Category: Christianity
God Answers Pray
James: 5:16: Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. 
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
There was once a Church in a small town that had a problem, a saloon open upped across the street. Church members were very angry about this and tried to get the Owner to close it or move somewhere else.
They appealed to the city official, who because of taxes refused to do anything about it.
So the Pastor called on the Church to Pray that God would shut down the Saloon, They meet at the Church everyday in special prayer meetings asking God to intervene in there behalf and help them to shut down the Saloon.
Sure enough about a month later during a very bad storm lightning struck the Saloon and burned it down to the ground.
The Church was delighted until they got served with a legal suit.
The owner of the Saloon was suing the Church, Claiming that their Prayers had resulted in Lightning striking his saloon, and so he held the Church as responsible and was suing them for damages
The Church Lawyers claimed that the Church and there prayers were in no way responsible for the saloon keeper’s damage.
The judge decided in favor of the Church!
But the judge said.
It is very confusing to find that the saloon keeper arguing in favor of the power of prayer and the Church arguing against it.
Do we really believe in the Power of Prayer?
Let us Prayer!
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Have you every prayed for something and it came true, How do you know it was not just a coincident that it happened
I have seen many of prayers answered in my life that there is no possible explanation for; Except God answered pray
What is Prayer and why is it important in a Christian life.
Prayer is the act of addressing God for the purpose of worship or petition. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting guidance or assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one’s thoughts and emotions.
The words used in prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, words of gratitude, or a spontaneous utterance in the person’s praying words. Praying can be done in public, as a group, or in private.
What does Jesus tell us to do when we pray?
Mt:21:22: And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
What ever we ask in prayer believe and you shall receive
Believe is another word for Faith and the Bible tells us what Faith is
Heb:11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
James tells us when we are praying we are to ask in Faith believing that we will receive what we have prayed for.
Jms:1:6: But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Many times we pray but don’t really believe God will answer our prayer, Why because it may take too long or our prayer don’t get answered right away we think God does not hear us.
Some prayers are not answered right away and other prayers are answered in different ways that we are not aware of
Jms:5:15: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Question: is God a respecter of person
The answer is no, God treats everyone the same; we are all equal in Gods eyes. What God does respect is a person Faith in Him.
God has used Men and Women of Faith through history to foster his plan for mankind’s salvation
Jesus tells us what Faith can do.
Lk:17:6: And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
This is why; Jesus said when you pray Believe
Story: of the King who was Sick Hezekiah
2 Kings 20:
1: In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
2: Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,
3: I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4: And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
5: Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
6: And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
God hears our Prayers always
Story: Zacharias
There was a man by the name of Zacharias who prayer asking God to give them a child, but for years his Wife remained barren. He is now in his late 70 and so is his wife.
It was his duty to go into the Most Holy place of the sanctuary and minister before the Ark of the Covenant.
There he sees and Angle, and the Angle tells him something wonderful, his prayers have been heard and that his wife was going to have a Baby
But he questions this is not possible because I am now too old and my wife is passed the age of life
That is unheard of, Old women having children They do when God answers pray.
He must have prayed for many years, until his wife was well passed the years of child bearing, but God heard his prays, and in God’s time he answered this old mans pray.
Lk:1:13: But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Here is a lesion for all of us We must learner to wait on God’s timing.
If we would learn to wait on Gods timing we would find life so much easyer.
God does not promise that when you become a Christian you will not have problems. What he tells us to do is to pray and he will give you the strength to overcome your hardship, your difficulty, your danger, your misfortune, and your hard times.
Zech:2:8: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Jesus prayed for each of us, that our faith in him in times of trouble would not fail, for He tells us in John
Jn:14:1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
What did we say belief was, Belief and Faith are the same.
So if you have Faith in what you are praying for then you need to start getting ready to receive your request.
Acts:12:5: Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
What happened to Peter, an angle came by night and loose his chains and walked him right out of prison.
Why because the Church was praying for him.
You know you might say, Good Stories Tim, I like them all,
But does God do anything for His people today like he did for those in the Bible..
First thing; There is a big different between the Church of the 1st and 2nd century and that of today
People then were willing to Die for what they believe, rather then enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season.
Today it is hard just getting Christians to come to Church if they are not mad at the Pastor or someone else in the Church.
Sometime God does not answer us because we don’t really believe that he will bottom line
I really can’t speak for anyone else but this I can tell you; and that is what God has done for me
Story: Me and the Truck
I was on call for work one night many years ago and had to drive a fuel truck into some plants to fill up the air compressors that were keeping the plants running. While driving the truck I notices that the light were not very bright, but did not think too much about it till the engine died coming off a bridge and all I could do was to cost all the way down. As I came off the bridge I pulled over and then tried to restart the engine, but all I could hear was clicking under the hood. Oh no I said the battery is dead, that is why the lights were getting dim on me. I tried everything but no luck is was 1:30am and I called all the emergency contact numbers for my company and no one answered.
Oh no I said I just started this job a few months ago and knew I needed to get fuel in the Air compressors or they would soon start shutting down. I called my Wife who was at home sick and told her what had happened and how I could not get anyone at the office on the phone, I also knew she could not help me being as sick as she was. I was just a new Christian believer at the time and all I could do was to think why don’t you just pray about it. Yes right like that is really going to start the engine, I got out the truck again and did everything I know but nothing worked. I was stranded all alone and in a very bad part of town. Again my thought went to just pray, ok what do I have to lose, so I did I prayed. Not long after praying I got a feeling to try and start the engine, I flagged it off because just a few minutes before I already tired that. But again the feeling came try the engine. OK I will try it, and as soon as I turn the key the engine started, I could not believe it. I put the light switch on and the light were brighter then I ever seen. So I made my run that night and filled all the equipment and drove back to the shop parked the truck. Wow I could not believe it then I thought to my self maybe it was just a bad connection after all. But when I went to try and start the truck again it was dead and I mean completely dead. The next day I came in to work and one of the mechanics was working on the truck and so I ask him what was he doing. He said do you know who drove the truck last night I said yes it was me. He looked and said boy you are a lucky guy I said why, he told me the alternator was out and the battery was totally dead. I knew then for sure it had to be an angle help me that night, all because I prayed in my time of need.
I believe we all sometimes ask God for things we don’t need or for something that is not good for us.
God in his Mercy understands and sometimes said no, it is the same thing that any good parent would do for Children you love.
One time my son Patrick came home with a big fish tank full of Tarantula (Spider) and he said Look Mom Dad can I keep them in my room.
Do I need to tell you what our answer was NO
God is the same way; sometime things are not going to be good for us so he just said NO
I was in Love with a girl once when I was 16 and remember praying asking God to help me to marry her.
I event went as far as telling her we could get married and no one will ever know.
Then one day God let me see something in her I never seen before, and right then I realized why he said no. Then I prayed and said God thanks you for not answering that prayer of mine.
So the next time I prayer about getting married I ask God to provide me a Women to be my Wife.
About a year later, guess who came into my Life. She has been so much more then I could have ever asked or even hoped for, why because she was Gods choice for me. This year we will be married for 39 years, God is so very good
Phil:4:6: Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Eph:6:18: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Col:4:2: Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Only God could have lead her into my life and on Gods time not mine.
2Tm:1:3: I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
1Pt:3:12: For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Have you ever wonders where your prayers are kept.
The Bible tells us that God has a special place where are kept the prayers of all his People.
Rv:5:8: And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rv:8:3: And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rv:8:4: And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
There is nothing that is impossible for God to do; God hears the prayers of his children, He longs to talk to each and everyone one of us.
Sometimes we are too busy, sometimes we just don’t have time to give to God because we have so many things going on in our life.
Have you every wondered where do all these things come from, these time takers. They are all a vice from satan to do one thing, keep you away from God.
One of the best time taker satan every invested in was Music
Here he enter the ear and mind of many people, but that was not enough he wanted more so he invested in a tube we call TV
Now he has the ear, mind, imagination of the people all at the same time and he has them doing nothing.
The Prayers of a Father:
A minister concluded his sermon one Sabbath by saying, “If there’s someone here who wants help in getting to know God, and you would like me to pray for you, please raise your hand.” A young man stood up and said, “Please pray for me, sir. The burden of my sin is too heavy to bear.”
After the service the minister talked with the man and led him to faith in Jesus. The young man had been wandering around the country for 8 years without contacting his parents, so he decided to write to them and tell them about the change in his life.
Several days later, a reply came from his mother: “My dear son, you must have accepted Jesus Christ at the same hour your father went to sleep in Jesus. He had been sick for a long time, and that day he was very restless. He tossed from side to side on his bed, crying out, ‘Lord, please save my poor, wandering boy.’ I’m sure that one of the reasons you became a Christian was Dad’s unceasing intercession.”
A praying father will “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” in behalf of his children, persistently trusting his wise heavenly Father to do what is best (Matthew 7:7-11). Let’s thank God today for faithful parents who never stop praying for their children.
Parents never stop praying for your Children, It is never too late to pray for them and never to early to start praying for them
Jesus said in Jer:1:5: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
God bless and remember God knows what you need He is just waiting for you to ask, then He will provide it at the right time in your life; not too early and never too late.
Elder Tim McNab
Don’t give up!
John: 15:12: This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
There was once a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition.
The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants…
The race began… Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
You heard statements such as: “NO, WAY it’s too difficult!!”
“They will NEVER make it to the top.”
“Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!”
The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one…
Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher..
The crowd continued to yell, “It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!”
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up… But ONE continued higher and higher and higher…
This one tiny frog however wouldn’t give up!
At the end, everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog, who after a big effort, was the only one who reached the
top!
THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?
A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal.
It turned out… That the winner was DEAF!!!!
Let’s Us Pray!
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Whatever you do Never listen to other people’s tendencies to be negative or pessimistic
Because they take your most wonderful dreams and wish them away from you–
the ones you have in your heart!
Always think of the power words have before speaking.
Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!
Therefore: ALWAYS be… POSITIVE!
And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams!
Always think: God and I can do this!
Most people walk in and out of your life……but FRIENDS leave footprints
in your heart!
We all need to have some encouragement at time in our life.
We all get Tired, we get Lazy, Wore out, Burnt out, even feel Defeated at times.
Especially when we hear people telling us, you can’t do that! It’s too much for you! No one really expected you to complete it!
In our weakness, we find strength only in the Lord.
When all the world seams to be against us, we know that He is right there, He is there to give guidance, to give instruction, and to give us consul when needed.
God’s love is forever with His people who have put there Trust, there Faith, there very Live into His hands. He never gives up on you.
In the opening story what made the difference between the frogs who did not finish and the one who did. Being —- Deaf to what people were saying.
Sometimes we too need to learn to shut the world out. Don’t listen to what others are saying to us, or about us. Just continue doing what Jesus said.
Do what God is telling you to do, and go where God is telling you to go.
What do you think would have happened if Jesus listened to what others were telling Him, that He was not the Son of God! That He was not the Savior!
When the world does not encourage or help you, remember God love never stops.
What would have happen if Jesus would have became discouraged? He almost did.
Turn to the book of Matthew chapter 3:
Look at the story of Jesus baptism, hear what His Father said.
- Jesus at His Baptism:
Matthew:3:
16: And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
All of Jesus life he heard only negativeness from people around Him. His own Brothers and Sisters, His Aunts & Uncles, the Religious Leaders.
They all thought Jesus had some loose screws in his head They failure to realize the what the Scriptures said about Him.
Do you hear the same things where you work, how about at Home, how about at Church? People telling you that you are not good enough, you are just not able to do this.
It is almost like they want to see you fail, They themselves can’t do it and they want to make sure you can’t as well..
Funny with Jesus it was only the Common people who heard and believed in Him, because He gave them hope.
Hope that there was something better for them then this life of pain & suffering. Hope of a place where there will never be Hunger, Sickness, or see Death again.
All through Jesus life He did only works of Good, He showed Love, & compassion, But the world hated Him all the more. Who Hated Him, The very people who he came to save.
- Look at what is said in the Book of Luke 22:
40: And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
41: And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
“Tarry ye here, ” He told his disciples, “and watch with Me.”
He went but a little distance from them, but not so far that they could not see and hear Him as He fell prostrate upon the ground.
Why was He here, what was He doing, He was paying your death, all your sins and all my sins. Look now at what it was doing to Him.
He felt that by sin He was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it.
But In this agony He must not exert His divine power to escape or save His self.
How many of us if we had the power in our hand, would not have freed ourselves and said tuff luck and walked away
But not Jesus: As a man He must suffer the consequences of man’s sin. As a man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression.
Christ was now standing in a different attitude from that in which He had never stood before.
His suffering can best be described in the words of the prophet, “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zech. 13:7.
Holy angle spirit angel
As the substitute and surety for sinful man, Christ was suffering under divine justice. He saw what justice meant.
Hitherto He had been as an intercessor for others; now He longed to have someone intercessor for Him.
As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, He feared that in His human nature He would be unable to endure the coming conflict with the powers of darkness.
In the wilderness of temptation, when the destiny of the human race had been at stake, Christ was then conqueror.
Now the tempter had come for the last fearful struggle. For this he had been preparing during the three years of Christ’s ministry.
Everything was at stake with him. If Satan failed here, his hope of mastery was lost; the kingdoms of the world would finally become Christ’s; he himself would be overthrown and cast out.
But if Christ could be overcome, the earth would become Satan’s kingdom, and the human race would be forever in his power.
With the issues of the conflict before Him, Christ’s soul was filled with dread of separation from God.
Satan told Him that if He became the surety for a sinful world, the separation would be eternal. He would be identified with Satan’s kingdom, and would nevermore be one with God.
Again the Son of God was seized with superhuman agony, and fainting and exhausted, He staggered back to the place of His former struggle.
His suffering was even greater than before. As the agony of soul came upon Him, “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
The cypress and palm trees were the silent witnesses of His anguish. From their leafy branches dropped heavy dew upon His stricken form, as if nature wept over its Author wrestling alone with the powers of darkness.
A short time before, Jesus had stood like a mighty cedar, withstanding the storm of opposition that spent its fury upon Him.
Stubborn wills, and hearts filled with malice, had striven in vain to confuse and overpower Him. He stood forth in divine majesty as the Son of God.
Now He was like a reed beaten and bent by the angry storm. He had approached the consummation of His work a conqueror, having at each step gained the victory over the powers of darkness.
As one already glorified, He had claimed oneness with God.
He had spoken to His disciples in words of courage and tenderness.
Now had come the hour of the power of darkness. Now His voice was heard on the still evening air, not in tones of triumph, but in human anguish.
The words of the Savior were borne to the ears of the drowsy disciples, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”
The first impulse of the disciples was to go to Him; but He had bidden them tarry there, watching and prayer.
But when Jesus came to them, He found them still sleeping.
Jesus longing for companionship, for some words from His disciples which would bring relief, and break the spell of darkness that well-nigh overpowered Him.
But their eyes were heavy; “neither did they know what to answer Him.” His presence aroused them.
They saw His face marked with the bloody sweat of agony, and they were filled with fear. His anguish of mind they could not understand. “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” Isa. 52:14
Turning away, Jesus sought again His retreat, and fell prostrate, overcome by the horror of a great darkness.
The humanity of the Son of God trembled in that trying hour. He prayed not now for His disciples that their faith might not fail, but for His own tempted, agonized soul.
The awful moment had come–that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance.
Christ might even now refuse to drink the cup apportioned to guilty man.
It was not yet too late. He might wipe the bloody sweat from His brow, and leave man to perish in his iniquity.
He might say, Let the transgressor receive the penalty of his sin, and I will go back to My Father.
Will the Son of God drink the bitter cup of humiliation and agony? Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin, to save the guilty?
