BAREFOOT CHRISTIANITY

2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Fight the good fight, run the race, stay the course, keep the faith.

These are biblical expectations for all of God’s children who are in a right relationship with Jesus Christ our King. If we are in the fight for souls running for Jesus on the narrow difficult road that leads to heaven; we better have a good pair of shoes to wear on our spiritual journey. The Word of God says, “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared” (Ephesians 6:15 NLT) To be fully prepared we must know the good news of the gospel well enough to put it on by sharing it where ever we go as we live our life for Christ. Too many of us are crippled and limping around ineffective for Jesus because we are not running the course of the soul-winner. If you do not know the gospel well enough to share it how can you know the good news well enough to be aware of its power? (Romans 1:16) If the message of the cross is the power of God to those of us who are being saved; (1 Corinthians 1:16) why do so few of us believe in its power enough to put on the gospel shoes of preparation and share it? The truth is we are marching into the battle for souls barefooted and unprepared for the mission. If you can not share the gospel you are one of the poorest of all Christians. You don’t even have a pair of shoes! If someone came to church each Sunday barefooted because he was to poor to buy a pair of shoes we would all take action to give them a pair of shoes to wear. The truth is many of us in the church come every Sunday spiritually barefooted and don’t even know it. Christ has clothed us with the armor of God, so put on your shoes and get in the fight. TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THE GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST!

Value, Worth & Riches

I am not a rich man by the world’s standard. I can not buy a house but I know that I have a home. I do not own any land upon this earth but I am going to a homeland in a heavenly country. I will never get to go on a trip to a foreign exotic country, but I am going on a journey to a land where I will walk upon streets of gold. I do not have a savings account but I have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away. To this world I am just an unknown rural pastor to a small country church, but I am known by the ONE who owns it all, the ONE who controls it all, the ONE who knows all things knows me by my name. He calls me His son! I call Him my Father! He is the King of the kingdom of which I am an heir. Who is this King of Glory? His name is Jesus! Do you know Him? More importantly does He know you? Where is your treasure today? What do you value the most? What do you focus on the most; the here and now or your life to come in eternity? Jesus asked the question,(Matthew 16:26) 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?
Jesus answered like this. (Matthew 16:27) 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. The King is coming back some day! What will we cherish then?

(Colossians 3:1 NLT) Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
3:2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
3:3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
3:4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

LIFE: Do you have it!

Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

I believe and accept by faith that Jesus died for me though I cannot comprehend it. I know that His death on the cross has taken away my sin because He tells me that He died for our sins. My quilt and shame have died and been buried with Christ who loved me and died for me that I might truly live for Him. My constant sinful behavior has been crucified and replaced with a desire to know and live for Jesus who died for me. The resurrection has made this possible because Jesus rose again from the grave and is alive. Because He lives I now have true life; His life in me the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Before we can live for Jesus we must be willing to die with Jesus. When Christ calls us He calls us to come and die to self that we might live for God. No man can experience the new life in Christ, until he has first experienced the death of the old life of himself. The Apostle Paul explained it this way, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

A radically changed life is what true salvation from God will accomplish. The only safe evidence that we are in Christ is a holy life set apart for God. If any man commits himself to Christ radical change will be unavoidable. Praise Jesus for new life! Thank Him for not leaving us like He found us! Though we have not yet attained to the fullness of what we will be one day in Christ; we can now say I am not what I was apart from Him. I have been changed by the grace of God! Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus for saving me and giving me LIFE!!!

When Confusion Comes to Visit

Have you ever experienced the turmoil of a troubled conscience because of an unexpected turn of events? Have you ever thought something was one way only to find out it was totally not the way you thought it was? When life really freaks you out what do you do? When my mind has been invaded by the confusion of this uncertain and imperfect world I have learned to focus on the One who I can be sure is perfectly in control of my life. Today I awoke to a great state of confusion so I began to search for answers to my problem. The harder I tried to figure out what to do the more confusing it became. When I finally admitted that I was freaking out I began to pray for the Lord to help me. It did not take Him long to respond! If you are wondering what He did; let me first tell you what He did not do. God did not make my troubles go away. He did something much more AWESOME!

Once I prayed I decided to focus on something else than my troubles so I went on line to check out a Leadership Conference that I have been praying about attending. When the NewSpring Church web page came up I noticed their pastor Perry Nobles had a blog so I decided to check out what he had to say. What I discovered totally changed the rest of my day. I hope it will help you as much as it did me.

Perry Noble's blog

I have found during my most stressful times it is best if I just stop and focus on who God is…it’s a time when I set my requests aside and just seek HIM…

I’ve made a list that helps me when I tend to freak out…

HE IS…

• Sovereign…He reigns over everyone and everything and has never been stressed out.
• Unstoppable…and so are those who follow Him.
• Holy…perfect, which means everything He wants/desires for my life is so far greater than anything I could have thought up.
• Consistant…I don’t have to worry about Him being in a bad mood.
• GREATER than any temptation the enemy throws my way.
• Better than anything the world has to offer.
• BIGGER than any sin/failure in my life.
• Gracious in that He knows every stupid, foolish, sinful thing I’ve ever done (or will do)…and yet He loves me anyway! (Romans 5:8 ALWAYS amazes me!)
• ALWAYS there with me…He has NEVER walked away from me. He doesn’t always deliver me from the fire…but He has ALWAYS walked with me through it! (See Isaiah 43:1-3)
• Faithful…if I fail to see His faithfulness in my past I will probably not recognize the fruitfulness of my future. (Philippians 1:6)
• The ONE who pursues me…even on the days I tend to walk away from Him.
• RELENTLESS…He NEVER has given up on me!
• PASSIONATE…His passion and zeal that the Scriptures reveal cause me to be in AWE.

