look at this verse:



Matthew 16:26

26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?



All of us need to stop and think long and hard on these questions this morning from Jesus. We all seem to want more of something. What is that something for you? Money, sex, drugs,clothes, you fill in the blank. Jesus point blank asks us if you have everything your heart desires but end up losing your soul...what good is it. I heard a preacher say the other day that when we die and wake up in hell is there anything we would not surrender at that point to get out of there??? Of course the answer is no but we had better be thinking about that question NOW! For when death comes knocking it will be too late then. The next question Jesus asks is on the same line but worded a little different....what would you give in exchange for your soul? Is there anything. Before we jump in and say no we had better think through our lives right now and see if we have something in our life right now that is keeping us from Jesus!!! Lots of folks are exchanging Jesus for the lusts of this world. That is why Jesus told us the the gate is narrow for the believers but the gate is wide for the lost!



Take a little time this morning and talk to God and think about the Word of God this morning....your soul may be riding on it!



Tom

Give it up.

Yesterday we looked at Matthew 16:24 which told us to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus. This is the next verse:



Matthew 16:25

25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.



This verse is pretty straight forward. If we want to save our life we must lose it. Well how does one lose their life? They must surrender it to Jesus. This is the ONLY way to heaven. Accepting Christ as Savior and giving control of our life to Him. The verse goes on to say if we give our lives up for Jesus we actually find life. So many folks are trying to find peace and the void in their life in so many ways. Sex, drugs, alcohol, money, relationships, and the list goes on and on. Jesus is telling us in this verse to truly find life give yourself up and follow Him with everything you have. We will not live life to the fullest until we are doing what God designed us for....to worship and serve HIM!



Take a little time to meditate on this verse....let God speak to you!



Have a great weekend!



Tom