The words fall tremblingly from the pale lips of Jesus, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”
Three times has He uttered that prayer. Three times has humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice.
But now the history of the human race comes up before the world’s Redeemer.
He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves, must perish.
He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him.
He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made.
He will save man at any cost to Himself.
He accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him millions may gain everlasting life.
He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression.
And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin.
His prayer now breathes only submission: “If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, He said My Father Thy will be done.”
Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground from which He had partially risen.
Where now were His disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their fainting Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men?
Jesus trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him.
Please don’t think that the Father did not suffer with His Son for in that trying hour all of heaven was still as the Father and Son agonize over the one lost sheep.
Angels beheld His agony. They saw their Lord enclosed by legions of satanic forces, His nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread. There was silence in heaven.
No harp was touched.
Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief as they watched the Father separating His beams of light, of love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin.
The worlds un-falling and the heavenly angels had watched with intense interest as the conflict drew to its close.
Satan and his confederacy of evil, the legions of apostasy, watched intently this great crisis in the work of redemption.
The powers of good and evil waited to see what answer would come to Christ’s thrice-repeated prayer.
Angels had longed to bring relief to the divine sufferer, but this might not be.
No way of escape was found for the Son of God.
In this awful crisis, when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the sufferer, the heavens opened.
A light shone forth amid the stormy darkness of the crisis hour, and the mighty angel who stands in God’s presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to the side of Christ.
The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the Father’s love.
He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant.
He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings.
He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High.
He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for He would see a multitude of the human race saved eternally.
Christ’s agony did not cease, but His depression and discouragement left Him.
The storm had in nowise abated, but He who was its object was strengthened to meet its fury.
He came forth calm and peaceful. A heavenly peace rested upon His bloodstained face.
He had borne that which no human being could ever bear; for He had tasted the sufferings of death for every man.
The sleeping disciples had been suddenly awakened by the light surrounding the Savior.
They saw the angel bending over their prostrate Master.
They saw him lift the Savior’s head upon his bosom, and point toward heaven. They heard his voice, like sweetest music, speaking words of comfort and hope.
The disciples recalled the scene upon the mount of transfiguration.
They remembered the glory that in the temple had encircled Jesus, and the voice of God that spoke from the cloud.
Now that same glory was again revealed, and they had no further fear for their Master.
He was under the care of His Father; a mighty angel had been sent to protect Him.
Again the disciples in their weariness yield to the strange stupor that overpowers them.
Again Jesus finds them sleeping.
That same night they took Jesus and place Him before a marked trial of Evil men. But he stood before then not as one having been defeated, But as one who has gained the Victory
3. Jesus at the Cross: Luke 23:
39: And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
40: But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
41: And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
42: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43: And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
On the Cross there was only one man who called upon the savior, Even while Jesus was suffering on the Cross Himself, His ears were open to hear the cry for help.
Have you become discouraged in your walk with Jesus, when we pass out literature and no one seams to accept what you have. When we have evangelistic seminars and no one comes. When we preach the word and there are no followers.
Do you get dishearten because no one heed the warning, and you feel like a failure.
We all need to be encouraged at time to complete the work giving us. Somehow when we have other pulling for us it makes the road easier to bare.
It can’t be explained and we don’t know why it is.
But pain and suffering somehow becomes bearable when we know you are not alone when we know others are praying for us.
A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled
with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to
do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained
that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the
man did, day after day.
For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set
squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing
with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and
worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Since the man was showing discouragement, the adversary (Satan) decided to
enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: “You have been
pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t moved.” Thus, he
gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a
failure.
These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. Satan said, “Why kill
yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort;
and that will be good enough.”
That’s what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a Matter of
Prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
“Lord,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all
my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I
have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am
I failing?
The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, when I asked you to serve
Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock
with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to
you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you
come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is
that really so?
“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and
brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have
become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your
abilities now surpass that which you used to have.
“True, you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and
to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have
done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock.”
*At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect
to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just a simple
obedience and faith in Him.
At time we hear people telling us like satin you can’t do it.
You can’t Speak, You can’t Teach, You can’t Preach, You can’t, You can’t, You can’t.
When people are putting you down, when you hear the voice of Satan telling you what you can’t, we need to look to the word of God that tells us.
I can do, I can do, I can do…….
Phil:4:13: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Don’t let the world stop you from reaching the finish line,
Sometimes all you need is to become Deaf to the world in order to hear Jesus.
Whatever you do always remember” Never Give Up”
Elder Tim McNab
Restoring Gods Truth
DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
MATT 7:13-14
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:
14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods.
They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, ‘Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems.
I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.’
Then the second tree said, ‘Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world.
Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.’
Finally the third tree said, ‘I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the Hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching.
I will be the greatest tree of all times and people will always remember me..’
After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said,
‘This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter, ‘and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the second tree the woodsman said, ‘This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.’ The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true.
One of the Woodsmen said, ‘I don’t need anything special from my tree, I’ll take this one,’ and he cut it down.
When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.
The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.
The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.
Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree.
The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn’t think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said ‘Peace’ and the Storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. The tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.
When things don’t seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him,
Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.
We don’t always know what God’s plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways.
But His ways are always best ways.
Let us Pray!
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ISAISH ; 54:17: No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
LOOK AT YOUR SELF : AND ASK WHAT WOULD I DO IF GOD CALL ME??
WHAT IF HE SAID I HAVE A MISSION FOR YOU..
DON’T WEREY ABOUT A THING JUST TRUST ME…?
AND GO WERE I SEND YOU AND SAY WHAT I TELL YOU….
WOULD IT CHANGE YOU…? ARE WOULD YOU LIKE JONAH JUST TRY AND RUN AWAY.. MAYBE YOU BE LIKE MOSES AND TRY TO ARGUE WITH GOD AND SAY LORD I am NOT THE MAN YOU NEED SEND SOMEONE ELCE…
ARE THERE STILL THOSE WHO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT??????
ARE HAS THE SUBTLE, HYPNOTIC BEAT OF THE DRUM MADE EVERY MAN AN UNWITTING SLAVE.
LIKE IT OR NOT, WE ARE STRANGELY SENSITVE TO THE MYSTERIOUS POWE OF CONFORMITY,
WE STAND IN AWE OF IT . FASCINATED AND FRIGHTENED BY IT SURGING AND UNSHACKLED CONTROL OF THE MINDS OF MEN…
WE FEAR NOTHING SO MUCH AS TO STAND ALONE,
REJECTED BY POPULAR OPINION…
WHY THIS STRANGE URGE TO CONFORM???
WE MARCH AROUND LIKE ROBOTS, LOST IN THE GROUP, TERRIFIED AT THE THOUGHT OF BEING DIFFERENT…
WHERE IS THE CREATIVE NONCONFORMITY THAT MADE THE HEROES AND MARTYRS OF THE PAST?
WHERE IS THE EXCITEMENT OF TAKING A STAND?
WE SEEM TO BE HYPNOTIZED WITH THE CHILDHOOD GAME OF FOLLOW THE LEADER AND SIMON SAYS…
WERE ARE THE MEN WHO DID NOT FEAR TO STAN UP AND BE COUNTED FOR THE LORD.
MEN LIKE MOSES WHO HAD A MISSION FROM GOD? WHO STOUD BEFORE PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT AND SAID..
THUS SAY THE LORD THE GREAT I AM, LET MY PEOPLE GO..
STORY: MOSES (WHO WAS THIS MOSES) LORD NOT ME SEND SOMEONE ELCE I CAN NOT TALK…
MOSES: WAS JUST A MAN LIKE ENY OTHER.. BUT HE WAS WILLING TO LET GOD USE HIM
WERE ARE THE MEN LIKE MOSES TO DAY…
STORY: ABRAHEM CALL OUT FROM HIS KIM FOKE TO A LAND GOD WOULD GIVE HIM.
IF GOD CALLED WOULD YOU LEAVE YOUR HOME AND YOUR FAMILY AND GO SOME PLACE ELSE .
MAYBE GOD WILL CALL YOU TO PREACH HIS WORD IN ANOTHER CITY OR STATE OR COUNTRY..
ABRAHEM WAS GIVING A PROMASS OF A SON. THAT HIS SEED WOULD BE AS THE SAND OF THE SEA.
AND NOT UNTILL HE WAS WELL OVER 100 AND HIS WIFE IN HER 90 DID HE HAVE THE PROMASS SON
GOD TOLD ABRAHEM TO GO TO A PLACE THAT HE WILL SHOW HIM AND THERE TO SACKREFICE HIS SON…
FINISH STORY::: ABRAHAM HE DID NOT QUESTION GOD
HE DID WHAT GOD TOLD HIM TO DO.
STORY: THE SON WAS WILLING HE WAS A STRONG YOUNG MAN
BUT THIS YOUNG MAN LEARNRD FROM HIS EARTHLY FATHER ABOUT HIS HEAVENLY FATHER AND IN OBEDIENCE WAS WILLING TO GIVE HIS LIFE.
AS HE LAY THERE AND ABRAHEM READY TO TAKE HIS LIFE THE ANGLE STOP HIM
JESUS WAS WILLING TO GIVE HIS LIFE… BUT NO ONE WOULD STOP THE HAND OF GILTY MAN FROM KILLING HIM
WERE ARE THE MEN LIKE ABRAHEM
WAS IT NOT THE PROPHET ELIJAH WHO TOLD THE PEOPLE FROM THE TOP OF MOUNT CARMEL
CHOOS YE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE GOD OR MAN
DID THE PROPLE REALY FORGET WHO GOD WAS ..
MAYBE SERVING THE LORD GOD WAS NOT THE FAD AT THAT TIME.
THEY WERE SO DECEIVED BY POPULAR OPEION THAT THEY COULD NOT TELL RIGHT FROM WRONG DAY FROM NIGHT
TRUE FROM FALSE
HOW COULD THIS BE.? NOT GODS PEOPLE…
THE MAJORITY, IT SEEMS HAS SELDOME BEEN RIGHT.
THE MAJORITY, EXCEPT FOR EIGHT PEOPLE REJECTED TRUTH IN THE DAYS OF NOAH
STORY: NOAH NOAH STOOD ALONE WITH A MESSAGE FROM GOD
Animal listen to the Voice of God more then those who were created in the Image of God.
HE PREACH OF GODS LOVE AND A SOON COMING DISTRUCTION.
GOD WAS GOING TO DISTROY THE EARTH WITH A FLOOD
GEN, 6:6 GOD REPENTED AND WAS GRIEVED IN HIS HEART THAT HE MADE MAN.. THE EVEL WAS SO GREAT IN THE EARTH.
A FLOOD::::: PUBLIC OPINION SAID IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN..
IT DID NOT STOP NOAH…. NOT FOR THE NEXT 120 YEAR
HE PREACH FAITHFULY THE MESSISH GOD GAVE HIM
MANY PEOPLE WANTED TO GO IN THE ARK
MANY BELIEVE WHAT NOAH WAS PREACHING.
BUT BECAUSE “PUBLIC OPINION” YOU SEE..
1. NO ONE WENT FIRST
2. I DON’T WON’T ANY ONE TO LAUHTH AT ME.
3. IT HAS NEVER RAIN BEFORE.
4. THE LEADER DON’T BELIVE HIM
5. DAD SAID HE IS A CRAZY OLD MAN
6. NO ONE BUILD A BOAT WERE THERE IS NO WATER
7. HE FORGOT TO PUT A RUDDER ON HIS BOAT
8. IT WILL NEVER FLOAT.
TRUTH IN ELIJAH DAYS WAS SO UNPOPULAR THAT HE COMPLAINED TO GOD THAT HE ALONE WAS LEFT.
AND THE SEVEN THOUSAND LOYAL HEARTS OF WHOM HE WAS REMINDED WERE A PITIFULLY SMALL MINORITY.
THERE WAS LITTLE DIFFERENT IN THE DAYS OF MARTIN LUTHER..
IT TOOK COURAGE FOR MARTIN LUTHER TO STAND ALONE BEFOR THE COUNCIL THAT CALLED HIM TO ACCOUNT, AND DEMANDED THAT HE RECANT
BUT HIS WORDS RANG CLEAR AND STRONG..
AND FEARLESS INTO THE EARS OF HIS ENEMIES;
I CAN NOT, AND I WILL NOT, HERE I STAND, I CAN DO NO OTHER….
THE BIBLE HAS MANY STORY ABOUT MEN AND WOMAN WHO STOUD UP AGENTS THE POPERLAR OPINION
FROM ENOCH TO ESTHER THE 12 APOSTLES AND CHRISTION CHURCH OF THE FIRST 3 CENTURE.
ALL STOUD FOR THE LORD, MANY PAID THE PRICE WITH THEIR LIFE FOR WHAT THERE BELIVE.
WE CANNOT EXPECT RIGHT & TRUTH TO COME TO US CHRISTENED AND BLESSED BY PUBLIC OPINION..
JESUS SAID;
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.
BECAUSE STRAIT IS THE GATE, AND NARROW IS THE WAY, WHICH LEADETH UNTO LIFE AND FEW THERE BE THAT FIND IT… MATT 7:13-14
RIGHT CANNOT BE DETERMINED BY STATISICS. TRUTH CAN NEVER BE MEASURED BY THE NUMBER WHO ARE WILLING TO FOLLOW OR BELIVED IT….
A WAY MAY BE POPULAR… BUT IT MAY ALSO BE WRONG….
THERE IS A WAY WHICH SEEMETH RIGHT UNTO A MAN,
BUT THE END THEREOF ARE THE WAYS OF DEATH.. PROVERBS 14;12
WHAT IS IT THAT WE FEAR?
BECAUSE WE BELIVE THAT GOD WILL NOT WORK WITH US THE SAME WAY HE HAS WITH OTHER IN THE BIBLE…
PREHAP WE FEAR WE DON’T HAVE THE FAITH OR WE ARE NOT STRONG ENHUFF TO CARRY OUT THE WORK..
WE FEAR WHAT PEOPLE MAY SAY OR MAY LAFT AT US.
IN EVERY AGE THERE HAS ALWAYS BEN A PEOPLE, WHO DISPITE POPULAR OPINION HAS REMAIN TRUE TO THE LAWS OF GOD….
STORY:::: PROFESSOF AND THE STUDENT THE CHARK TEST
HOW MANY OF YOU BELIVED THAT THERE IS A GOD RASE YOUR HAND.. ABOUT ½ WELL WE ARE GIONG TO TEST TO SEE IF IT SO FINISH STORY::
HOW MANY OF US WOULD STAN UP FOR JESUS AT THE COST OF OUR LIFE. IT IS A HARD QUESTION, BUT SOME DAY YOU WILL HAVE TO ANSWER IT.
IN THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY SISTER WHITE WRITES
THE SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE AND CONFORMILY WAS RESTRAINED FOR A TIME BY THE FIERCE PERSECUTIONS, WHICH THE CHURCH ENDURED UNDER PAGANISM.
BUT AS PERSCUTION CEASED, AND CHRISTIANITY ENTERED THE COURTS AND PALACES OF KINGS.
SHE LAID ASIDE THE HUMBLE SIMPLICITY OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES, FOR THE POMP AND PRIDE OF PAGAN PRIESTS AND RULERS.
AND IN PLACE OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF GOD SHE SUBSTITUTED HUMAN THEORIES AND TRADITRONS…
IN EVERY AGE THERE WERE WITNESSES FOR GOD. MEN WHO CHERISHED FAITH IN CHRIST AS THE ONLY MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.
WHO HELD THE BIBLE AS THE ONLY RULE OF LIFE…?