I could go on and on…the point being is that when stress comes it is an awesome opportunity to KNOW HIM. SO…if you are stressed out, freaked out and feel like you are about to give out…then “check out” for 10 minutes from your busy life, sit down with a piece of paper, make a list of who the Scriptures say that HE IS…and focus on that rather than your circumstances.

Just a thought…but it sure has helped me!

It sure helped me too!

Where's Your Peace

Genesis 15:15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.

To live a long life that ends in peace with God is the ultimate climax to a life well spent. Peace is a quality of life that everyone desires to have but only a few ever find. If we hope to ever find peace we must first ask ourselves where peace can be found. The Bible says that peace comes from God

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You! (Isaiah 26:3 NLT) If we are to experience peace we must focus our thoughts upon God and then be willing to trust Him when He reveals His plan for our life. The Bible says that Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus said “these things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace” (John 16:33). “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). Jesus also said “do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). To the casual observer it seems that Jesus contradicts Himself concerning His promise to bring peace. To anyone willing to trust and surrender to Jesus as Lord and follow Him they will experience within their heart a peace that only God can provide. Anyone who rejects Jesus as Lord and refuses to surrender and follow Him will not receive His peace. In fact Jesus will disturb what peace they do have because He will cause them to realize they are not at peace with God. Jesus never said He would bring peace to the whole world. He said in the world we would have tribulation but to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world. He also said to not let our hearts be troubled and to not be afraid because the peace He would give us was not as the world gives because it did not come from the world. The world cannot know this peace because it does not know Jesus. Know Jesus know peace, No Jesus no peace! True peace is from God through a right relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. When you reject Jesus as Lord you forfeit God’s offer to have His peace. When you trust Jesus and follow Him you make yourself available to receive the peace of God. This does not mean you will be at peace with all men. In fact the world will now reject you because it has rejected Jesus. The rejection of the world is the sword that Jesus brings to those who follow Him. The question we must ask is do we want peace with the world or peace with God. The world or God we must all choose because it is impossible to have peace with both. Where’s your peace?

Let's Watch What We Say

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

We are all weak in some area of our spiritual life. Every man has a habit that he has recognized and is striving to overcome by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of our sins are obvious and easy to recognize so we are forced to deal with them swiftly so we can be accepted among the brethren. For example we don’t seem to have a problem with anyone wanting to come to church drunk, and we would never condone two of our members living together out of wedlock. There are many things that we are quick to eradicate from among our accepted behavior as Christians. I have not heard anyone cuss lately in the church have you? Thank God we don’t have to provide designated smoking areas either; those who do smoke would never smoke in front of us who don’t smoke anyway. Why not? Is it because it’s a sin against God or because they do not want to look bad at church? I believe it is probably both. The truth is that we all are worried about what others will say about us. None of us like to be talked about. The amazing thing to me is the things that we will allow without saying anything about it. One of the greatest sins in the church today causes more trouble for the kingdom of God than all of the sins listed above put together; yet it is widely practiced by us all on a regular basis. The Bible says indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way (James 3:2 NLT). I know that my mouth has been a great weakness in my life that has caused me to hinder the will of God and hurt others because of what I have allowed it to speak. It does not have to be evil mean spirited words to hurt a fellow Christian’s spiritual health. It does not need to be a lie to be considered gossip. In fact if we speak against someone falsely it’s not only gossip; it is also slander. For our words to be corrupt in the eyes of God they only need to be negative and of a critical spirit. The bible calls it murmuring it is better known to most of us as complaining. I just call it what it is whining like a little baby! My prayer for those of us who seem to habitually need to vent in such a way is that Jesus will truly give you something to complain about. I hope this hits you right where it hit me; right between the eyes! May God have mercy on us all for our unwillingness to take control of our tongues! Have a blessed day.

Focused on Jesus

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith

If we are ever to become the disciples that Christ has saved us to be we are going to need to learn how to avoid the distractions of the everyday activities of life here on planet earth. The relentless pursuit of the American dream as a lifestyle has overwhelmed and hindered far to many of us in the church today. When I woke up this morning and began the day that God had given to me I had to make a choice that each of us must make each and everyday. I had to decide what I would focus my thoughts and affections upon as I began another day. Because life is demanding and full of activity we must learn to focus our minds on what is best for us. I can not think of anything greater to focus on each day than Jesus Christ and His word. I have discovered that when I remain focused on Jesus life seems much more manageable and rewarding. Jesus said to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all of our needs would be given too us (Matthew 6:33). To seek after something requires of us to focus upon that which we seek. If we truly desire to live for God, we must focus upon Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. The Apostle Paul said, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek (focus on) those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind (focus) on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:1-2) Our problem is not ignorance of what to do; most of us know all too well what God wants us to do. Many of us want to do God’s will, but we fail to focus on what He has revealed to us. Take the time today to focus on your relationship with Christ and make a genuine effort to obey Him and it will change your life. If you have failed in the past; do not give up forget the past and keep focusing on the future so that you may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of you. The Apostle Paul said, I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:12-14 NLT) It is an undeniable truth that to remain faithful to God we must stay FOCUSED ON JESUS.