James 4:14 – Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

What is it that you have been meaning to do? What is that really important thing that you will do when you get around to it, or when you’re not quite so busy.  Maybe it’s connecting with an old friend.  Visiting an ailing grandparent.  Letting a loved one know how much you care.  Telling someone you’re sorry or asking for forgiveness.  Being baptized to walk in newness of life.

Novelist Fredrik Backman wrote “all people at root are time optimists.  We always think there’s enough time to do things with other people.  Time to say things to them.  And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like ‘if.’”

God’s word reminds us over and over again that we shouldn’t wait, that we must act now.  Jesus told the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids in Matthew 25 to emphasize that we can’t procrastinate and we must always be ready. Jesus says in Matthew 25:13, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” In John 9, Jesus tells us again that we shouldn’t put things off, especially doing the work of the Lord and obeying God’s word.  He says in John 9:4, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.”  James gives us the ultimate reminder that we don’t know if tomorrow will ever come so we must act now.  In James 4:13-14, James says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

Do not wait until you have more time.  Don’t stand there holding on to “if.”  If it’s important, do it now!

 

I love to sing the song: “The great Physician now is near, The sympathizing Jesus; He speaks, the drooping heart to cheer: Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.” But I did not enjoy hearing an E.N.T. Physician saying, “it has to go”.

For about an hour this past Tuesday a surgeon painstakingly removed a tennis ball sized lipoma from below my left collar bone. Since I chose to remain fully awake, I soon became aware that the tumor had found a comfortable home. Judging from a lot of cutting and pulling, it was not
leaving without the SURGEON’S SKILLFUL SCALPEL.

At times God is the skillful surgeon asking us, via His scalpel (Heb.4:12), to “tear it out”, “cut-off”, “expel” or “come out”.

• First, we must TEAR OUT the right eye or CUT-OFF the right hand that causes us to sin (Mat.5:29–30).
• Second, we must EXPEL the wicked person from amongst us (1 Cor.5:13).
• And lastly, we must LEAVE our friends, partners, or anything that is breaking our fellowship with God (2 Cor.6:14ff).

Friend, the only sin Jesus cannot forgive is the one you want to hold onto. It is time – it must go!

 

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  Colossians 1:19-20

Doesn’t it feel good when someone important, who has so many big things to do, stops and pays attention to you for a minute or two?  Just being noticed is a really big deal.  If it is a celebrity, you might ask for an autograph.  If it is a politician, you might offer an opinion on an issue that’s important to you.  Then we go back to life as it was before.

Recently I was reminded that the universe that we know of is thought to be 27.4 billion light years from one side to the other.  That scale is beyond our comprehension.  We can try to put it in perspective by making comparisons, but it is no use.  It is huge beyond comparison!  Now consider that God created all of that with a word.  How big, powerful, and wise must he be to do that?  And all of that nature was placed in a Son of Man to walk on this tiny speck in the vast universe.  Beyond that the Son of Man taught us in terms we can comprehend who God is.  And inexplicably the Son of Man humbled himself to die as payment for my treasonous acts against God.

Once we wrap our mind around that truth, we are in the right mindset to worship our God.  If we get tongue tied talking to a celebrity, what must it be to not only be noticed by God but to be loved infinitely?  Don’t settle for the poor facsimiles of God that most people accept: cosmic Santa Clause, senile grandfather, or vengeful tyrant. Encountering God in his essence makes it impossible to go back to life as it was before.  And that is the point!

 

Yesterday I participated in a Tristate Trauma Network event that granted attendees 6 Continuing Education Units (CEU). With these CEU’s I receive a discount on my annual Professional Liability Insurance and maintain my Counseling License. Attending these sessions is hard work — yet, it is necessary. Those in the people helping profession are like emotional vacuum cleaners that take in everyone’s emotional trauma. However, at least once a year we clean out and process all the trauma that has been taken in.

Christians are also instructed to gain spiritual CEU’s. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim.2:15). We are also commanded to “Let the word of Christ dwell richly” in us by admonishing and teaching one another through song (Col.3:16).

Unfortunately, many lazy or ignorant Christians believe that the hard work related to studying the bible is best left to their “clergy” who have been called to that role. They foolishly believe that their spiritual leaders will never lead them astray.