IS THIRE ENY REASION TO FEAR TO DAY WHAT MEN MY SAY OR DO
WE ARE THE GENORATION THAT WILL SOON SEE ALL THE PROPHCY FORFILL
THE BIBLE SAID, “AS IT WAS IT THE DAYS OF NOAH SO SHALL IT BE IN THE END”
THE WORLD DID NOT BELIVIED WHAT NOAH TOLD THEM
SO IT WILL NOT BELIVIED WHAT WE WILL SAY
THE FACT IS GOD TOLD NOAH TO PREACH, AND HE DID FOR 120 YEAR
WARNE THE PEOPLE OF WHAT IS TO COME..
GOD HAS TOLD US TO PREACH TO THIS END TIME PEOPLE WARNE THEM OF WHAT IS SOON COMING, SO THAT THIRE BLOOD MAY NOT BE ON OUR HEADS.
We may Plan for our Future in many different ways, but when you don’t see it going the way you would like it, don’t be discourage.
God may have another plan in mind for you much better then you could imagine
he just needs people who are willing to be used and are willing to be different.
God Bless
Elder Tim McNab
Believe also in Me
John 14: 1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
There was once a tightrope walker who was crossing Niagara Falls. After he had held the crowds spellbound with his daring act, he asked, How many of you believe I could cross the tightrope again, this time Blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow with someone riding in it.
The crowds applauded.
They were sure he could do it. But then he said, Who will volunteer to ride the wheelbarrow?
There was a vast silence.
The audience had just been reminded of the vital difference between belief and trust! It’s one thing to believe that the wheelbarrow would make it safety across the Falls. It’s quite another thing to put your own life on the line.
Total Trust is putting one foot forward and walking with both eyes closed
Faith is like thread
One peace all by its self can not do much, but each time Faith is used it becomes stronger Until that thread becomes a rope, a life line to Jesus
Faith still trusts God even when things don’t work out the way we want them to.
It’s easy to trust God when life is going smoothly. The real test of faith comes when our prayers seem unanswered.
The Lord would have you trust in his love and mercy amid clouds and darkness as well as in the sunshine.
KNOWING GOD RESULTS IN TRUSTING GOD.
IF YOU DON’T KNOW HIM, YOU WON’T TRUST HIM.
IF YOU DON’T TRUST HIM, IT IS BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW HIM.
Let us Pray!
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Several years ago some visitors to the US Mint in Philadelphia listened to a worker in the foundry area. The man said that if you first dip your hand into a bucket of water, a small ladle of molten metal could be poured over the palm of your hand and it would not burn you. The worker said, “Do you believe that?” Well, they all believed that. “Who would like to try it?” A man stood there and said: “Not me!” “I’ll take your word for it.” The workman turned to the man’s wife, and said: “Perhaps you would like to try it?” She said, “Certainly.” She put her hand in the bucket of water and calmly held it out while the hot metal was poured over her hand. And it didn’t hurt. I don’t think she held that molten metal very long. Now, don’t go try this. Both the husband and the wife believed. Was there a difference in their belief? Only the wife trusted completely. You may say she was a fool for doing that. If you trust Jesus completely you’re not a fool. That’s the type of trust that it going to take to be saved. That’s the type of belief that it take to be saved.
You’ve got to completely trust your life to Him and totally believe in Him; His perfect life will be accounted to you in place of your imperfect life. You will be saved by His blood. Jesus’ righteousness will be freely given to everybody who really and truly believe in Jesus. We are saved not by works but by faith, belief, and trust. This is called grace. That is called the good news.
John 14:
1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2: In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
It is one thing to Believe something is going to happen, but quite another thing to totally put you Truth and Faith ahead of you belief and see it fulfillment
AFTER A FEW OF THE USUAL SABBATH EVENING HYMNS, THE CHURCH’S PASTOR SLOWLY STOOD UP, WALKED OVER TO THE PULPIT AND, BEFORE HE GAVE HIS SERMON FOR THE EVENING, HE BRIEFLY INTRODUCED A GUEST MINISTER WHO WAS IN THE SERVICE THAT EVENING.
IN THE INTRODUCTION, THE PASTOR TOLD THE CONGREGATION THAT THE GUEST MINISTER WAS ONE OF HIS DEAREST CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AND THAT HE WANTED HIM TO HAVE A FEW MOMENTS TO GREET THE CHURCH AND SHARE WHATEVER HE FELT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE FOR THE SERVICE. WITH THAT, AN ELDERLY MAN STEPPED UP TO THE PULPIT AND BEGAN TO SPEAK.’
A FATHER, HIS SON, AND A FRIEND OF HIS SON WERE SAILING OFF THE PACIFIC COAST,’ HE BEGAN. ‘WHEN A FAST APPROACHING STORM BLOCKED ANY ATTEMPT TO GET BACK TO THE SHORE. ‘THE WAVES WERE SO HIGH, THAT EVEN THOUGH THE FATHER WAS AN EXPERIENCED SAILOR, HE COULD NOT KEEP THE BOAT UPRIGHT AND THE THREE WERE SWEPT INTO THE OCEAN AS THE BOAT CAPSIZED.’
THE OLD MAN HESITATED FOR A MOMENT, MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH TWO TEENAGERS WHO WERE, FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE SERVICE BEGAN, LOOKING SOMEWHAT INTERESTED IN HIS STORY.
THE AGED MINISTER CONTINUED WITH HIS STORY,’GRABBING A RESCUE LINE, THE FATHER HAD TO MAKE THE MOST EXCRUCIATING DECISION OF HIS LIFE: TO WHICH BOY WOULD HE THROW THE OTHER END OF THE LIFE LINE.
‘HE ONLY HAD SECONDS TO MAKE THE DECISION. ‘THE FATHER KNEW THAT HIS SON WAS A CHRISTIAN AND HE, ALSO, KNEW THAT HIS SON’S FRIEND WAS NOT.
‘THE AGONY OF HIS DECISION COULD NOT BE MATCHED BY THE TORRENT OF WAVES. ‘AS THE FATHER YELLED OUT, “I LOVE YOU, SON!” HE THREW OUT THE LIFE LINE TO HIS SON’S FRIEND. ‘BY THE TIME THE FATHER HAD PULLED THE FRIEND BACK TO THE CAPSIZED BOAT, HIS SON HAD DISAPPEARED BENEATH THE RAGING SWELLS INTO THE BLACK OF NIGHT. HIS BODY WAS NEVER RECOVERED.’
BY THIS TIME, THE TWO TEENAGERS WERE SITTING UP STRAIGHT IN THE PEW,
ANXIOUSLY WAITING FOR THE NEXT WORDS TO COME OUT OF THE OLD MINISTER’S MOUTH.
‘THE FATHER,’ HE CONTINUED, ‘KNEW HIS SON WOULD STEP INTO ETERNITY WITH JESUS AND HE COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT OF HIS SON’S FRIEND STEPPING INTO AN ETERNITY WITHOUT JESUS…
THEREFORE, HE SACRIFICED HIS SON TO SAVE THE SON’S FRIEND.
‘HOW GREAT IS THE LOVE OF GOD THAT HE SHOULD DO THE SAME FOR US. OUR HEAVENLY FATHER SACRIFICED HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WE COULD BE SAVED.
I URGE YOU TO ACCEPT HIS OFFER TO RESCUE YOU AND TAKE A HOLD OF THE LIFE LINE HE IS THROWING OUT TO YOU IN THIS SERVICE.’
WITH THAT, THE OLD MAN TURNED AND SAT BACK DOWN IN HIS CHAIR AS SILENCE FILLED THE ROOM.
THE PASTOR AGAIN WALKED SLOWLY TO THE PULPIT AND DELIVERED A BRIEF SERMON WITH AN INVITATION AT THE END. HOWEVER, NO ONE RESPONDED TO THE APPEAL. WITHIN MINUTES AFTER THE SERVICE ENDED, THE TWO TEENAGERS WERE AT THE OLD MAN’S SIDE.
‘THAT WAS A NICE STORY,’ POLITELY STATED ONE OF THEM,’BUT I DON’T THINK IT WAS VERY REALISTIC FOR A FATHER TO GIVE UP HIS ONLY SON’S LIFE IN HOPES THAT THE OTHER BOY WOULD BECOME A CHRISTIAN.’
‘WELL, YOU’VE GOT A POINT THERE,’ THE OLD MAN REPLIED, GLANCING DOWN AT HIS WORN BIBLE. A BIG SMILE BROADENED HIS NARROW FACE. HE ONCE AGAIN LOOKED UP AT THE BOYS AND SAID, ‘IT SURE ISN’T VERY REALISTIC, IS IT? BUT, I’M STANDING HERE TODAY TO TELL YOU THAT STORY GIVES ME A GLIMPSE OF WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR GOD TO GIVE UP HIS SON FOR ME.
YOU SEE… ‘I WAS THAT FATHER AND YOUR PASTOR IS MY SON’S FRIEND.’
I WOULD RATHER LIVE MY LIFE AS IF THERE IS A GOD AND DIE TO FIND OUT
THERE ISN’T, THAN LIVE MY LIFE AS IF THERE ISN’T AND DIE TO FIND OUT THERE IS.
Several years ago two ships collided. It happened far out in the calm quiet Atlantic Ocean on a dark foggy night. The smaller ship with two hundred and six people on board sank within thirty minutes. Immediately the larger ship put out life boats to retrieve the passengers who were floating in the calm sea.
Only thirty four were found!? They were all picked up and saved. At first it seemed a great mystery why a hundred seventy two people were lost and so few were saved. The problem was not a lack of life jackets or life boats.
** I don’t know if any of you have ever been in a collision, things happen so fast that you don’t always get time to think about them or think about what to do. You just do them.
I was once on a ship that had a collision with another ship many years ago. We too did not have time to think, We knew that our ship was going down and we needed to get off and off fast. So when the Captain gave the order to abandon ship that is what we did, with in fifteen minutes the ship sunk, but all of our lives were saved, only because everyone followed the Captains orders.
But there was a different problem here on this ship, the people heard the Captain order, but many did not want to go when the call to abandon ship was giving. Why?
What in this world would keep you on a sinking Ship? The order is giving get off, Abandon ship and save your life. What’s keeping you from getting in the lifeboat?
Later it was found that the primary reason so few were saved was that most if not all of them had busied themselves during those last thirty minutes in seizing their gold and silver and securing it to their clothes or belting it around their waist.
They were weighted down and unable to remain afloat until the rescue boats could reach them. They lost both their life and their money. They were Jeopardized by greed.
What hinders you today from giving Christ your all?
Cast off the carnal things that weigh you down. Many of good Christians are like a waterlogged raft, they are just barely afloat. They have soaked up so much worldliness and are so absorbed with little sinful traits that it is almost impossible for them to be towed into the heavenly harbor.
Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Sorry: but you can’t have your pie and eat it too. No heart can mature two crops at the same time. We must decide which is more important.
Immerse yourself in Jesus. Lighten your load of temporal doodads. Give Jesus your total heart and sole and stop living your life in a world that is dying because the temporal reward looks great.
Just remember the word temporal means just that. “temporary, brief, short lived”.
When an immigrant comes to America, before He or She can become a citizen they must renounce all commitments and allegiance to their former homeland and pledge one hundred percent allegiance to America. Then and only then will the U.S. Government grant citizenship.
That’s the way it is with Jesus. When you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, you renounce Satan completely. You can’t “split time” by serving Satan part-time and Christ part-time.
For a Christian there can be no moonlighting with the world.
It is impossible to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. Very quickly you would have to do the splits because the path of the church and the world are zeroing in at two very different destinations. One is eternal Life the other is eternal destruction.
Like a boat leaving the dock, you can’t have one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock for very long or you will end up in the drink.
An individual who divides his heart between God and the world will eventually be wholehearted for the world and fainthearted for God! You can’t dine at the Devils table on Friday and at the Lord’s table on Sabbath. You can’t sing “All The Way” in the pew and swear at the fax machine at work.
Luke 14:33: In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
We must be willing to give up everything. You can’t hold onto the world and its knickknacks with all your strength and equally hold onto Jesus.
You can’t get your high from Jesus on Sabbath and get your “High” from drugs on Saturday night.
Brown-nosing with Satan when you are with the crowd and pretending at church makes you a hypocrite!
1 Thessalonians 5:23: May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus wants us one hundred percent, Completely, Totally, All or nothing
I remember as a boy in Honduras we drove across the country to visit some friends, I reckon we hadn’t gone a stone’s throw before we came to a vacant lot. The problem was that it had not been empty long, just a few days before a family had lived there in a home. My Uncle said, “Boy, they moved out fast and took everything!” The clothes-line was gone, the mail box, and even the dog house was gone they were out of there completely. I said man it looks like they took the very dirt.
Then I came here to the US and found out that when people here move out they take the Very light bulbs out before leaving.
Look what Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strength me.
Isaiah 29:13: God says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me
We sing songs like “I’ll go where you want me to go Dear Lord… I’ll do what you want me to do…
But don’t ask me to sing in the choir or play the hand bells, or teach in the little kid’s department or help with VacationBibleSchool or sit on a committee. I just want to sit among the saints. I don’t want to be involved to much, I just don’t have the time!”
God’s yardstick is total devotion or none at all. We modern Christians come to the celestial check out lane and when we reach the cash register we say,
“I would like to buy about three dollars worth of God please.
- I don’t want enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep.
- I don’t want enough to make me love people I don’t like.
- I want gladness but not transformation.
- I want the warmth of the womb, but not the new birth.
- I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
- I want a sprinkling but not an immersion.
- I want a taste of God but not a total meal.
- I want to sample Jesus but not be over involved.
- I want to do God’s will as long as it doesn’t interfere with what I am doing.
David eventually became a man after God’s heart by going all the way with total commitment.
Psalms 119:2 David says: Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
Those who seek him with all their heart!
I’ve had a lot of people come and say, I just can’t get victory over sin. I’m trying to be a good Christian and I just can’t do it. How do I get strength to live the Christian life?”
( Stop Trying )
I’ll tell you how to get Christian strength. You seek it with all your heart. You’re going to get what you’re really seeking.” If you go at it with all your heart you will find it.
God is there waiting, reaching out to take your hand.
Pray and when you finish praying pray somemore. Jesus is not tired of hearing your pray, or your request, he is willing to do what every it take to help you, he proved it by dying for you on the Cross.
Revelations:3: 14: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
God wants your heart, the whole heart, and nothing but the whole heart. He wants all of you or he doesn’t want you at all. Lock, stock, and barrel commitment is what God is looking for in His people in these last days.
Unless you love Him totally, you do not love Him at all. There is no such thing as lukewarm commitment. If you don’t crown Him Lord of All, you really do not crown Him at All.
Notice that our heavenly Father does not expect what He is not willing to give. Does God give totally? Does He? Yes, He does.
Does He give half-way? Do we have a part time daddy? Our awesome God gives totally! The bible is full of examples of how God give totally.
Let’s look and see!
Luke 8:48: And He said unto her, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” (NIV)
Does God heal us half-way? No. He heals us all the way. Her faith had made her whole. She was not healed half- way she was healed completely by her faith in the one who could give healing.
When Jesus died on the cross, He totally paid for all my sins. His forgiveness is absolute. God’s healing power is unbounded. When we all get to heaven, we will be given access to the immeasurable universe.
He’s not going to say,
“Well, I’ll just give you a little bit of heaven.
I’ll give you just a touch of it.” No!
Does He give us just a sample of heaven? No!
He gives us the whole thing. It’s ours completely, all of it!
We will be able to fly. We don’t need to have reservations. We just go to all these other worlds. Every corner of the universe is yours to explore. He doesn’t hold back. Total freedom to go and come, to observe all that He has created.
