Exercise

In the day that you and I live in we are told we are to exercise so we can be in better physical condition. There's not a day that goes by that we don't see someone running, walking, hiking, biking, going to the gym, or working out with trainers. The purpose of the exercise is to lose weight and build up our weak bodies which in turn will help with the stress in our life. It will help us mentally, improve our looks and make us a better person to be around. There is nothing wrong with doing all that exercising, it will not hurt us, matter of fact it will do us good. But then here’s a verse that would cause us to maybe question why are we doing all this exercising?

  1 Timothy 4:8  For bodily exercise profiteth little: What! Exercise profit little; if exercise does us no good then why waste our time. Wait, wait, that's not what is being said. It says that exercise has little profit. You might say oh no I have lost 40, 60 even 100 lbs or my mind is clearer than it’s ever been because of my commitment to my exercise program. Without doubt all those things are true; we are not being told not to exercise I assure you. We could all use some exercise. When we read the rest of the verse it becomes very clear what we are being taught, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

In comparison godliness verses bodily exercise godliness is much more profitable because it has the promise of life now and for eternity. We need to exercise, but we need to read and study our bibles so that our relationship with our heavenly Father will be built up, for it will give us daily strength how to handle our day to day struggles. If we want to be able to endure the race of life, then knowing God is a must.

Pay Attention

I was looking at Mark chapter 4 and how it starts off with Jesus teaching the multitudes. What caught my attention was the very first teaching; it was about receiving God’s Word. You’ll not think much about it unless you put the whole chapter together. Jesus made this statement “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus said to His disciples;

Mark 4:9  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Throughout this chapter Jesus does much teaching and the disciples were there but did they hear? Oh, I know they heard the words that came from the lips of Jesus but did they really hear? I’m not sure they did; let me explain. Jesus teaches about the seed and the  different types of soil; was the disciple learning? Later in this chapter Jesus makes this statement. “Pay attention to what you're listening to!”

Mark 4:24  And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.

Pay attention for knowledge will be measured out to you by the measure of attention you give.  Did these disciples really pay attention? Then Jesus makes a simple statement “let us pass over unto the other side.”

Mark 4:35  And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. Simple enough so they all jumped into the ship and off they sail to the other side. Jesus may have said “it’s been a long day boys and I’m going to the back and get some rest.” Jesus goes to the rear of the ship finds a pillow and goes to sleep. All seem to be fine but then something unplanned happen; a great storm.

Mark 4:37  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. This is bad; the water is coming down, the wind is blowing, the waves are coming in on these disciples and the ship is almost full of water. They may have said what are we going to do? Then one speaks up, go wake up Jesus. That is what they did but it’s what they said that caught my attention “don't you care that we're going to die?"

Mark 4:38  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? Jesus gets up calms the storm and asked why are you so afraid?

Mark 4:40  And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

It’s easy to get down on these disciple but we do the same thing because we think that the storms of life are going to pass us by. The winds of discomfort are never to come our way; but they do. When they do we must remember it’s not what we are going to do it’s the trust we have in the Lord Jesus that will get us through. Ok you say, what would you have done had you been on that ship that night? More than likely I would have been the one to wake Jesus up. The reason I say that is there have been storms that came into my life and I didn’t handle them very well. Here is the answer;

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Trust in the Lord! I wonder how the disciples felt!

Mark 5:1  And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

Just like Jesus said!

Almost Everyone Has One

The other day as I was stopped at a red light I glanced over at the car beside me and noticed a lady tapping away on her cell phone. Then I noticed a man with his cell phone up to his ear talking to someone. As I went through the day I began to notice how many were using their cell phone either talking, texting, playing games, reading emails, messages or just viewing there phone. Then I noticed 4 people in one car and everyone was talking on their cell phone to someone else. Then I got to thinking most people have a cell phone, they have it with them at all times, if they forget it most will go back just to get it. Cell phones consume a lot of our time and I hear few if any complaints. What if we were to spend half that time with the Lord as we do with our cell phone? What if we left our Bible at home and turned around to go get it because we knew we would be using it all through the day? What if there were four people in one car and they were all praying for someone else? What if we were always looking at our Bible? What if we listened to messages being preached by Godly Pastors every day? I think if we were to spend that kind of time with the Lord I know our lives would be happier, fuller and I am sure we would be more excited. Our homes would be blessed, we would be a more loving person to be around, we would care more about each other and we would love and spend more time with our families. Just a thought!

Losing Not Winning

About 14 years ago my family took a trip to see the Grand Canyon. We flew into Las Vegas and used it for a hub to see some things around there. While there in Las Vegas I noticed that the hotels were really nice, most people were gambling; notice I said gambling not winning. My youngest son was watching all these happy looking people giving their money away to slot machines and all kinds of other gambling devices in hopes of the big win. I began to look at the nice carpet, light fixtures and all the other nice furnishings. I then told my son if he had noticed how nice everything was? I asked him if everyone is winning how in the world do you think they could afford all this luxury?  I read some facts yesterday and read this fact about the revenue generated from gambling. “The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, cruise ships, recorded music, theme parks, and spectator sports combined.” Wow! Now that’s a lot of revenue. I then got to thinking about how inviting it is. Now I don’t know anything about gambling casino’s all I know is what I saw in Las Vegas. I must say it was inviting and the thoughts of walking away with 1000’s in your pocket was; well, only wishful thinking. As I was thinking about that trip I also thought about these verses.

Matthew 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

 Anyone that was of age could have played there in Las Vegas and many were, so the gate was broad. But as I said everybody was not winning so that means many were losing and losing big. Now this broad way has led many to destruction instead of the wealth. The life which you and I are living at this present time is like that. There is a broad way and so many are doing wrong that it may appear that nothing will ever change but there is another verse.

