God's bridge to eternal life. #2

Yesterday we talked about the purposes God has designed us for but we ended stating that we have a problem. That problem has destroyed our perfect relationship with God. What is that problem? We shall see that problem here:



SIN! is our problem. Since the fall of man with Adam and Eve in the garden eating the forbidden fruit that God said "Do Not Eat" sin has been our problem. Sin is doing what God has commanded us not to do. Or sin can be not doing what God has told us to do! Basically not obeying God's Word. We ALL have sinned! As the verse in Roman's has told us:

Romans 3:23
 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Now on this picture we see what sin has caused:



When we are sinners it causes a separation between us and God. God is Righteous, Holy, sinless, and Just. God can not dwell with sin in heaven. So we can not dwell with God in heaven with sin in our lives. Sin has an enormous penalty. We will talk about that penalty tomorrow.

If you have any questions so far, please ask!

Tom

God's Bridge to Eternal Life

Over the next few days I am going to share the plan of salvation through a tract called God's bridge to eternal life. This is the best tract I have ever used. It is simple and clear to understand. My prayer is if you have never considered Jesus as your Lord and Savior that you will. If you have already asked Jesus to be Lord of your life then use this to share Jesus with others. Feel free to ask any questions. The tract is sold at Majestic Media and is developed by Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.




The first thing we must understand is we all have a purpose and we were designed by God for three things seen here:



The first purpose we are designed for is to Honor God! After all He is the Creator of all! Do you honor God with your life? The way that you live, is it pleasing to God?

The second purpose is to serve God. God has given all of abilities, talents, and gifts to use in serving Him. Are you serving God?

The third purpose we were designed for is to have fellowship with God. Did you know that? God wants us to talk with Him and allow Him to talk back to us. The three primary ways to fellowship with God are prayer, reading your bible, being still and allowing God to talk to you!

Look at that verse again Revelation 4:11:

Revelation 4:11

11 “You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”

God is worthy to receive honor, service, and fellowship from us for that is why were created!




Sadly we have a problem! Something destroyed this relationship God had prepared for us to have with Him. Tomorrow we will look at that problem!

Tom

Here Am I!

God calls each of us into service to Himself. The calls will be specific to each one of us. To me it may be to preach to another it may be to teach and yet to another it may be to administration only God knows what He will call each of us to. The question for each one of us this morning is will we answer the call? Here is a couple of folks who did:





Exodus 3:4

4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”



Isaiah 6:8

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:



“Whom shall I send,

And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”



Each of these great men of the bible answered the call of God. While Moses took some convincing, Isaiah was a ready vessel once he repented of his sin. We are much the same aren't we? Some are called by God and jump in right away and serve, serve, serve! Then their are others who try to come up with all the excuses we can of why we can't serve God, but none of these excuses are good enough and we eventually get on board and serve. Then their are those who just won't serve at all. For those in this condition, a heart check is in order. If we have no desire to serve God we may not have God in our heart at all! This is a dangerous spot to be in! Eternity may be at stake!



So let me ask you this morning, have you told God "Here am I! Send me."? Remember these words from Jesus:



Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.



Tom

Are you thirsty? Come to the well!

A young lady (Brittany) sings this song called "Come to the well" at church and it speaks to me in a big way! Check it out here by the original artist Casting Crowns:



So what is it in life you are looking for to satisfy your thirst? Money, sex, drugs, relationships, hobbies, ect? There is only one thing in life that can satisfy our souls deepest desire....Jesus? Check these verses out:

John 4:5-29
New King James Version (NKJV)

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

My friend nothing in life will satisfy you like Jesus. Take it from someone who has tried many things to fill this void. God created us with a void that can only be filled by Jesus. Don't waste any more time on the things of the world, come to the well, come to Jesus.

Tom

Lose your soul.

The very first time I heard this song it made an impact on me. Check it out:






Have you ever really just taken time to think about losing your soul because of the things of this world? NOTHING is worth losing your soul over but yet each day thousands choose to do that very thing. How sad. Look at what the bible has to say about this:



Matthew 16:24-26



24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 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?



Brothers and sisters give your life to Christ today! When we take our last breath I can promise you all the things in this world you will gladly cast at the feet of Jesus for eternal life with Him, but the problem is it will be too late then. Serve and worship Jesus now, it is more rewarding than anything for you were created to do so!



Tom

The importance of God's Word.

One of the things I teach most is the importance of God's Word in a believers life. It is vital to your relationship with God. Yet no matter how much preachers encourage others to read the bible, statistics show a low percentage read their bibles regularly. This just does not make sense to me.



Lets' look at a few scriptures about the Word this morning:



2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.



The bible is God's Word, plain and simple. To read it is to learn, to be corrected, to be instructed. The purpose of this training is to become closer to God and then to be equipped to do the work God has for each one of us. To love others and to share the good news of Jesus. If you don't read your bible you can not be fully equipped to do these things.



1 Peter 2:1-3

2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.



God desires us to put away all evil which we can only do if we know what evil is....the bible tells us. Then like a baby needs milk to survive, we need the Word of God to survive the spiritual battle we are in with the devil. We must grow as believers and can only do that by drinking God's Word daily.



Hebrews 4:12

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.



God's Word is powerful! It cuts us down to the marrow of our bones. The Word gets into our thoughts so we can know when we are doing right and shows us where we are doing wrong so the Holy Spirit can give us the strength to make the changes needed to be like Christ.



Are you making the Word of God a priority in you daily life? If not let the Word speak this morning and make corrections. It is of utmost importance!



Tom

Story of forgiveness.

I want you to think for a moment on s situation in life that you been a part of in which you can not forgive the person who wronged you. You got that in mind? Ok, now watch this:






Here is also the song forgiveness by Matthew West:





Hmmmm anything like this happened to you? Could you forgive someone who killed your daughter? Well there is also a bible story that shows forgiveness. Read this:



Matthew 18:21-35



The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”



Wow! A couple of things I want to point out here in this bible story.



First, in verse 22, Jesus tells us there is no limit to how many times we are forgive.



Second, 10,000 talents in verse 24, more than a person could pay back in a life times as 1 talent was 20 years salary for an average person of that day! All of us owe this amount to Jesus but He forgave us of our debt by paying it for us!!!! Think on that!



Third, 100 denarii in verse 28 could easily be paid back, as 1 denarii was one days wage! We are like this man who wanted this pay back right now because we do not forgive! This is not pleasing to God, matter of fact it angers Him because He sent His son to die for out sins!.



When we do not forgive it is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. We are thje prisoners because we do not let go like God has commanded us to do. Remember the verses above are from the mouth of Jesus not man and it is representative of God and man.



This made me do some serious soul searching, I pray it does the same for you!



Tom