We can obtain a knowledge that exhaustively takes in the alpha to the omega of the universe. We can fly at more than the speed of light and picnic in a far off corner of the universe. We have unlimited access.
But to completely experience the joys of heaven then, you need to be totally committed to Jesus Christ today. Without that total commitment you won’t be there.
Now you could say, “Well, I attend church on Sabbath morning. I’m here. I’m sitting in the pew. But when I go home, I don’t dress like I dressed here. In fact I put on some of the world, you know. I start acting like the world. Swear words occasionally come out. That’s not total commitment is it. When you are total committed you are committed 24hr a day.
Let’s suppose you are going to get Married but before getting Married you’re soon to be tell you
“I’ll be true to you ninety nine percent of the time.” That would be pretty good, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t that be great? “Ninety nine percent of the time I’ll be true to you. I will.” How many of you would accept that? And yet we expect God to accept that, don’t we?
What does the Scriptures say we need to do:
Ephesians 6:11. Put on the partial armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Is that what it says? “Put on the whole armor of God.” Partial of anything may not be sufficient to keep you safe.
The young David was able to slay Goliath because the giant did not use the whole armor. Where did that little stone find its mark? It sank into his forehead.
Where was his shield that came over his face, or his helmet? Where was the shield that his shield-bearer should have had? They were missing.
He was not wearing one, he did not feel the need to put it on, after all Davit was just a little small boy, not very big at all, what could he do to a Giant like Goliath
Goliath didn’t have the whole armor and so he died, you cannot become a Christian today without the whole armor of God or you too will die.
One little loophole was all it took for David’s stone to transform the mammoth monster into a dead dwarf.
Don’t ever think satin is not taking aim! He wants nothing more then to keep you from a total commitment to Jesus. Satin does not care if you have a 70%, 80%, 90% or even a 99% commitment to Jesus. He just wants to keep you from having a 100% commitment
There is no such thing as half-and-half unless you get it at Wal-Mart. In Christ there is a hundred percent or nothing.
STOEY: A Hog and Chicken sets a good example.
Visualize a chicken and a pig vacationing together. They travel for many miles and many hours. Finally they get hungry. The sharp-eyed chicken spots a restaurant. Approaching the door, they read a sign which says, “Ham and Eggs: Our Specialty!” “Hold it!” oinked the pig. “What’s the matter?” clucked the chicken. “Plenty,” said the hog. “All they want from you is a little compromise. They are asking me for total commitment!” That’s exactly what God wants.
How do you have a great marriage? You are totally committed to it. These are marriages that last seventy-five years, those people are committed to it. Commitment! That’s what we need to pray for.
When a little trouble comes to a great marriage, when both of them are committed to it, they’re going to stick with it. They’re not going to run.
Mark 8:34–36 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
A few years ago a super fast concord jet was zooming off the runway in Paris, France, with its load of passengers. Everything was going fine. Do you realize that the pilot of a jet aircraft comes to a point of no return on that runway.
It gets going so fast that you cross a line where you have to decide to “fly or stop”. Once you cross that line you have no choice but to fly or to crash. The pilot of that fast jet came to that line. It seems that when he came to that point, a tire blew out and large chunks crashed into the fuel tank. The plane took off in a fireball and crashed in an explosion.
Unfortunately, churches are filled with many members who have never left the ground. They have been sitting on a spiritual runway for years and years gunning their spiritual engines but they never really reaching the point of total commitment, that line that you must cross as a Christian or you are not going to make it.
You cannot stay on the runway and reach heaven at the same time. You’ve got to get committed and get off, take off.
Philippians 3:7,8. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Praise God for Paul! That’s beautiful!
What is man’s greatest possession? I would submit to you that man’s greatest possession is a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the greatest thing you can have all else is rubbish.
Jesus wants you totally: Hook, Line, and Sinker and that is another Sermon.
Do you want Him with all your might? Just pray this little prayer: “Dear God, you be the needle and I’ll be the thread. You go first and I’ll follow wherever you may lead.” That’s what thread does.
***In the beginning of this sermon I ask you a question!***
What in this world would keep you on a sinking Ship? The order is giving get off, Abandon ship and save your life. What is keeping you from getting into the gates of Heaven?
An old song goes like this: “I Surrender.. how much? All.” Yielding totally to Jesus. Another song says – “All The Way My Savior Leads me!” Are you willing to go all the way with Jesus?
The ship is sinking and there is not much time left, what are you going to do! The longer you wait the lest chance you miget have.
I pray that today you will give Jesus a chance, a chance to save you from a sinking world. Jesus said in Matthew:11:28: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
In Noah time only he and his family were saved God was giving a warning to the people of Noah’s time for 120 years, telling them the ship was sinking. Get into the safety of God provision but no one believed what the man of God was preaching. The same is with our World today, God has done all he can do to save you, but the choice is your.
I pray that God will be with you as you decide today if you are staying on board this sinking ship or if you are following the command to get off this sinking World and into the hands of a God that loves you.
God Bless
Elder Tim McNab
Mothers Day 2013
My Mean Mother
Lyn Chatman tells her story of growing up.
She says by far we had the meanest Mother the world ever know.
Mother did not believe in someone sitting idle with nothing to do, so everyone had there jobs around the house, we worked.
We had a TV but it was only for watching the news, Mother would always say it was Satan time piece and that it was better to read a good book and use ones mind.
When we got home from school Mother made us do all our home work first before we could do anything else.
Many of times some of my friends would ask me to come over to there house after school and chill and have some fun, but I would tell them I can’t I have to get home and they would always laugh and ask if I was always punished.
Mother insisted that we went to Church and be on time, if you missed you better know you were sick, because if you were not sick, you were when Mother finished giving you medicine
My life growing up was hard and it did not get any better as a teenager, if I went out with some of my friends, Mother had to know who, and where we was going and how long we would be.
If someone came to pick me up there was no meeting them in there car outside, they had to come inside and talk to Mother.
By far the worse part was Mother dead line to be home at 11 O’clock and not a second later. Most of my friends would say man the party does not start to 1am.
As time went on my friends and I drew apart, drifted in different direction and there was no one to blame but my mean Mother.
I went on to collage and got a degree, most of my old friends went to jail and some of the others were killed in gang fighting.
Through the years I look back at those days and thank God that I had a mean Mother who loved me so much to care about me.
I find now that I am also a mean Mother who Loves and cares about her children.
Let us Prayer and thanks God today for Mothers!
———————————————————-
There was a little girl, age eight, Diane.
She wrote a little note and handed it to her mother,
“I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother’s Day. I picked them myself out of Mr. Smith garden when wasn’t looking”. Good intentions, but villainous methodology.
A mother is someone who can love and reward the good intentions of a child’s best efforts. (EG White) says: “No other work can equal (the work of the mother) in importance.”
Lets pretend that we are in need of a mother and we are going to run an add in the news paper What are we going to be looking for.
Needed one hard working Woman to rise and bare children must also double as a part time made.
For most of us the Mother is a 24 hour on call live in made.
She must be on call rain or shine, and sick leave is not option
There are many things we have in this world that we take for granted but none so much as our mothers.
Job Requirement:
Must be On Call 24 hours a day
Medical back ground a plus, but on the Job training can will be provided.
Teacher
Taxi Driver
Banker
Baker
Cook
Cleaner
Washer
Seamstress
And a reminder of thing to be done
No Vacations, No pay and little or no admiration
A mother is one that when we are sick can make us feel better, a Mothers her baby is the most pretty in the world.
Have any of you ever been visited by an angel? I am sure you have, many times unknown.
One day the angel of the Lord said to Mary: The Lord is with you! God was pledging Himself to guide this mother. God does that for every Christian mother.
The Lord was with Mary. Who was Mary?
This Mother was entrusted with the most importance job of all Mothers;
She was giving the task of raising Gods Son.
Mothers you will never be a Success unless God is with you. Success comes from above.
There was a mother name of Monica.
When her son became a teenager it was like living with a total stranger.
Then her son broke her heart by leaving the church. After much conflict he finally ran away and took up with some local scum of the earth.
His Mother continued to pray for her son. She found out that her son planned to sail to Italy in a great ship and live with some buddies in a life of sin.
She pleaded for him not to go. But he went anyway. Once in Italy he met AMBROSE and he led him to Christ.
In rising Children I can understand this, how when they become teenagers they turn on you.
I too growing up were not my Mother best son
Mothers all you can do is pray, and pray, and pray God hears the prays of faithful Mothers and Fathers
Mothers, pray for your children. Even when it seems that your prayers are not being answered, don’t give up praying for your son or your daughter.
Never give up. Remain on your knees. You may be the only person praying for your child.
Mary was a mother of prayer.
LUKE 1:46–55 Records one of the beautiful prayers of Mary which she sang as a song to God.
Here are the actual words written by Jesus own mother. This is a spectacular prayer.
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Obviously Mary knew God in the depths of her heart.
If you are to be a success as a mother you must be a Mother of prayer.
No wonder Jesus did so well. His Mother was a woman of prayer before she had Jesus.
Blessed are the children whose mothers & Fathers go to church and are an example for them to follow
Luke 2:27 pictures Jesus parents going into the temple as the custom was.
Mary was a church going mother. She and her husband spent the full number of days at the Passover.
They went to camp meeting and attended as many as possible. They went in for all they could get out of the worship experience.
MARY LOST JESUS TWICE!
And both times she lost Him for 3 days!
Once at the temple when they thought he was with relatives. This shows that Jesus had relatives who also went to church. Godly aunts, uncles, grandmothers!
The second time she lost Jesus was when He was on the cross. Gone from her Three days.
It is hard to lose your son when you are already a widow.
Jesus showed His love for his Mother by placing her into the care of one of His disciples.
Mary risked her life to be with her Son there by the cross. This shows MARY WAS A LOVING MOTHER.
Mothers; love your children. Your children need your love.
Barbara Barton was a loving mother. She lived in Oregon and delivered TWINS in 1994.
She refused treatment for leukemia during her pregnancy because that could have harmed her babies.
She died Jan. 22, 1995 leaving behind her husband, twins and a 4-year old daughter. She, like all true mothers, placed her children above her own life.
Mothers are special. Their love is priceless.
Back in the old days the UPS delivery drivers had to get your signature before they could drop off a package.
Now they just leave it there and the dogs shred it and eat it up.
One day the driver knocked on the door and a little boy answered.
HI, Little fellow. Are you all alone? Yes, Mom is in the hospital and me and my brother and my 2 little sisters and my daddy, we are here all alone!
When the mother is gone, you are all alone!
The mother makes the house into a home, and Jesus makes the lady into a great mother.
Invite Jesus into your heart. Jesus will make you into a woman of integrity. Your children will be blessed.
With Jesus in the Mothers heart—you will have a happy home.
Look at what is said in Proverbs 31 said about Mothers
Proverbs 31:
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
There was a woman in the Bible named Hannah who had no Children
Understand the setting of Hannah’s times, the glory of a Woman was to bare Children to her Husband,
Woman who had no Children were looked down upon and made fun of.
Hannah was a woman that feared God and gave him glory and praise, but for some reason God had shut her womb
Finish the Story of Samuel
What are you going to do for Mothers Day? Maybe do the one year visit at the nursing home to see if the old girl is still alive.
Send a Card saying happy Mothers day and sign your name
Send some Flowers
Call on the phone…..
STORY: Mother & the Rat My story when I was growing up
My Mother had passed away for almost 25 years now. If I could do one thing, I would like to thanks her for all the tears she Cried, and ask her to forgive for all the hurt I caused.
I would like to hug her and tell her something I never said to her while she was alive.
Mom I love you! Thanks for being the best Mother…..For it was her prayers that helped me to find Jesus…
Truth about Lot’s Wife
Luke:17: 32: Remember Lot’s wife.
What was it about Lot’s Wife that Jesus would tell us to remember?
The world sometimes seams up-side down, so before we begin we need to ask Gods Blessing on what is the true meaning of what He said about Remember Lot’s wife
First we need to understand the story about Lot and his family so let’s go to the book of Genesis and start with Chapter 13:
7: And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
8: And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
9: Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
Abram was Lots uncle and together God had blessed them to the point that everything they had was too large for them to dwell together. So Abram said to Lot choose where you want to live, how wonderful was Lot’s uncle to give him first choice of all the land before them.
10: And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
11: Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
12: Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
Here we are told that Lot decided that he would dwell close to the big City of Sodom, but what did God say about Sodom.
13: But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
Lot seen and knew about how wicked that city was but he believed that he could gain advantage by living there and maybe convert some of the people as well.
Sometime it’s not good to live in or near a big city, why because little by little Satan will use the things of pleasure to lure you or your family away from God and away from the truth.
Now understand that it is not Gods will that any should die but there are times when God must put a check on sin or it would destroy the world before its time. The City of Sodom was known for its wickedness and the time of probation for that City was drawing to and end. They were giving time to repent of all the Evil that was done in that great City, but there passion for sin was great.
Genesis: 18
16: And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17: And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
20: And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21: I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22: And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
We are told that these men were Angles that were with Jesus; they went on there way to Sodom while the Lord and Abraham stayed behind.
Genesis: 19
1: And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
2: And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
God will never force His way into your home, he comes in only when He is invited into your home. Lot did not know at first these men were angles, he like many good men in his time, it was customary to watch by the gate for strangers coming into the city and invite them in to his home. Lot also knew the wickedness in the city at night and did not want these strangers to meet any harm, so he invited them into the safety of his home.
12: And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
The angles reveal to Lot there mission and give him warning to get out of the city because it will soon be destroyed. God will again in the last days give his people warning to get out of the Cities to a place of safety that He will provide for all who put there faith in him.
14: And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
Lot returned sorrowfully to his home and told the story of his failure. Then the angels bade him arise and take his wife and the two daughters who were yet in his house and leave the city. But Lot delayed.
Though daily distressed at beholding deeds of violence, he had no true conception of the debasing and abominable iniquity practiced in that vile city. He did not realize the terrible necessity for God’s judgments to put a check on sin. Some of his children clung to Sodom, and his wife refused to depart without them.
Lot like all true Christians did not loose his faith or belief in God even surrounded with all the evil and sin, he kept his eyes on God; but he did became unalarmed by all the vice in the city. By beholding we become changed, this is why we must guard the avenues of our minds, we must be carful of the things we watch and do as they will change us. Lot had hopped to turn others in Sodom to the one and true God, but in fact he ended up loosing his own family to the pleasure of Sin. We need to be carful of what we let our Children do and see as it will someday make a difference in there life, if they will or will not obey God and live or serve Satan and die.
17: And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Is it importance to listen when God is giving instructions, when he tells you to do or not to do something in a cretin way. We might not understand the reason why God said to do something, but we need to make sure we do precisely to the T on how God said to do it. Remember Adam & Eve it was just a piece of fruit that’s all, but it was a piece of Fruit that God said don’t eat it for in the day you eat of it you will die. When God tells you to do something, do it according to His very word, when God says to remember something make sure you never forget it, it could save your life.
24: Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
25: And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
The thought of leaving those whom he held dearest on earth seemed more than he could bear. It was hard to forsake his luxurious home and all the wealth acquired by the labors of his whole life, to go forth a destitute wanderer. Stupefied with sorrow, he lingered, loath to depart. But if it was not for the angels of God, they would all have perished in the ruin of Sodom. The heavenly messengers took him and his wife and daughters by the hand and led them out of the city.
26: But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
So here is the reason Jesus said remember Lot’s wife. She was instructed like Lot and his two daughters not to look back. God did everything He could to save her; all she needed to do was to obey His command. But the question is why did she looked back, did she for get something. In fact she did she left her heart there in Sodom, even thro her body was safe and on the outside of Sodom, her heart was on the things she left behind.