Friend, the truth is that every book of the New Testament, except Philemon, warns us against doing this. The first Christians were not stupid enough to do this even with an Apostle (Acts 17:11). I have often thought that the solution to the world’s religious division would be solved if God removed all the religious leaders and gave the Bible back to the people. But wait, He did!

1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV) — 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Are you studying the word of God? Do you know how to rightly divide the Word of Truth? Can you give an answer of the hope that lies within you? Do you know enough of the Bible to lead the lost to Christ (using just scriptures)? Or have you placed someone between yourself and God?

 

How strange it is to meditate on the newness of creation during the Fall of the year. Yet, that is precisely what is really happening. Unless the old dies the new cannot come to life.

This week I witnessed a soul conversion. Of all the scriptures that could have changed this dying soul – the one that pricked his heart was Romans 6:6.

⁶ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (KJV).

From the moment we come out of the baptistry our focus changes to seeking things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Because Christ is now our life, we put to death things that will make us “reappear” on earth (Col.3).

Specifically, we put to death: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry … anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self (Col.3, ESV).

Father in Heaven, hear our confession. We “have sinned against heaven and before you”. Forgive us, Lord! Allow the old person to fall from us as the leaves are falling all around us. We are so very grateful that your patient love for us never ends. We are eternally thankful that your mercies are without end. We place our eternal hope in the promise that “they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lam.3:22-23). Through Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

 

In my The One Year Bible reading plan, I recently read Jeremiah 23:4 (ESV) “I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.”

This first reminded me of the chorus in the song “Fear No More” by Building 429 that I have heard on K-Love radio recently:

 

 

Can I believe
When I don’t see
Can I really let it be
Out of my hands
Cause it’s out of my hands

This isn’t what I’d choose
But it’s where I’m finding you
When I’m broken and undone
Your mercy’s just begun
You overcome my doubt
Your hands are reaching out
You hold me through the storm

And I will fear no more  

 

I was then reminded of the main points of Michael Whitworth’s lesson on Sunday morning:

Faith believes in the invisible.

Faith beholds the impossible.

Faith braves the unimaginable.

Faith basks in the person, Jesus Christ.

 

Michael closed his lesson by emphasizing that our Christian faith is believing in a He, not an it!

Jeremiah 23:5-6 (ESV) ⁵“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’.”

As Christians we should trust in God’s promises and fix our eyes on Jesus and fear no more!

 

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:24–25 NIV

 

Have you ever built a sandcastle on the beach?  You put a lot of work into it, but later the tide comes in and washes it all away. When the tide goes back out, there is not even a trace of your masterpiece left. It failed to endure the test of time.

 

In this life, it is easy for other things to become the center of your attention, and then you start to build everything around that. When the tide rolls in, your life can come tumbling down with it. Jobs end, people change, beauty fades, children grow up, everything that we see with our natural eye is temporary and will change over time. All these have a place in your life, but they cannot be the center. If they are, when they change your life will, too.

 

Put your trust in God and do not build your life around things that change. Build it around Jesus and then you can still enjoy the rest. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt 6:33).

 

Brothers and sisters, He is the unchanging, everlasting rock, and the ones that trust in Him will not be wiped out when the tide comes in.

 

Look for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. Hebrew 11:10

 

For three years I worked towards becoming a Southern Africa Bible College Graduate. Upon receiving their highest certification, I was given a paper with these words: “Entrust to RELIABLE men who will also be QUALIFIED to teach others” II Timothy 2:2.

Imagine what would happen if we all applied this scripture? I may reach out to 10 prospective converts. I give each one the book “Muscle and a Shovel”. However, only one of every 10 grasps the concept of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But this one puts on Christ in baptism. Then, this faithful person, turns around and repeats the process.

If you are interested in joining the Multiplying Ministry Concept, as described above, then here is an easy way to do this effectively. For complete instructions go to t.ly/r5yn0.

1. Give the book only to those who say yes to: “do you believe in God and Jesus Christ”?
2. Got something for you
3. Here’s a book for your opinion
4. Your name and number in book (just before Epilogue)
5. Get their name, number, date and time of follow-up (last page bottom right corner)
6. Tear it out
7. I’ll be calling for your opinion (schedule 14 days ahead)

Friend, obeying the “Great Commission” does not get easier than this. Are you willing to take up the challenge?