Mattew 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

There is another gate and this gate is narrow and instead of many going in it tells us that there are few that find it. Here we have only two gates or ways, one leads to destruction and one leads to life. We can take our chances and go through the wide gate but we have already been warned that if we do that it will lead to destruction. Now if we go thought the narrow gate it will lead to life. I have decided that the narrow gate is the one I want; no, not want but the one that I went through. As for you, if you have found yourself in the fast lane with many and you are not winning like you thought, then why not change and become part of the few, the ones that have real life. Not just a hope and a dream and a few dollars in the bank to live out the rest of your days in ease but more than a dream, eternal life. For you can know that you have eternal life for sure!

1John 5:13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 

Do You See What

Do you see what others see or do you see something totally different?

Abraham takes his only son to the top of a mountain; the purpose, sacrifice his only son but Abraham refused to see that. How do I know you may ask? Read it yourself!

Genesis 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

Genesis 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid [it] upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

Genesis 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here [am] I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering?

Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Did you see it? Verse 25 Abraham tells his young men just wait here I and the lad will come back. Verse 27 Isaac speaks and says "I see the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"  Abraham tells his son God will provide Himself a lamb. Abraham saw what others didn't and refused to see what looked obvious. Abraham saw a savior not a sacrifice; Abraham didn’t have all the answers he just put his trust in God. The word “trust” means confidence! Abraham did not place trust in himself nor his abilities. Abraham placed confidence in God and therefore he was able to see what others didn’t. In the book of Proverbs chapter 3 and in the first 6 verses we learn how to put confidence in God. In verse 1 we see a father talking to his son telling him not to forget what he’s been taught. The reason being, if he wants long life then he is to bind and write God’s commandments upon his heart. By doing this it is much easier to place confidence in the Lord therefore allowing Him to direct your path. Some paths are easy and it doesn’t take much Bible knowledge for instance; do not steal, don’t commit adultery, or don’t lie. Then there are other things that will take more trust. Like, who should I spend the rest of my life with? What should I spend the rest of my life doing? It is then we are to put trust in the Lord and the confidence will come because of the hiding and binding of God’s Word in our heart and the relationship we have with the Lord. Are you spending your time seeing what everyone else is seeing or are refusing to see what the obvious is? When we are trusting in the Lord we will see what others don’t! Have a great weekend see you in Church Sunday!

Ever Thought

Have you ever thought about what it would have been like to have walked the dusty roads with Jesus? Jesus knew where He was going and who He would come In contact with as He traveled. He told Peter to watch out and be careful, He told him that the devil desired to sift him as wheat.

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat:

Luke 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. You would think that Peter would have been grateful and said thank you Lord for warning me of the danger that I'm headed for. That's not what happened at all; Peter told the Lord how he was prepared to go to prison and if need be he would die.

Luke 22:33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. The Lord said, “No Peter, that’s not the way it will be; this is what you will do.

Luke 22:34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. And that is exactly what happened. Peter, instead of going to prison says I don’t even know who Jesus is. You and I were not living back in those days and we didn’t walk side by side with Jesus like Peter did. If you have asked the Lord Jesus to forgive you of your sins then the Holy Spirit is living within your heart. His job is to tell us, guide us and teach us of things to avoid as we go through life.

John 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;

John 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. Sure it’s easy to look back at Peter and say “if that had been me and I had seen all that Peter had seen I would have avoided all that he did.” It’s always easy to look back, know the truth and then tell what we would have done. What about the here and now? The Holy Spirit living within the Child of God and we still act and do as Peter did. Have you ever said this “I’ll never _____!” and then you did what you said you would never do. That’s what happened that day when Peter voiced his thoughts. He never intended do or say what he did and he meant what he said at the time. There just wasn’t any pressure on him at the time. Be careful because Satan wants you too.

Joh 10: 10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: 

When

 We hear this word all the time “when.” It’s a simple word that means “at what time.” I have said that word many time as I would say to a friend “when are you coming” I have said it to my children “when will you be home.” All I wanted to know was at what time you will be coming by or at what time can your mother and I expect you to be home. That word also has changed many lives; I weighted 280 lbs but when I changed my diet I lost down to 225 lbs. My life was a wreck and it seemed all was lost but when I walked into that Church I was introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. When I asked Him to forgive me of my sins my life changed for eternity. On yesterday as we were learning some things about what was going on with Israel; how they did evil and their evil leads them into 7-years of loss. They would plant, work the fields and when harvest time would come here comes their enemy and takes away what they had worked so hard for. Now what amazes me is they let this go on for 7 long years and year after year they came up short after working so hard. This reminds me of someone with an addiction. hey work so hard at finding a job they finally go to work start getting a pay check and then decide to go use the money they had worked so hard for you indulge in their addiction. Because of that they lose their job and they like the Israelites keep doing the same thing over and over again. Need to write this phrase down somewhere so that you can remember it; “If you keep doing the same things you have been doing, you’re going to keep getting the same results.” Now think for a moment, why would anything change? Keep painting the picture black and it will never be white for if you want it white you’re going to have to use white paint. In other words change what you have been doing. This is just what the Israelites did.

Judges 6:7  And it came to pass, when( at what time)the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, When the children of Israel cried or prayed unto the Lord things started to change. When we allow addictions to rule our lives we lose everything but when we realize that the problem is not with our addiction but with us then we, like the children of Israel can and should cry unto the Lord for help. At what time one does that they will be surprised whom God will send their way to help them. But nothing happens until the when!