While her body was upon the plain, her heart clung to Sodom, and she perished with it. She rebelled against God because His judgments involved her possessions and her children in the ruin. Although so greatly favored in being called out from the wicked city, she felt that she was severely dealt with, because the wealth that it had taken years to accumulate must be left to destruction. Instead of thankfully accepting deliverance, she presumptuously looked back to desire the life of those who had rejected the divine warning. Her sin showed her to be unworthy of eternal life, for the preservation of which she felt so little gratitude. We should beware of treating lightly on God’s gracious provisions for our salvation
How sad when the children of the Father loose there hold on faith because of the trinkets of this world. When they would rather choose the pleasures of Sin for a season rather then eternal life with the God who loves them enough to die for them. Lot did all that a Father could do for his family, he was a man of faith, a man of purity, a man of prayers; but to his children and Wife he was only a foolish old man. To the world God people will look like foolish people because they will be different, they would choose the things of heaven over the pleasures of Sin in this world. They would choose to server God rather then Satan, they will be the ones doing what God said to do, John:14:15: If ye love me, keep my commandments.
We must learn that there is nothing in this life more important then to serve the God who created us. Adam lost his grip on faith when Eve sinned and he chose to Sin with her rather then to be separated from her. He could not see Gods divine plan for mankind with out Eve, so rather then wait for God he too decided to join Eve in her act of rebellion and disobeying Gods divine instructions.
Now let’s look at the words of Jesus in the book of Luke
Luke:17:
28: Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29: But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
God is telling us that this world is becoming a city of sin just like Sodom and soon his judgment will fall on all who have choosing to disobey His Laws His Commandments. It is not His will that any should be lost because He paid the price for all by His death on the cross. To be lost in Sin is a personal choice, it is a choice you make to turn your back on the truth and be lost in this world of Sin. Just because you go to Church does not give you a free ticket into heaven, remember Lot’s Wife. She was safe outside but her heart was still there in Sodom.
Let’s look again at the story Jesus was telling in the book of Matthew
Story about 10 Virgins Matthew 25:
1: Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2: And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3: They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5: While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Now let’s understand the setting of the story, this illustration is about Gods Church. Why I say that is because it is about Woman who are Virgins. A woman in the Bible represents as a Church, and a Virgin Woman would be GodsChurch.
6: And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
The Bride Groom represents Jesus coming back for His people
7: Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8: And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9: But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
What does oil represent in the Bible, Gods Holy Spirit that is correct.
10: And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
So here we find only half of God Church were keeping His laws and commandments and so they had more of the oil that only God can supply, His Holy Spirit. The other half of the so called Christians had some oil but when the time came they ran short on the oil that would keep there light burning. That light my friend is Jesus as long as we are looking at Jesus and keeping His word that light will guide us safely to Him. John:17: 7: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. Psalme:119: 105: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
All who will have the Oil of the Holy Spirit will have enough that there light will keep burning and keep them on the right path to Jesus. But we must learn now that we need to Obey Gods and do what he told us to do. It is very important to follow Gods word and do as He told us to do and not the world. Isaiah:8:20: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. The only truth there is, is in God word, don’t let someone fool you and say it is OK to forget what God say to remember.
11: Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12: But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Friend the story here in not about people who do not know Jesus, the story is about God Church. The problem again is those who believe and do what God said to do; and those who believe and do what the world said to do.
There is a danger and Jesus is giving us a warren that we will become like Lots wife. When the time comes and the message to leave our homes and things of this world, will you be lost or saved. Will you be one of the Christians who keep the commandments of God, or the traditions of your Church, there is a big different.
Do not let the things of this world keep you from eternal life with Jesus, when he said to remember Lot’s wife He was telling us to take care and listen to the Holy Spirit. Read everyday in Gods word; asking for God’s Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth. Obey His commandments not your Church doctrines. The Church doctrines will lead you to disobey; but Gods Word will supply you with enough oil to get you through the night and into the Wedding feast. Obey and don’t look back at the cities when God is telling you to get out.
Exodus 20: 8-11 Again God says to remember, but many of the Churches today say it is OK to forget.
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Right in the middle of Gods Ten Commandments we find the word REMEMBER. And who is telling us to remember God is, and what is He saying to remember, His Law His commandments. When God said to remember he was telling us to look back at the past to find out what He said to remember.
Genesis: 2:
1: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3: And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Right there in the very beginning of creation, God did something wonderful, He blessed the last day of creation and made it holy. Then He tells us to Remember what He God did in the beginning, so you would have no drought of where you came from.
Look at how the Bible describes the Church at the end of time, he calls it Laodiceans and says it is in a Luke Warm stage Revelations: 3:
14: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
With God there is no in-between, you are either all for God or you will be all against God. There will be no one sitting on the fence with one leg in both sides.
Matther:6:
24: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
The Truth is that many Christians today are no different then Lot’s Wife. They have a form of Godliness on the outside but want the goods of this world on the inside. They are not cold but they are not hot either; they are kind of right there in the middle, (Luke Warm). That my friend is a dangerous place to be in the present of the almighty God of all creation
In the end time there will be only two choices to make; those who keep God Commandments, and those who do not keep God commandments. What side will you be on?
Revelation 14:
12: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Who is Satan persecution, There will only be two choices.
Revelation:12:17: And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
God is telling us by His prophet John that Satan will be angry with the small group (remnant ) of true Christians who refused to disobey God. Then Satan will make war with Gods true Christians and persecute them through the others so called Christians who have compromised with the world and trample down the truth of Gods Word.
But I tell you a truth my friend, don’t be afraid, just have faith because God will be with His true people. He will lead them through time of trouble just like He did for the children of Israel. For 40 years God provide everything they needed in the wilderness and God will again provide for His end time people who have left Sodom for the safety of His provisions.
Don’t take lightly what God is telling you to do, and don’t think because some Church tradition or big religious leader is saying it is OK to do contrary to what God said is OK.
Out of all of Lot’s family only He and two of his children were saved, everyone one else was lost.
Remember also Noah, God gave him a massage to preach to the world of the soon coming destruction, but no one believed him. It did not stop Noah because he believed Gods word and when the time came to make a choice to enter into Gods provision of safety only 8 people were saved Genesis:7: 16: And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
God shut him in and probation for this world ended. God will again shut His true believers in and away from the destruction that is coming upon this world. Because they will be the ones who made the choice to do according to His commands and to keep His word as a light unto the path that will lead to salvation.
Luke: 21:
25: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26: Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27: And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28: And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
My friend what side will you be on, I pray that you will choose to keep Gods Law and His commandments all ten of them and not the 9 that the Churches of this world are saying it is OK to keep.
Revelation:14:7: Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Right there in the last book of the New Testament it is telling us to Worship the God who back in Genesis Created this world, the same God who in the 4th commandment made the made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. What should you be doing, what God said to do, or what your Church is saying to do. Remember Lot’s Wife and obey the command of a God who loves you so much He came to die in your place in order to give you eternal life with His in a paradise kingdom that He is preparing for all who by faith believe in Him.
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:
14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Read and understand what Jesus was saying, He is giving us a warning. The path that will lead you to Him is narrow and only a few only the remnant will find it.
The path that leads to Jesus is not the one that the large Churches are teaching. Remember Revelation 12: 17: The dragon went to make war with the remnant of her seed. The few that will find the straight path will be the ones keeping Gods Commandments, God’s Law, and God’s testimonies. We must learn that in order for anyone to be saved we must do what God is telling us to do and not the Church or the Church traditions. We will all stand before Jesus one day and be judge for what we know is the Truth. How will you fair on that day if you are doing something other then what Jesus has told you do.
You see we live in a World today where people say oh I am OK I am a good person I don’t hurt any one or do anything wrong. But is that enough my friend to get you in to Heave when the time comes or will you refused to leave your Sodom home.
We do things at home and watch things on TV or at the Movies, but I ask if Jesus came to live with you today would you watch them in His presents; or take Him to see that Movie. Would you say those things to your neighbor or take that thing that is not yours if Jesus was standing right there next to you.
My friend the Bible said in Proverbs:14:12: There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. We think we are OK living the way we do but we would not live that way if Jesus was standing there with us or living in our Homes. And in this scripture it is telling us that these little things may someday be the difference between us wanting to leave or holding us back in this world of Sin.
God is a God of love a God of mercy a God of justice, but you can’t disobey what He is telling you to do in order to be saved and expect to be saved. If you do; wend the time comes to leave this Sodom world you too will look back at all the treasure and things you had to leave behind and find yourself a pillar of salt outside of the Kingdom of Jesus.
We must learn to put our faith in God and God alone. You can’t go by what your Church is teaching or by what your pastor may be preaching. You must study the word of God for yourself day by day and let His Holy Spirit guide you into all Truth. As you read and pray little by little the Holy Spirit will open your understanding of Gods word. As we get closer to the time of the end there will be many deceivers in the all Churches. This is why you must know the word of God for yourself and what is says.
Yes I know what you are thinking, I can’t read that well or I can’t remember what the Bible says. That is no excuses, just believe and let God lead. Maybe you will not remember now but when the time comes God will bring back everything you have been learning to safely guide you out of Sodom. Daily Bible studies are very importance even if it is just 5min a day, devote that time and be alone with God, just obey His voice and do the things He said to do.
Look at the Bible from cover to cover and read, it is all about a God looking for a people that love Him and want to show it by doing what He God say to do. Salvation my friend is just that simple obey and live disobey and die, the same test that Adam & Eve was giving is giving to each and everyone of us today.
1Kings:18:21:How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him
I pray that today you will choose to follow God and His truth.
God Bless you my friend and may we meet someday in God kingdom
Elder Tim McNab
Restoring Gods Truth Ministries
PRISON
Why do bad things happen to Good people
Prison is not a Sermon, it is about people who are trapped within there bodies. It is my hope and desire that when you finish reading prison you will come away with a better understanding of how life is for people who are not the world’s standard of normal.
A man I know Story:
I know a Guy who is in Prison and has been there for a quite a few years. A very nice guy on the inside but was doing things he should not have been doing and was court tried and convicted. This happens sometime when we are younger and following the wrong people or the wrong group. We tend to do what they are doing to show off or just to show we are one of them. This mans life will never be the same, but he does have a choice of being able to change it. To amend for what he has done and to learn a lesson from it, then let it make a different in his future.
While he was in Prison I thought about him and his life being in there. He was always in a small jail cell with bars, locked in with no means of escape, day in and day out for many years, him and four walls all around him. Some days he was aloud to go out side in to the open yard just to get away from his small cell. But in reality outside was nothing more then just a bigger cell will a high fence and razor edge barbwire on top. Even though he was on the outside he was still locked with in with no way of escape
There were other times when trouble happened; why because that is the way it is when you are locked within something. He would find himself put into solitary confinement, nothing more then just another cell but a whole lot smaller. Here was where he could think about everything that happened and why his life was in the mess it was in, it was a place of deep depression a place he did not want to come back too.
After a while he would be let out and was able to go back too his Cell. Even though it was still in prison it was better then the solitary confinement and it was a place where he has learned to be comfortable. His cell room in prison has become his place of safety and security a place where no one could hurt him. After a long time he had finish his time in prison and was let go early on good behavior.
I thought long about this and realized that there are many different type of prison. The story above is just one and it is true, but there are many others types of prisons that people live in everyday. People who are sick also live in prison, just why we don’t know, it is just the way life deal with us.
You see we too have our cells that we live in; it too has four walls all around us and we are locked in a sick body and can’t get out. We are held against our will because no one wants to be sick, we are trapped but with in our bodies. Sometimes we cry out but only to be misunderstood by people on the outside, they look in and see us but can’t understand what we are going through on the inside.
You see to someone who is sick our cell can be a place of loneliness, pain and suffering and place where there is no hope, only despair. Some days we are let out but only to a bigger cell outside, just like in a Prison there is still a high fence with razor edge barbwire on top keeping us locked in with no way of escape.
There are also times when we are locked away in to solitary confinement; this is so hard for people on the outside to understand. They can’t see through the doors of our life to know what we are thinking what we are feeling what we are seeing and why we are in despair. Depression can become very lonely, very deep, very dark and the longer you are there the deeper you sink. It is a place where no light comes in a place where all hope has vanish, a place of torment of mind, and no one understands it not even medical doctors as they see it only as a medical condition.
My Friend’s Story:
There was a young man and his wife I was giving Bible studies to, there had two beautiful children and one on the way, a very Lovely family. The man in the prime of his life was told he had MS and little by little it was taking away his ability to be what the world called normal. Both of them were very interested in learning about God and so they ask me to help them, being an Elder in the church I am honored to help people know the God I serve.
One night when I went over to there home I could tell that something was very wrong. Because of the man disability he ask his employer if it would be possible for them to build a ramp so he could get his wheelchair up to the office building easier. The next mouth he was let go from the place of work, they said it was nothing to do with his sickness they were cutting back; strange he was the only person let go.
His thoughts were “how was he now going to be able to take care of his family who is going to hire him with MS and in a wheelchair”. We had prayer, sometimes when things are going bad you need to let God in and take control. We continued having Bible studies but he was becoming more and more depressed at times and did not know what to do.
The man Mother and Father had gotten devoice when he was just a little kid and his mother always used him as a tool against his Father. But after he grew up he found that his father loved him very much, they had a very good relationship. He called his dad and told him all that happened and that he just did not know what to do.
His father could tell how depressed he was becoming and told his Son sometime you need to just get away. He told him to come out and spend a few weeks with him, don’t worry about your problems they will all be there when you get back. So the man decided he would do just that, his Dad was going to buy the ticket so why not just get away.
When his mother found out that he was going to spend sometime with his father she blew-up on him and told him all kinds of hurtful things. Never did she realize all she was doing was pushing him further and further into a deep deep depression.
When a person is in Prison with in his body people all around must be very carful how they speak and what they say. One little word can be the difference between a soul in despair and desperation that leads to death.
The man went into his bed room all by himself and sat on the floor, the words of his mother kept playing over and over in his mind. The walls of his prison life was closing in on him and in his deep depressed mind Satan was telling him to just get it over with. He took down his gun and was pointing it at himself asking what good is it for me to live. In his mind he did not want to die he did not want to kill himself, but in a deep depressed state the mind does not think right. Over and over all he could hear in his mind was his mother telling him how no good and selfish he was just like his Father.
His Wife heard the sound and knew what he did, she call 911 and went into the room he was still alive and crying he said I did not mean to do it I pulled the trigger by accident. They both prayed and she told him just ask God for forgiveness and so he did, he was taking to the local hospital where he died 3 hours later.
Oh how killing can words be to someone locked away in there body, locked away from the world, locked away because of there sickness and diseased body. Oh how hard it is for someone who has a good body to understand what we go through in our everyday life of suffering and pain. I know that someday I will see this man again in heaven and in a body never again to feel the curse of sin. Some may said no he committed suicide he will not be in heaven, judge no man for only God can hear the faintest cry coming from a soul in anguish asking God for His mercy and forgiveness. God knows where we are and who we are, even the thief who died on the cross next to him Jesus forgave in the last mins of life.
My Story:
I have been fighting Cancer and the side affects of the treatment a little over 12 years now. They say if the Cancer don’t kill you the treatment will, this is so very true as I am dying not from the Cancer I had but from it’s cure.
I find that no one truly understands what people go through who have been told they have some type of illness, all the pain, the stress, the depression, the feeling on loneness. Most people will come up to you and most of the time say the wrong thing, they don’t mean anything wrong they just don’t know what to say. Most of the time it is better to just say nothing and give us a big hug, it says more then words could every say.
