Near Perfection.

Yesterday I lost a dear friend. Lila Roberts. I had the pleasure of going to church with her and also working with her as she served the Lord as one of the secretaries at church. Over my 42 soon to be 43 years of life I have had the pleasure of meeting many godly people. Lila and Dan Roberts have to be the most Christ-like people I have ever met. Trust me I do not give that title of most Christ-like out easily. Matter of fact I have never said that before! I want you to think in your own life at this moment and ask yourself...who is the godliest example in your life? For me it is Lila and Dan Roberts. Humble, wow does this ever describe them. They always put others first. Just like Jesus. Serving, they serve without question. You did not have to ask them to do something, they took the bull by the horns and served. Just like Jesus. Praying, they prayed for folks and believed God would answer. Just like Jesus. Loving, the loved people unconditionally. Just like Jesus. Encouragement, Lila and Dan always encouraged me and bragged on me. Their words were always uplifting. Just like Jesus. God fearing, Lila and Dan loved Jesus and feared the Lord. They gave God the respect, awe, and admiration that is due the King of Kings. As you can see these folks are special people. Loved by so many. I never heard Lila or Dan say anything that the Lord would disapprove of. I never seen Dan or Lila do anything that the Lord would frown upon. Now I know Lila and Dan are not perfect as their is only One who has lived a perfect life and that is Jesus but if all of us could pattern our lives after Dan and Lila I can promise you this world would be a better place and Jesus would be much happier with the way we are living our lives!

So this morning I want to leave you with this, live for Jesus. Lila did. She lived a great life and today is with Jesus. Paul said "imitate me" here:


1 Corinthians 11:1

11 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

Although knowing Lila she would not agree with me saying this, but I can say with confidence this morning if we imitate Lila and Dan's walk with Christ we would do well to imitate them as they imitate Christ.

God bless you my sweet friend Lila, I will see you soon on the other side.

Tom

Time Alone!

Well folks I am back. God blessed my wife and I with time away together on a cruise to the Bahamas. This was a first for the both of us. It was a great time. Relaxing and refreshing. I was thinking about this past week and how refreshed I feel now as I am back at work. We all need to have time away. When was the last time you were able to set everything aside and just get away? We can make so many excuses of why we can't do it but when we get right down to it the world can continue without you for a time! If you are single or married you need time away. Married couples need time away with each other to keep their marriage alive and well. Singles need time away from their jobs just to relax and get their batteries charged up.

One of the most important parts of getting away is spending time with God. Even if you are getting away with your spouse, one needs to take some time for God. Alone time with God is so refreshing! Of course I hope you do this everyday! But time alone with God when you don't have the day to day grind can be very special! I think of this verse when alone with God:

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Just sit back and praise God. Thank Him for all His goodness. Praise Him for being God. Talk with Him as He loves fellowship with you. Stillness is hard to come by in our day to day lives. Matter of fact it can be hard to do because we often don't know how to be still with God! If you are away with your spouse it may be good to be still together after your own time with God. Just thank God for you marriage, your kids, and all the blessings He has bestowed upon you. Praise God for bringing you together. Praise God for He is God!

So let me ask you, when was the last time you got away? Make plans now to do so. It will do you good in so many ways. Make sure you plan time with God....He deserves it and so do you. You won't regret it!

Tom

God's Bridge to Eternal Life. #7

As we ended last time I told you I had some promises from God for those who ask Jesus to be Lord and Savior of their life, so here they are:



As you can see God's Word in John 5:25 promises us eternal life, no judgement to hell, and no spiritual death or separation from God as those who trust Jesus will have eternal life in heaven with God! Now that is something to get excited about! So let us look at the completed picture:



Now let me ask you again, would you like to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Let me ask you some questions:

1. Are you a sinner?
2. Do you believe that Jesus is God's Son?
3. Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins?
4. Do you repent of those sins and trust in the shed blood of Christ to wash those sins away?
5. Do you believe Jesus was buried, three days later rose from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God?

If you said yes to all of these then I want to lead you in a prayer to ask Jesus into your life.

Dear Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. I believe that you died the cross for my sins and I now repent of my sins and ask you into my heart as Lord and Savior of my life. From this day forward I will follow you and obey your commands. Thank you dear Jesus for saving my soul. In Jesus precious name I pray, amen.

Praise God! If you just asked Jesus into your heart I want to welcome you to the family of God! You now have eternal life in heaven with God! Greatest decision of your life! Please let me know of your decision as I want to pray for you and rejoice with you.

God's world tells us that there are some things one needs to do once they receive Christ, please read then and do them as they are very important:

1.God commands us to be baptized:

Matthew 28:19

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

2. God wants us to worship and fellowship with other believers (attend a bible believing church):

Hebrews 10:25

25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

3. Read God's Word:

2 Timothy 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

4. Pray:

1 Thessalonians 5:17

pray without ceasing;

You are now a disciple of Christ if you asked Jesus into your heart, you now are commanded to tell others about Jesus!

Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So GO!!!!!

A word to those who may not have asked Jesus into their life, keep praying my friend and ask God to reveal the truth to you so you may see what God wants you to see. If I can be of any help please ask! May God bless you with the truth my friend!

Tom

God'sBridge to Eternal Life. #6

Last time we left our selves with this question, what is it we must do to go to heaven to be with God?



You see Jesus is our pardon or forgiveness for our sin. So what we must do is repent of our sin and put our trust in Jesus. To repent means to be sorry for sinning against, ask God to forgive us of that sin, and then turn away from that sin. When we trust Jesus, it means we have trusted Him to be our Savior, and to be Lord of our life. We will follow Him the rest of our lives and obey His Word. Remember the bible tells us their is only one way to God in heaven, through Jesus Christ as seen in this verse:

John 14:6

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

We are promised by God's Word that we will be saved if we trust in Jesus:

Romans 10:13

13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

That is the greatest news of all time! Let us again look at that bridge to eternity with God. The bridge of the cross of Jesus to God and eternal life....THE ONLY BRIDGE!



So now the time has come for a decision from you. Would you like to trust in Jesus? As you have seen we have only one way to God and eternal life and that is through the cross and shed blood of Jesus Christ. Will you trust Jesus today?

If you answered yes, please let me know! I want to pray for and rejoice with you! I also want to share some promises of God with you in our next meeting together for those who receive Christ.

Tom

God's Bridge to Eternal Life. #5

When we left last time out question was so what has to be done for us to get to heaven with God? Well the answer to that is this:



You see God loves his created people so much that He has given us a way to be saved from our sin that separates us from Him. God sent His only son Jesus to this earth of ours in the form of a baby who was born to a virgin mother (Mary). Jesus grew up sinless. That is right, Jesus is the ONLY person who has never sinned on this earth of ours. Therefore, Jesus is the only one qualified to sacrifice Himself on the cross for man's sin. So Jesus went to the cross, shed His blood and died for you and for me. For our sin not His. He took our place for our sin! That is true love. Jesus was buried and three days later He arose from the grave and  appeared to over 500 people. Jesus then ascended back to God where sits today!

Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to God! He is our sinless substitute! Look at the picture now....the bridge is complete! The only bridge that will get us to God in heaven!



Wow....what an awesome God. Sacrificed His only Son for a sinner such as I!

So we see God has done His part by sending Jesus, Jesus has done His part by dying on the cross for us, so what is our part in all of this?

We will see that in our next time together.

Tom

God's Bridge to Eternal Life #4

Our last time together, we ended with the thought that man has come up with many ways that they think can get them to heaven with God. All these thoughts are wrong as we shall see!



Make sure you understand this point that the Proverbs 14:12 verse says:

Proverbs 14:12


12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.

Man has lots of ideas of how to get to heaven, but only the bible has the truth. It is God's Word!

So let's look at the next picture as again it shows what is happening:



We now see in this picture some of man's attempts to get to God.

First, we see Good works. You can not do enough works in your life to cover your sin before God. It is impossible. As you see that bridge comes up short!

Second, you see religion. Man thinks because he goes to a certain church, or reads his holy book, or says he is a member of such and such church, that this will get him to heaven. Once again this is false as you see that bridge does not get you to heaven either.

Third, you see money. Money can not get you to God either. You can't buy your way into heaven and do enough good with your money to get to heaven. It also comes up short.

Fourth, you see morality. No one is good enough before God to get to heaven. You may be nice, thoughtful, a sharer of your goods, honest, and the list can go on and on. These are good but they will not get you to heaven with God.

They all come up short and you will spend eternity in hell if you are depending on these to get you to heaven as well as any other attempt by man! Look at this verse for proof:

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

So the next question we must ask is "what must happen for one to get to heaven with God?". We will see that in our next lesson.

Tom

Bridge to Eternal Life #3

Last time we learned that man kind has a sin problem. All of us are sinners. Because of that fact there is a penalty that must results from this fact. We will look at that penalty today.



As you can see above the bible says because we sin the wage of that fact is death. Because man disobeys God (sin) death is the result. As the tract teaches there are three types of death. Spiritual, physical, and eternal.

Physical death is easy for us to understand. All of us will die one day. We have seen that in others that we have known.

Spiritual death is separation from God which happens when we sin. This can be corrected as we will see later. God is Holy, Righteous and Just and can not dwell where sin is. So something must happen to sure our sin problem to be in heaven with God.

 Eternal death is separation from God for eternity in hell. This can not be corrected if we die in our sin, with out Jesus Christ.

We see this illustrated well in the next picture:



The man on the one side represents all of us. The other side represents God in heaven. The man has a problem which is sin. Because of this is he will die physically, spiritually, and eternally. We have no way to God in this state, we can not get across the gap to God. At this point it is impossible.

Man has come up with ways they think will to get them to God. We will look at that in the next lesson.

Tom