Showing posts with label Are you sure?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Are you sure?. Show all posts

Friday 7 December 2018

The Hidden Souls

The Hidden Souls
                                                          The Fourth Man
It’s five thirty-nine, dawn has not yet broken on this cold winter’s morning.  All around the suburban landscape lies covered, within a blanket of new fallen snow.
On the roads, the morning commute is slowly beginning.  As of yet, however, there are few cars.  All around, there is a peace.  Almost, like the calm before the storm.
Two cars, pull off the street and into the empty church parking lot.  Their tires making the snow squeak, as they move over it.  Coming to a halt, the occupants, three middle-aged men climb out, greet each other, and enter the church.
Before the altar, in the silence of the sanctuary, each man kneels.
Within this holy place, the presence of God is so very real.  His Holy power can be felt as it fills the temple.
I who have attended this church for over thirty years have never felt God’s presence so strongly.
From my vantage point in the balcony I watch as all three are raptured leaving me...   Alone.
If you claim to be Christian do you think that something like what is described in the above story can’t happen? Then think again.
Jesus said,
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  
For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  
Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  
Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:36-42.
As Christians we must remain true to God. True to Christ.
There are many within our churches that have gone to church all their lives yet lack faith in God. They believe in God intellectually and they will tell you they believe but they have never truly turned their life over to God. To them church is where their family and friends are. It is essentially a social club.
Such people know what the bible says. They know how to act in church they know what to say. They know all the Hymns and songs sung at church. Sadly however they have never made true commitment to God.
These are what I have heard someone say are the hidden lost souls within church congregations.
They are perhaps the hardest people to reach. Yet they like anyone outside the walls of our church congregations need to make a commitment to God, a commitment to Jesus that goes beyond intellectual acknowledgement.
As Christians we need to be praying for such people. We need to be praying that God will show us who these people are and how we can reach them for Christ.
One other thing I would ask anyone who believes themselves to Christian is this, Are you truly committed to Christ? Is your faith rooted in God, or are you simply giving intellectual consent to the fact there is a God. There is a real difference.
Please think about it.

Tuesday 26 January 2016

The Way

The way

  “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 
Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” 
                                                                                                                                                     Psalm 1
Here is a truism people of faith can agree with. A man is blessed who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
A man is blessed if he delights in the law of the Lord.
Men and women of faith who love God and follow his precepts do the right things. They demonstrate the love of God to all around them.
I firmly believe that such people will be rewarded by God.
The wicked by contrast will eventually be judged by God even if they get away with things in this life.
The writer of Ecclesiastes states,
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole  duty  of man. 
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” 
   Ecclesiastes 12:13,14.
Jesus backs this up in this parable.
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.  
At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores  and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.  
In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.  
So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.  
And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house,  
for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 
“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” 
                                                   Luke 16:19-31.
I know there are many out there who do not believe in God and an after life. What I would ask is, “are you really sure?”
Do you believe Jesus is all He said He was because Jesus did rise from the dead and Jesus gives you a choice. Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. 
                                                                                                                                John 3:16-18.
Please think about it.