I like most people don’t know why I got Cancer, bad things happen to good people, I did not eat meat, I was a vegetarian and took very good care of my body, if I seen a doctor it was just for an annual check-up. I remember the first time I got sick, I got Dysentery while working in Africa then I got Malaria on top of it because my immune system was so weak. My health went down hill from then on. Two years later I came down with NPC a Cancer of the of the nasal passageway the uppermost region of the pharynx (“throat”), behind the nose
I did the Radiation treatment for it, it almost killed me, but I got better, then 17 months later I was told I have a recurrent of the same Cancer. My Caretaker Wife and I was devastated by the news, I was still a young man and still in pretty good health. We did the treatment again this time with Radiation and Chemo, it was like taking a second trip to Hell and all I could say is why me Lord, why me.
One early morning I was laying in bed, my Wife was still sleeping. In my mind I was talking to God about all of this and just could not figure out the reason why. My Wife and I were the only two people in the house as our children had grew-up and moved out. It was then that I heard a Voice say “I Love You” it was like no other voice I ever heard. I was not afraid but my body was shaking uncontrollable all over. I recognized the Voice and said Lord why, why if you love me are you letting this happen again, the voice said again “Remember I Love You” and then He was gone.
I laid there for almost an hour before my body finally stopped shaking; I got up and decided to read my Bible. When I opened my Bible it opened to the book of Isaiah 38: 1 talking about King Hezekiah who was sick, I read it and prayed thanking the God I served. We finished Radiation and Chemo only to hear a few months later that my NPC Cancer came back a 3rd time, but this time my Caretaker and I decided no more treatments I was too weak and my body too sick and rundown. I asked her to let me go home to Honduras to see all my family one last time before I die this was back in 2006. While there my older brother took me to a place on the main land where they did herbal treatment for people with cancer, I was against it but said OK why not, God blessed it and I am still alive 10 years later.
A few years ago I went swimming while in Honduras and got water in my left ear, the ear I have 1/3 of the ear drum missing. I started having a lot of pain and could not figure out why. When I got back to the US I went to see my Cancer doctor, he did a MRI and told me I have a large tumor in the back of my head and needed to get back on Chemo right away or I will die. My Caretaker Wife said no we are going to get a second opinion and so we went to MD Anderson. They did another MRI with a PET scan and said I have a lot of problems but no Cancer. I ask them why then am I hurting so bad by the left side of my ear and head, they said possible side affects from all the treatment I had.
I lived in terrible pain for the next 6 months, my life was going down hill and no one knew why, I was trapped once again in this sick Prison body and dyeing slowly oh how I prayed to get out and be free and healthy again. I seen doctor after doctor and ran all kinds of test but nothing came back. I started having problems with my eyes and then started having episodes of blindness on and off; I prayed oh lord please don’t let me go blind.
Then my Caretaker Wife who is my God sent companion said, let try the Chiropractor maybe he can help a little with the pain. I brought a copy of the MRI we did when I first came back from Honduras the one the doctor said showed I had cancer again. I knew he would not adjust me with out seeing if I have a spinal problem from all the treatment and where the Cancer was in my body. We were talking about all my problems when the Chiropractor said what are your doctors doing about this Mastoid Infection you have. We both looked at each other and said what Mastoid Infection, he then showed us the MRI and where it said bad Mastoid Infection. We could not believe what we were reading. I have an infection on the left side of my head, I am in pain on the left side of my head, and none of my doctors who all looked at the MRI said anything about a Mastoid Infection. Did they miss this or something?
We went back to MD Anderson as I was no longer using the Local Cancer doctor who told me I had Cancer. And the ENT at MD Anderson said no I don’t have a Mastoid Infection, I said the MRI said I do and I had it for almost 7 months now and it is getting worse. All he did was to look at me and say you don’t have a Mastoid Infection, we did not know what to do after that. We prayed and I found another ENT while there in Houston, we made an appointment with him, I told him nothing about my having NPC Cancer. When he scoped me he said man you are infected really bad, I might have to do surgery to cleaned some of this out. He then asked about all the scar tissue in my nasal passageway. I then told him I had a cancer there about 6 years ago but all my PET scans show I am clean now.
He put me on some very strong Antibiotic for two weeks and said come back in three weeks we will look at it and see if Surgery will be needed. After two weeks most of the pain was gone, I was able to get off of all the hard pain pills. When we went back to see him he was very up-set and saying you have Cancer I need to know where the cancer is I need to see all your PET Scans I need to know the location of the Cancer. I said hold on doc, I told you I no longer have Cancer; you told me I have a Bad Infection in may nasal area. No, No, No he said I need to know about your Cancer. I looked at him as asked did you by chance get my MDA chart, why are you going on like this I have an infection. With that we left his office, my Wife and I could not believe what we just went through, why the switch from infection to Cancer. All of this was just putting me into depression as I could not find one doctor I could trust, it would set me back and sometimes all I could do was to cry. Why Lord, why if you love me why can’t I find a doctor who cares.
I had to trick a few other doctors into giving me some more Antibiotics, by then I started feeling good again, almost back to my old self. I felt like for the first time I was getting released from this Prison I been living in the passed 9 months. Wow it felt so good, my strength started to come back my health started to improve I started to gain weight, I could walk with out the need of someone to hold me up, I was free at last. All because a Chiropractor could see what my Medical Doctors could not see. Finally after searching so long and living in pain God lead me to an ENT who really cares and has been a answer to all my prayer.
I was doing great for about a year but then started having some side effects from the Mastoid Infection I had; I had hopped that they would go away but they did not. More and more the tissue on the left side of my face was giving me problem at the same time I also started having problem with my intestine not working. It was like I violated parole and found myself now back in Prison, the same 4 walls, the same depression, the same pain, the same not feeling good, it was all there waiting for me.
A few months later my bowel stopped working, I would back-up with the worse constipation you could imagine. I went to every type of doctor I could; just trying to find an answer, I tried all there medicines and nothing worked, the only help I got was in doing enemas and colonic butt washing. I was getting deeper and deeper in depression as nothing seams to help me. I was trapped in this Prison body of mine again with no way out locked in solitary confinement and praying to God pleading for Him to help me.
There was times when Satan would put thoughts in my mind of just killing my-self and getting out of this pain and suffering I was in, just get it over with no one really cares about you, your are old, sick, and in the way. He would try and pull me down as deep as he could in this prison cell, as I would fall to the floor he would kick me and just hold me there. All I could do was to pray, my God my God please help me I know you are there.
My mind was going back and forward, why me Lord what did I do, but even in my deepest depression somehow I could feel I was alone, but not fully alone, this is hard to explain, you have to live it to understand it. I would cry out because I new it was God He was right there with me and my mind remembered the words He said. I love you, remember I love you; these words now kept playing over and over in my mind. Then I would remember reading about Job in the Bible and the trials he went through. He was a righteous man, he took care of all the poor in his town, and he gave of his wealth to others that were in need. Yet God let Satan afflict him, why, because God knew Job, he too questions God at times, but he never lost his faith in all his trials.
Job 1: 20: Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21: And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. 22: In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
Some how as all this would play in my mind I would find myself coming out of my deep depression and just sitting there with words on my lips, thanking God and remembering that He loves me too. I still have some very hard times; I am still having problems with extremely bad constipation and having to use enemas every time I use the bathroom. I lost my ability to swallow and so now I live on a Peg tube, it is very difficult living in a world where thing smell so good but you can’t taste it or even put it into your mouth. I am now lousing my voice and not able to speak much. I love to preach more then anything but Satan has took that ability away from me, so now I write my sermons out and post them on the web.
God has turned Satan evil into a blessing as there are more people now reading my sermons then ever before. Luke 7:23: And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
I found I may still live in this prison that seams more like a dungeon at times, but I also found that I am never never alone in here. Matthew :28:20: I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, Amen. When I read in Fox book of Martyrs now I better understand how many of these people who were put into dungeon and tortured for what they believed could go to the burning flames singing and praising God. He was right there beside them holding there hand. When I am down and depressed now I reach up and hold on tight to Gods hand, I still live in this world and I am still tormented by Satan everyday in this prison body. Yet God gives me the strength I need one day at a time and when I need it the most, He never failed me yet and He never will.
Many people live in prison because of many different things in life; we can’t judge them by what we see on the outside. They are people who are hurting, people who need to be told you are not alone; but too many times we are busy with our own problems to help them. They just slip away and no one sees, they go on with there hurting day in and day out, they look normal but they are in prison on the inside, hiding in there own little world. If left in this condition Satan will take full control of them.
I have found that the rich more then any other group live in this prison. Why is this so hard to believe, they have all the money in the world all the toys that money can buy, but they live in despair unhappy on the inside. That is because the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6: 10: For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. With out God in there life they too fall hopeless under the vice of Satan. Money can buy you anything in this world you want, but it can’t buy you eternal life in the next, only Jesus can do that.
I understand a lot more about Gods love for his creation then I ever did before in my live. We all failed his first little simple test of who you believe, God or Satan. Obedience to his Law was a blessing, it was designed to keep mankind happy and healthy, God never wanted man to be sick or unhealthy, that was the cause of disobedience and sins. He seeks now to bring us back to Him and is preparing a place for all who will believe and put there trust in Him. John:14:3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. All He asks is that we be obedient to his Laws as a sign of our love back to Him. John:14:15: If ye love me, keep my commandments. This is why He let’s us go through the fire of suffering and pain; it is to refining us, to wash out all the impurity and stain of sin. So that one day we can again live a life with no Prison walls, no depression, no sickness, and no SIN.
Mt:21:21: Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Only by faith in God and in His Word can we be saved, someday all that we have gone through will seam so petite a thing in comparison to what Jesus did to save us.
Romans: 8: 35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36: As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is nothing that can separate you from Gods love, except your choice to not let Him in. Satan will do everything he can to block out the love of God in your life. He will cause sickness, illness, depression, even death to a love one, all to get you to blame God and separate you from His love. Just remember what Paul was telling you in Roman, nothing can separate you, only your choice not to believe.
Life is sometimes like a prison cell we get locked in with no way out, but even in this prison Jesus will shine his light of love on us through a window or crack in the wall if we are willing. This prison is only temporary when you compare it to eternity with Jesus, and I know someday I will meet all of you there in Heaven. We are like a flower we start off in a dirty patch of ground on this dusty old Earth, but in the end we will bloom with the beauty of Gods love for eternity.
I know who I have believed in, and I know and believe His promise that He will one day came back to take us home to live with Him, its a sure thing. I know that whether I am alive or Sleeping in the dust of the Earth, that I will hear His voice coming and saying well-done thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy lord Mt: 25: 21.
I still worry a lot about what will happen to me and my Wife when I can no longer work. Will I have to give up my home how would I be able to pay for it, what about other things I need, how will I be able to pay for them. I don’t know the answer to all this but this I do know God will make a way for me He always did and He always will.
Miracles; do you believe in miracles: A pray of faith can do a miracle all by itself. Our bodies were designed to heal themselves but because of sin we lost the one key ingredient “the Tree of Life”. But even with that missing the power of people praying together for the common good of one can still make a miracles come through when God blesses it, don’t give up, never give up, Jesus is right there with you just believe.
Who ever you are that may be reading this, you may be going through some very tuff times in your life. Maybe everything is just fine in your life but you just don’t feel normal and don’t know why, it is like there is something missing. Put all your cares in the Arms of Jesus, I know it is not easy, but the more you get to know Him the easier it will be come.
Oh my friend I pray that you will Remember this Hebrews: 11: 1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We have not seen it yet but it is true, because Gods word does not fail.
It is by His grace that I have been able to continue living, preaching, and writing, about His love and what He did for me. Not that I am any better then anyone else, I am just a simple fishermen following in the foot prints of my savior. I too like everyone else am waiting because I know soon; very soon He will come back for all who have believed and put there Faith in Him. My pains and suffering will someday all be in the past that is the faith that keeps me doing His will.
I pray asking Gods blessing on all who will read this and hope it helps you in dealing with someone who is going through illness in there life.
Sunday Feb 17, 2013: a good friend of mine lost his battle with Cancer. He was a good Christian man with a beautiful Caregiver Wife and Chidden who he left behind. He is sleeping now in no more pain or suffering, resting from all his labor. I look forward to meeting him again when we hear the call of our Masters Voice saying well done my good and faithful servants; enter into the joy of the Lord.
Friend I hope you will join us there on that morning, my friend Larry and I will be wearing our new bodies with no scars of this old world.
We will be the ones singing O victory in Jesus, My Savior, forever. He sought me and bought me With His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him, And all my love is due Him, He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.
May the God of our faithful Fathers who through faith believed in His grace and love be with you until we meet in God kingdom. Friend if you too are living in your own prison don’t give up, just believe. When you are down in pain and hurting beyond belief just remember He is there beside you holding on. This life is short in comparison to what Jesus has planned for all who believe, just give it a try. I know how hard it is because I too been to hell on my knees a few times and surrounded by Satan and his evil angles. But while in pain, in suffering, in despair and depression my hand was holding tight to my King, my Lord, my Savior, my Friend and my Brother Jesus.
Up-date:
God is so good so very good to those who live by faith. This week for the first time in two years my bowels have come back to normal; only by a miracle could this have been possible. God is still in the business of doing miracle when we believe and have Faith in Him.
Up-date 10-22-2013
God is still in business
Yesterday I did a swallowing test again but this time it did show a little improvement. While I still can swallow or eat like a normal person I am able to sip and swallow very small amounts of water. What the test showed is that the back of the tongue is no longer moving to close off the air way into the lungs. While this is not a good thing it has also become a blessing, in the past the back of the tongue would only move half way and would allow food and water to drain off into the lungs; better known as “Aspiration”. Now with the tongue being stuck and not moving at all the doctor was amazed because when swallowing water it has found a new root around the stuck part of the tongue down the throat by-passing the air way into the lungs. They are sending all the finding from the test to my ENT and suggesting that I be giving the OK to start swallowing very small amount of water again, Wow miracles do still happen. Paul said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
God bless you all as each of you go through your trials in life. Remember this life is only a step in stone to a better one with my Lord my savoir and my friend Jesus. Don’t give up hope put your faith in Jesus He is right there with you alway.
If you are going through some tough times in your life dealing with some disease contact me at this web-stie I want to pray with you.
Up-date September 5, 2015
Hi everyone
It is hard to believe that I am still alive in 2015 and all I can say is God has been very good to me. I was in Honduras for a few months to visit my brother and get some time alone with God. There is nothing better for your health then to live in a tropical garden that does not use any type of poison on any of the fruit trees. I lived on Mangos, Papaya, Pineapples and Star Fruit, the entire time I was there, just walk outside pick it off the tree and put it into my blender so I can put it down my PEG tube. I really enjoyed it and I am looking to go back again soon.
I am still having problems from all the radiation 10 years ago, my breath smells very bad and there is nothing I can do about it. Also been having a lot of bleeding back in the nasopharynx area, the tissue is so damaged from radiation that it will not heal, so it bleeds all the time. The other problem is not being able to swallow so at night when I am sleeping some of it goes into my Lungs and gives me pneumonia. But by faith I keep moving on and doing all I can as God give me another day.
Please keep my friends in your prayers; I have a friend named Debby who is fighting for her life. She has a little different type of cancer then I had but cancer is bad no matter where you have it.
Thank you
In God’s workshop
Elder Tim McNab
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Up-date December 9, 2015
God has been very good to me this year, I was able to see our 7th grandchild come into the world and to be a part of her life, that is truly a blessing.
I am still having problems bleeding from the dead scar tissue in the sinus where I had all the radiation and nothing I do seams to help it. I am also still having pain in the sinus and on the left side of the face and ear, but God gives me the strength I need each day. I have also notice that my attitude is effected by the weather. On days that are warm and sunny, I feel very good, and on days that are cold and raining I feel bad; Glad I have a computer for the Rainey days. I had to retire this year after 25 years with same company, work was a big help to me as it was a place I could go and concentrate on something else besides all of my problems. We sometime don’t understand how blessed we are to have work every day, it helps our body stay in shape, one reason why God gave us the Sabbath one day out of seven so we can rest.
Thank you all for your support and prayers.
Elder Tim
Cancer Survivor only by His grace.
Restoring Gods Truth Ministries
Truth about God!
We live in a world that is up side down, everything that was once right is now wrong and everything that was wrong is now right. We live in a world that you have to watch what you say because you need to be politically correct or you might offend someone. A would where people want to do as they please, watch what they want, eat what they feel like go where they please and in the end go to heaven. Never do they for once give thought about God until something bad happens in there life then they all want to blame God for it.
What is wrong with out world today where did we go off track, what happened to a Country that was founded on the very principal of God truth to believe that there is no God? How did we get from blessed to this moral decay; did you even wonder where did we go wrong.
Maybe just maybe we can find the Truth about all this in the Word of God in the book call the Bible
The Bible says in the beginning God! If the Bible said nothing else that would be enough, in the beginning God created, let’s read Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:
1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Please understand the Bible is a small book, if it contained every detail of every act of God there would not be a library big enough to contain the material written about God. So we have only to go by what we do have.
The Bible says that the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The Earth was probably here many, many millions of years before God started His wonderful work of creation upon it. As we view out into our solar systems today we can see many of worlds in the very form of being made. God created this process Billions of year’s before God ever decided to create man. When He was ready to create this world He just took one of the planets and moved it to where He wanted it and started His wonderful act of creation.
Once God was finished creating everything else it was time for His crowning act of creation. Genesis 1
26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Here we have the answer to man age old question, where did we come from, and how did we get here. God created us and created us in His very image and in His likeness that is why Man is different from all the other living created things. We were created by God to look like Him so we could communicate to God and show our love to God for what He has done for us.
We were made perfect direct from His hands of God.
Gen:2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Here we are told that God breathed into mans nostrils and he man became a living soul. We are a living soul of flesh and blood.
Gen:1:31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Gen 2:
1: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
God finished His wonderful work of creating our World, and in it He put everything we needed to stay healthy and happy. There was no sickness, no pain, no suffering, no dieses, and no death, for all good came direct from the hand of our creator.
Gen 2:
3: And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Here God blessed and sanctified or made holy a day, only one day, the day that came at the end of the other six days He blessed the Seventh day.
So what happened where did God go wrong, everything He did was perfect, how did we go from perfect to bad.
God gave to man the freedom of choice the same that God gives to all His living created beings, the freedom to choose to Obey and love Him God or not to Obey Him. So God put in the mist of the garden one tree, only one tree and told our first parent that everything He created was there to keep them happy and live forever. The only thing he asked is that they not eat of this one tree, why because it was there test, one simple test of obeying His commandments, and showing there love for Him. If they passed they would live forever but if they failed, well we know the rest of this story.
Gen:2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Our first parents were warned about Lucifer the falling angle, they were told to be carful and not to depart from each other, but stay together. One day Eve busy in the day’s activity found herself alone and by the forbidden tree, and when she looked there was a serpent in it, how sneaky that Satan would take the form of a snake to disguise himself from what he really was.
Gen 3:
4: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
How crafty the old serpent, he told them just the opposed of what God said. God said you Will Surely Die the day you eat of this tree, and serpent said you Will not Surely Die, what; not surely die. Here our first parents sinned because they disbelieved what God told them and the curse of death came upon all that would live after them.
Ezek:18:4: Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Man does not have a living soul man is a living soul; remember man became a living soul. And God said that all souls are His they belong to Him because they came from Him, it was the breath of God in the dust of the Earth that made us into living souls. And God said that if we sin we shall die, we shall not continue to live in this world or in the spirit world, we Shall DIE, that is God’s word not Satan or mans word.
So what is death, it is creation is reverse, when we Die we do not go on living in some other spirit world in Heaven or Hell or some where in between as it is said by many of the Great World Religions today. They are telling the same lie that Satan told to our first parents back in the beginning. Our first parents believed it and so do they, that is why we are in this mess in the first place, no one believes what God said.
Eccl:12:7: Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
So the dust that God created man from returns to the ground from where it was taking, and the spirit or breath of God goes back to God who gave it. No where does it say we go on living, take a look with me to the book of First Corinthians.
First Corinthians: 15
51: Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Here Paul is telling us that he is going to show us a mystery, what is that mystery it is about Death. He says we shall not all SLEEP, or die, and we who have believed will be changed.
52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53: For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
What! This is not what the Big Religious Leaders and Churches are teaching, they are teaching when you die you go some place else, you keep living. But that is not what Paul is saying here. At the last Trumpet and the DEAD who had put there faith in the hands of Jesus will be raised from the dust of the Earth and will put on immortality. Right now man is Mortal that means that Man can Die, when Man puts on immortality that will mean that Man will no longer Die. Are you starting to see how Satan works, the same lie he told Eve is being is being taught by the Great World Religions today. Wow what a great Lie people still believe it today 6000 year later.
54: So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
All God ever wanted was a people who believed in Him and what He said, a people who would keep His commandments and not mans. God does and will always have true believers, but they are not the majority they are the few the very few.
Look at what Paul has to say about this in the book of First Thessalonians 4:
13: But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
Paul like Jesus called death a sleep, we sleep and we no nothing; until we who put our faith in God hear His voice coming for us who by Faith believed in Him.
14: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Here Paul is telling us, all that sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him. Remember the breath or Spirit went back to God at death, so He brings the spirit or breathe of that person with Him to united back with the dust of the earth, so that Man can become a Living Soul again. But this time when he unites us back with Dust & Spirit we will be changed. No longer will we be Mortal when we change we will then become immortal accordance to the Scriptures.
15: For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
Here again Paul is saying we that are alive shall not go into heaven before the ones who are asleep
16: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18: Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
We must learn to walk by Faith in Gods word not by what we see or what the world tells us. There are many of so called good men preaching the word of God, but are they really preaching the word of God or that of Satan. Are they preaching what God said or what they were taught to say by man that God said.
Look at Isaiah 8:
20: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
If they are not preaching what is in the Bible and what God said in His word they are not preaching the truth, they are preaching the same lies that Satan told to our first parents.
Everything in our world is up side down all because people want it there way and not Gods way. They all want the best part of what God has to give but they want it at there convenes.
We cannot go by the world’s standards of God truth, or by people who tell us they are his representative. Look at them and see if they are following what the Bible says and preaching what the Bible tells. If so then they are preaching Gods word if not then they are faults teachers and representatives of Satan and his lies.
Look also at the day God blessed and made Holy.
Remember our walk with God is about a walk Faith, believing in what God said and not man. If we are to faithfully serve God then we need to be doing what God said to do, correct.
Look back again at Gen 2:
3: And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Now look at Exodus: 20
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
What day is God saying to remember and why is this the only commandment that is telling us to remember something that God did. Why because back in creation God did something and He wants to make sure we do accordance to His word. Let’s take a look at the rest of the commandments.
9: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
God has giving man six day with in to do all his labor, and God knew that man needed a day of rest.
10: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Here again we hear God saying the seventh day, we are told to remember the seventh day, why because back in the beginning God blessed it and made it holy.
11: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
God wants us to be happy even in this world of sin; God wants us to remember Him and what He did at creation for all Mankind. It was not His desire that sin should come into this world, that was mans choice.
Now go back with me to Genesis there is something very importance we must look at.
Look at Genesis 3:
14: And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
God here is giving us a promise but of who is He talking about, who is her seed that it is said of; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Thy seed “Satan” and her seed “Jesus”; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
As it was written God would send His Son Jesus, it would be Jesus to bruise the head of Satan and to take back the World that Satan stole away from our first parents by deception.
I was raised in the Catholic Church, I went to a CatholicSchool, I was a alter boy and had the desire to become a Catholic Priest. But one day God lead me in a different direction.
One day I had my Mother come stay with me for a few weeks just before she died, she did not like the fact that I left the Catholic Church and that I did not become a priest but she excepted it for what it was, I was still her Son. One day while we were talking about God. She told me that my problem was that I never learned to Love the Church like she did; and I said yes I know I learned to Love Jesus more then the Church or anything else in this world. She was silent for a while and I said to myself oh no what did I do now. Then she said to me, you know I think you are right, I said what, what do you mean I am right. She said the Sabbath I believe the Sabbath is Gods true day of rest.
Wow that really blew me away to hear my Mother say that, if ever there was a good Christian Woman she was it.
Turn with me one more time to the book of Revelation 14:
6: And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
What is the Everlasting Gospel? The word Gospel means the Good News. So here is an angle saying that he has the everlasting Good news to tell to everyone on the Earth. And what is that he is proclaiming that is the everlasting Good News, look at Verse 7
7: Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
The angle is saying Fear God and Give glory to Him, because the hour of Gods Judgment is come. Then the angle is saying something very importance, the angle is saying Worship Him who made the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. When was this all done, let’s go one more time to the book of Genesis 1: 1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. God is the creator of all things, He was the one who made the heavens, the earth, the fountains water. The Angle that has the everlasting Gospel is pointing us back to the God of creation.
Now just one more thing Go to the Book of Exodus 20: and read the 4th commandment and notes verse 11
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Verse 11 of Exodus sounds exactly like Revelation14: 7 Worship the creator God and then do what Remember, Remember what God told us to do. Worship Him on the day that He said to Remember and worship Him on, the Sabbath the seventh day of the week.
What did Jesus say to do in John 14::15: If ye love me, keep my commandments.
It was Jesus who gave to Moses the Ten Commandments and it was Jesus telling us if we love him to keep His commandments, why to show that we love Him. This is the Truth about God, this is the everlasting Gospel, the good news that the angle is telling the world
We don’t keep His Commandment to be saved we keep Him Commandments because we are saved, because we Love Him who died and took our place to give us eternal life.
Don’t be fooled by the deceptions of Satan and his false teaching and false day of worship, like he told Eve you will not surely die.
The Truth about God is that He loves us and wants us to be with Him forever and He gave us His truth to go by. All he asks is one thing, one simple little thing, that we Obey Him and do what He told us to do and believe what he has told us.
The truth about Satan is that he will deceive you no matter what it takes, because he hates Jesus. Satan knows that the only way he can hurt Jesus is by keeping you out of God kingdom. And he will do what ever its take to separate you and Jesus, no lie is too big a lie, no deception is too big a deception that he will not do just to hurt Jesus.
John 3:
16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Satan does not want you saved, so stop believing in man made salvation and come to know the Truth about God.
1John:4: 4: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
May the God of out Fathers who have believed and put there faith and there lived into God hands be upon you in Jesus name Amen
Elder Tim McNab
Restoring Gods Truth Ministries
The Truth and Nothing but the Truth
To Tell the Truth was an American TV panel game show back in the 1950 era
The show features a panel of four celebrities attempting to correctly identify a described contestant who has an unusual occupation or experience. This true character is accompanied by two impostors (Fakes) who pretend to be the true character. The celebrity panelists question the three contestants; the impostors are allowed to lie but the true character is sworn “to tell the truth”. After questioning, the panel attempts to identify which of the three challengers is telling the truth and is thus the true character.
Three challengers are introduced, all claiming to be the true character. The announcer typically asks the challengers, who stand side by side, “What is your name, please?” Each challenger then states, “My name is [true character’s name].” The celebrity panelists then read along as the host reads aloud a signed affidavit about the true character.
The panelists are each given a period of time to question the challengers. Questions are directed to the challengers by number (Number One, Number Two and Number Three), with the true character sworn to give truthful answers, and the impostors permitted to lie, deceived and pretend to be the true character.
After questioning is complete, each member of the panel votes on which of the challengers they believe to be the true character, either by writing the number on a card or holding up a card with the number of their choice, without consulting the other panelists.
Once the votes are cast, the host asks, “Will the real True person please stand up?”
Life is not a game it’s for real, and being able to tell what is the truth from what is not the truth can be the difference between life and eternal death. So today we are going to find out what Truth is and what it is not.
Let us Pray!
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What is Truth?
Many people have asked this one single simple question. In our world today it is hard to find the answer to what truth is, why because everyone says they are telling the truth. The Bible says there is a way that seams right unto a man, let’s read it
Prov:14:
12: There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
It is simply saying you can think you are Right you can think you have the Truth you can keep telling yourself it long enough that you will start to believe it. But what does it say will happen but the end thereof are the ways of death.
You see apart from God everything is nothing more then a Lie.
Remember Gods Truth is 100% Truth, Satan also uses Truth but he mixes it with a little Lie. So if something is not 100% pure Truth then it is a Lie no matter how much Truth is in it.
When Jesus came why did he not pick the Religious leaders of his day? Why did he pick simple men and at that Fishermen and Tax collectors to be his disciples.
The Religious leaders of Jesus time were the men entrusted with keeping the Truth, the Holy Scriptures, the Canon or Torah as it was called. They were the men who studied the Holy word of God day in and day out, they knew it back to front, page by page. They could repeat entire books of the Bible from memory.
So why did Jesus not pick any of these Truth keeper. Maybe because they were so well educated he could not teach them anything, because they had formed there own opinion. After all they had the Scriptures right there in front of them right, so how did they miss the Birth of Gods Son, maybe he did not come the way they thought he would. Did they miss reading this in the scriptures or did they just misunderstand what the scriptures said.
I find that is the same with many of the great Religious leaders today, they have there own opinion there own belief there own teaching of what the Bible says.
Mark:7:7: Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
How is it that the Religious leaders today teach the doctrines of thereChurch over what the plane Truth of what the Bible says?
Look at how the Bible describes the Religious leaders in Jesus time. Rich, well dressed, well educated, living in the move eloquent homes, and I am sure they road in the best cart and pulled by the best donkeys of the day.
Today our Religious leaders are just about the same, rich, well dressed, well educated, living in the move eloquent homes, and drive the best Cars made.
Now think, how did Jesus and His disciples live, how did they travel, what did they ware,
Lets Look at Matthew 2:
1: Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2: Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3: When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4: And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5: And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6: And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
So the Religious leaders knew that Christ, the one who for 1400 years had been prophesies of coming to save them, was finally born, but they did nothing. Wow the Son of God born in a little town like Bethlehem and no one who was entrusted with keeping the Truth and telling others was there.
What happened how could they miss something as important as the birth of the Son of God. Easy He did not come the way they believe he should come, they were teaching something different, they were teaching the commandments of men.
What does the Bible say Truth is?
John:17:
17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
So the only real Truth is Gods Word
What did we just say was Truth; God Word right, lets Look at John 1:
1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2: The same was in the beginning with God.
3: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4: In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5: And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Truth is that God loved His creation so much that even after he knew how we would treat Him, even after he knew we would spit in His face, and nailed Him to a Cross. He still decided to come and die in our place. Why to save us, what love God has for all who believe in him.
10: He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11: He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Satan can take away your health, he can take away your seeing your hearing your eating your ability to walk and feel well. He can take away everything; except he can’t take away the Truth of God word, because it is Gods character and like him it is Holy because God is holy.
Romans 8:
35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36: As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To tell you the truth I am not a Theologian I am not one of the great school learned scholars of the Bible. The truth is I am only a simple man with a simple faith, kind of like the disciples in Jesus day a simple fisherman.
It has been right at 2000 years ago that our savoir came and died for all of us. He left a massage of Love and how we should treat others. People who followed Jesus were called Christians why because they followed His teaching and they acted just like Jesus, so they were called Christ Like people.
Acts:11:26: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
When we look back at History we see people who called themselves Christians being anything but Christ Like. We see a legacy of killing in the Church all because someone would not go along with the traditions the Church was teaching. Because someone wanted to believe what the Bible said over what the Church said.
Why because anytime the Church is backed by the State and laws are made to enforce the Churches teaching you will find persecution. The Bible said that a time is coming
John: 16: 2: They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
The scriptures here are talking about people, leaders in the Church. The ones who clam they have the truth, putting others out of the Church and putting them to death because they refused to accept anything but the Bible Gods words as Truth.
Matthew:24:9: Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
If the so called Religious leaders would just humble themselves to the Word of God and study the Bible from Genesis to Revaluation and do as the Bible says to do in Isaiah:28:
10: For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
They would all come away with only one Truth and that is Gods Truth not mans
But God knows there heart, He knows that many will never come to know the truth just like the Religious leaders in his day, He could teach them nothing.
Matthew: 7:
21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I never knew you, how sad. The Great men of our world the men that many people trusted to hold the Truth dear but were nothing more then fakes. Many people will be lost with them all because they too never took the time to let the Bible intrepid itself. It was too easy to just put that responsibility in the hands of Pastors or Priest so we could feel good and do what we wanted to do. I never knew you Jesus will say to them
Look at what Paul said would happen to the Church after he was gone. That men will rise up he called them grievous wolves, why because they would not care for the Church nor would they teach the Truth.
Acts:20:
29: For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30: Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Today people don’t go to Church for the Truth, they go to get a feeling, and if they don’t like the feeling they get in one Church they look for another. Truth has nothing to do with it; they are looking for a Church of convenience one that fits there life style not God.
People I tell you if we are to find what the Truth is then we need to look to and only look to Gods Holy Word, for it will never lie.
First look at Isaiah: 8:
20: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
If what you believe, what you think, or what you hear from you Pastor, does not agree with what the Bible is teaching from cover to cover then it is a lie it is not the Truth. Truth is 100% anything less then 100% even if it is 99.9% truth and just .01% Lie, it is a Lie.
Look at Jesus own words in the book of Matthew Chapter 5:
Mt:5:17: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mt:5:18: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. He is not talking about laws made by man but the Ten Commandment law giving by God and wrote with his own finger on stone.
Lk:16:17: And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Gods Law is his character when you talk about His law you are talking about God. The only part of the Bible that God did not let man write was His Ten Commandments; God did that with his own finger, and right there on the 4th commandment God said Remember, Remember my Sabbath day. But the Religious leaders today are saying don’t worry it is OK to forget what God said to Remember and wrote with his own finger. We are all New Testament Christians and we keep Sunday because Jesus rose up from the grave on Sunday. The only problem with that is that no where in Gods word Old or New Testament does it say God changed his day of Worship. Sunday is an old pagan day of Worship the day the pagans worship the Sun God, not Jesus.
Look at what Jesus was telling the Religious leaders in John:7:19: Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
The Religious leaders got so far away from how to keep the true Sabbath that when Jesus who gave them the Sabbath came they wanted to kill him for not keeping it there way. The same is today we have again gotten so far away from the Truth of Gods Holy Word that this time as the Bible predicts the Religious leaders will make a law to Kill all who keep the Truth of Gods Holy Word in place of there false day of Worship.
Rv:12:17: And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
This is not non Church people here this is the Church ran by Satan killing God true worshipers who keep the commandments of God and not man. The same way Satan used the Religious leaders to kill Jesus he will again use the Religious leaders to put to death Gods people.
Rv:14:12: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
If you are in a big Church organization today I suggest you find out what the word remnant means. It does not means Big is means Small there will be at the end only a small group of people who keep the Truth of Gods Holy word and obey His Commandments, his Ten Commandments not his nine Commandments plus Sunday.
Don’t be mislead by the so called Religious leaders of today and don’t be mislead thinking because you are in a big Church you are safe. The truth my friend is not popular, tell someone the truth and they will not believe you, tell them a lie and they will take it to the bank.
The Bible tells us that God true Church is not the large multitudes of people, they are the few. Today people want God in there lives but at there convenience and at a time when they can fit him in. The problem with that is God doesn’t work that way. God has giving man a day, a special day, a holy day, a day that God said I will be there with you. Why is that day holy, what makes it holy look at Exodus 3: 5: And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
It is holy because God is there on the Sabbath day with His true Church, His true people who worship Him on the day he said to come and worship.
Remember John 1:
1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus is God, Jesus was the one who gave us his Sabbath, he was the one who wrote it on stone with his own finger and said he came not to change Gods law but to fulfill Gods law.
If you want to do something to remember Jesus, do what he told you to do to remember Him. Luke:22:
19: And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Nothing about Sunday there.
Have you ever read this scripture in the Bible in the Old Testament, take a look at it. Isaiah 66:
22: For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23: And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
This is a prophecy of Isaiah that has not yet come true, why because God has not yet created the new heaven and the new Earth.
Now read Genesis 2:
1: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3: And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
If in the beginning God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy and in the End when he recreates the Earth new we will all again come to Worship him on the Sabbath day. So if in the beginning we worshiped on the Sabbath and in the Earth made new we will be worshipping on the Sabbath. What day should we be worshipping on now Saturday the Sabbath or Sunday?
And if Saturday the Sabbath is Gods true day of worship, who are you truly worshiping on Sunday the day of the Sun-God. Look at Daniel 7::25: And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
People the most High is God, and God is telling us that in the end times (the days we live in) this false Church these false Religious leaders will lead the multitudes away from Gods Truth. To the point they will wear out the saints (Kill), and they will think to change Time and Law. Who’s Time, Who’s Law, Gods Time his Sabbath, Gods Law his Ten Commandments.
Remember there is no sitting on the fence, if you are not on Gods side you are on Satan’s side you cannot server God and serve Man
Lk:16:13: No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
What day was Jesus Disciples in Church teaching look at Act 13:
42: And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
43: Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
44: And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Acts:17:2: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Acts:18:4: And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
The Disciples were not teaching that Sabbath was now Sunday they were teaching on the Sabbath long after the Crucifixion same as they were while Jesus was here on the earth.
Look at what the Matthew Henry’s Commentary said about the Sabbath: “The form of the fourth commandment, Remember, shows that it was not now first given, but was known by the people before”.
Here also Jamieson-Fausset-Brown said: “Remember the sabbath day—implying it was already known, and recognized as a season of sacred rest. The first four commandments [Ex 20:3-11] comprise our duties to God—the other six [Ex 20:12-17] our duties to our fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to the government of the heart as well as the lip”
Look at how decepting Satan will be, the Bible said in Revelation 16 that in the end times devils will be performing miracles in order to deceive people into believing it is the Spirit of God.
Revelation 16: 14: For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
How will you know the different how will you know the Truth. Read Isaiah:8:20: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
You can’t go by someone working miracles because they could be doing miracles with the spirit of devils. I have had Cancer in my life and I live everyday in pain and suffering from the terrible side affect from all the treatment. I prayed many of times for God to heal me but he has not. I had people tell me they know of a Spirit healer who can cure me. A Spirit healer, who’s Spirit I question, I would rather be slayed by a God who loved me then to be healed by a Devil that hates me. Beware of Religious leaders and people who clime they heal in the name of Jesus by slapping you on the head backwards.
What does the Bible say Truth is John:17:17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. If it is not in the Bible and does not agree with the Bible from Genesis to Revelations it is because there is no truth in it.
There is no excuse to not know the Truth of Gods Word, like I said before I am only a simple fisherman I am not one of the learned Religious leaders of our day. I praise God that in my simple mind and simple faith, I read his Truth the way his Holy Spirit teaches it and not man.
If nothing else please remember this !
In the garden God Himself said to Man:
Genesis 2:
17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Satan in the form of a snake said.
Genesis 3:
4: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
It was all about one thing who is telling the Truth.
In our time again God said Remember My Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
Genesis 20:
8: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Satan again in the form of some of the worlds top Religious Leaders is saying it is OK to forget what God said.
Who do you believe is telling the Truth
Remember Gods Truth is 100% all Truth, Satan also uses Truth but he mixes it with a little Lie. So if something is not 100% pure Truth then it is a Lie no matter how much Truth is in it.
Read the Bible you don’t need some Religious leaders to explain it to you. Just pray asking God to let his Holy Spirit come and lead you into all Truth. What is Truth, Gods Holy Word is Truth, the Truth and nothing but the Truth.
God Bless you as you seek to know and understand the Truth of God Word.
Elder Tim McNab
Restoring Gods Truth Ministries
The Gift
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
CHRISTMAS STORY: Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving.
It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn’t been enough money to buy me the rifle that I’d wanted so bad that year for Christmas.
We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible. So after supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn’t in much of a mood to read scriptures.
But Pa didn’t get the Bible; instead he bundled up and went outside. I couldn’t figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn’t worry about it long though; I was too busy wallowing in self-pity.
Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. “Come on, Matt,” he said. “Bundle up good, it’s cold out tonight.” I was really upset then. Not only wasn’t I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see.
We’d already done all the chores, and I couldn’t think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this. But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one’s feet when he’d told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn’t know what.
Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn’t going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up the big sled unless we were going to haul a big load.
Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him. The cold was already biting at me. I wasn’t happy. When I was on, Pa pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. “I think we’ll put on the high sideboards,” he said. “Here, help me.” The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high sideboards on.
When we had exchanged the sideboards Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood—the wood I’d spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all fall sawing into blocks and splitting. What was he doing? Finally I said something. “Pa,” I asked, “what are you doing?” ”
You been by the Widow Jensen’s lately?” he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight.
Sure, I’d been by, but so what? “Yeah,” I said, “why?”
“I rode by just today,” Pa said. “Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They’re out of wood, Matt.” That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for another armload of wood. I followed him.
We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it. Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a hold side of a Deer and a fewTurkeys. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand.
“What’s in the little sack?” I asked.
“Shoes. They’re out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped around his feet when he was out in the wood-pile this morning.
I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a little candy.”
We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen’s pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn’t have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to cut.
So why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us. It shouldn’t have been our concern.
We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door.
We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, “Who is it?”
“Lucas Miles, Ma’am, and my son, Matt. Could we come in for a bit?”
Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all.
Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp. “We brought you a few things, Ma’am,” Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it. She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out on e pair at a time. There was a pair for her and one for each of the children—sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last.
I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn’t come out.
“We brought a load of wood too, Ma’am,” Pa said, then he turned to me and said, “Matt, go bring enough in to last for awhile. Let’s get that fire up to size and heat this place up.”
I wasn’t the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and, much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too.
In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks and so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn’t speak. My heart swelled within me and a joy filled my soul that I’d never known before. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference.
I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people. I soon had the fire blazing and everyone’s spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn’t crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. “God bless you,” she said. “I know the Lord himself has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us.”
In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I’d never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true. I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it.
Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get. Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes.
Tears were running down Widow Jensen’s face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him and didn’t want us to go. I could see that they missed their pa, and I was glad that I still had mine.
At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, “The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We’ll be by to get you about eleven. It’ll be nice to have some little ones around again.
Brother Miles. I don’t have to say, “‘May the Lord bless you,’ I know for certain that He will.”
Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn’t even notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, “Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn’t have quite enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that. But on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. So, Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand.”
I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Just then the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen’s face and the radiant smiles of her three children.
For the rest of my life, whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life. Count your blessings everyday, slowly and thoughtfully.
Let us Pray!
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When I was a kid, we enjoyed the Christmas time because it was wend we got everything we wore out that year.
So for the Christmas we got a pair of new; or sometime not so new hand me down shoes. We got new clothing and sometimes that too belonged to your older brother or sister the year before.
And last but not lease we got a Toy, oh yes a toy. Christmas was also a time of year we could eat as much as we wanted.
Why because Mom always cooked the biggest Turkey she could find, but the problem was we just got finished eating turkey sandwiches from Thanksgiving and now you got another month of eating it again.
Somehow Mom made Turkey in so many ways it was always good to the last bite.
Mostly Christmas was a time of family coming together, sometime aunts and uncles who you did not know you had would come and visit and they always gave you a piece of money.
I can remember one Christmas more then any; it was the one we had nothing.
My Dad had a farm in Florida where we were living at that time and he had gone back to work on the Ships. So it was just my Mother and oldest step brother with all of us 6 kids left on the farm to keep it going till Dad came back home.
Sometimes he would go for 6 months some times up to a year we would not see him so money was hard to come-by at times. There was enough just no extra money for anything that year;
Mom had to make due with what she had. But you know somehow that was the best Christmas we had because I can still remember it and none of the others.
About two days before Christmas my oldest brother went out and cut down a pine tree that we set-up in the house. Then he had a bag full of pine cones, we ask what are then for, he said to have fun with and he got out some old paint. So that is what we did painted pine cones any colour we wanted and when they were dried we hung them on the tree.
Mom as normal got my brother to kill the biggest turkey we had on the farm and my brother managed to sell a few others to the city people who came looking. So there was plenty to eat and the extra money from selling Turkeys sue came in handy that year. That was always like Mom pulling a rabbit out of the hat again and we all got a Toy.
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. It is a time of giving, a time that we can visit family and friend that we might not have seen all year long. It is a time of getting back together and just remembering the past as we look forward to the future.
As in our Story many times our parents sacrificed and did with out in order to give to there Children things that they needed not things that they wanted.
God gives us things we need, things like forgiveness and eternal life.
- John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
When we choose to disobey God, when we turned our back and walked away from his love? When we rejected him and all his goodness, He still does not gave up on loving us.
When we sin and chose to die in our blindness and stupidly, God sent His Son his only Son to die in our place so that he could give us life once again.
For God so loved the world,
That little Verse of Scripture says a lot. In the days of Creation we are told that after God had finish his act of creation he looked out and saw everything he had make
In the book of Genesis 1: 31: we are told, God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
God did not just through us into a dead old world; every thing that came from the Master hand came with the best intensions.
God gave of the best that heaven could give in the creation of Mankind, in that we were created in the image of God. What an honour God places on Man to be made in the likens of his Creator
The Scripture goes on to say that he also gave his only begotten Son,
Not only did God love us but he had also planned ahead that in the event man would prove to be unfaithful, there would be hope for him.
Just how would this come about; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam.
It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through eternality.” Rom. 16:25, R. V.
It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne.
From the beginning, God the Father and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate.
God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency head on.
So great was His love for this world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love.
For love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or by authority.
Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan.
This work only one Being in all the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known.
Upon the world’s dark night the Sun of Righteousness must rise, “with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2). {RC 23.3}
17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
To all who have accepted Christ as a personal Savoir, the Holy Spirit has come as a counsellor, sanctifier, guide, and a witness.
The more closely believers have walked with God, the more clearly and powerfully have they testified of their Redeemer’s love and of His saving grace.
Romans 8:
39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of his creation. It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field.
“His strength settled fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it.” Ps. 65:6; 95:5. It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song.
And upon all things in earth, air, and sky, He wrote the message of his Father’s love for Mankind.
So I ask you this Christmas before you open the first present. Take time and thank God for all the gifts he has giving you.
Take time to thank Jesus for taking your place on the cross and dyeing in your place in order to give you the gift of eternal life.
We did not have all the things that Kids have today, but the little we had we knew and understood the price of what it cost. And that was the sacrifice of our parents
Instead of toys this year just give to your Children something more, give them a box of Love and let them see in you the Gift of Gods forever Love.
There is an old song I remember that went something like this; Iam getting nothing for Christmas Mom and Dad are made, Iam getting nothing for Christmas cause I ant been nothing but bad.
Truth is we were all bad, but God loved us so much he gave us the greatest Gift Heaven could give. His Son Jesus
God Bless and have a very marry Christmas
Elder Tim McNab
D5 Creation
