Monday, Nov 23, 2009

11-23 Have we? Are we? Will we?

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“I’ll pay for name tags.” It was Frank. “I don’t remember people’s names well, and I’m new here.” It is kind of embarrassing when you can’t remember names. And the sanctuary is full! We combined our two services to one and sometimes it’s packed! That’s a nice problem isn’t it! For now we are committed to making one service work. So, we are going to condense our stage, move pews forward and add one more row on each side… enough for ten more folks. In January we are proposing that we blow our back wall out into the old kitchen which would be enough for two more rows. And maybe we should try the name tags.

Today's Scripture reading is 2 Chronicles 16; Jeremiah 2; Romans 1
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
to subscribe go to http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com/rss.xml

Today’s thought comes from 1 Peter 1:8-9 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

“How many of you know you are saved?” Years ago Bill and Helen visited a Baptist church where the pastor asked that question. Wherever they looked hands went up. They felt embarrassed and offended. They didn’t know. The church they went to didn’t teach a clear message. “How could anyone know?” they wondered! It wasn’t long before they discovered that the Bible clearly says, “These things are written that you may KNOW you have eternal life!” 1 John 5:13. Knowing is a good thing! Did you know that there are three (3) tenses of salvation? Past, Present and Future. Past: “You HAVE BEEN saved.” Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you HAVE BEEN saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, not of works, so that no one can boast.” There are numerous places in the New Testament where the past tense is used to indicate that once we have received the gift of Eternal Life, it’s our permanent possession. Heb 10:10; Eph 2:3, 4:30; Rom 6:5, 7:6; 1 Pet 1:18; 1 Cor 6:11. Every Christian should be able to pin point the moment when he or she took the plunge and trusted Christ as Savior. Trusting Christ is a decision of faith. If you can’t remember when, you must acknowledge that you have trusted him, and that you do! Second tense, Present: “You are being saved.” 1 Cor 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who ARE BEING saved, it is the power of God.” Past – you have Eternal Life, Present, you continue to have it. When someone is mortally injured, they are “as good as dead.” There’s no way to save them. They are perishing. We however, are enduring. This is what we call “the perseverance of the saints.” Those who are saints will persevere and endure to the end. We are being saved. Phil 1:6, “He who has BEGUN a good work in you WILL COMPLETE IT.” We are being saved. Future tense: “we will be saved.” This is talking about ultimate salvation! 1 Cor 3:15 - When we finally stand before Jesus and he receives us into glory, our Salvation will be complete! Past: we have been saved. Present: we are being saved – he’s making sure of that. Future: we will be saved… ultimate glorification! Think of it like a man overboard in the middle of the stormy Atlantic Ocean. He can dogpaddle for a few hours before he succumbs to the cold, sinks due to exhaustion or gets eaten by sharks! But the captain spots him and throws a life preserver out to him, attached to a strong rope. The perishing man has a choice. He can wave at the captain and shout, “Thanks for the help, but I’m doing fine just the way I am! Thanks! Really! I don’t need your help!” What fool would do that? Or he can enter the life ring and be saved. Once he is securely in the life ring, the crew shouts, “we’ve got him! He’s saved!” (Past Tense). But now they put their backs into it and begin hauling him in and he’s being saved (Present Tense). Finally he’s on deck and after a warm shower, he’s completely saved (Future Tense). So, hang on to the life preserver, Jesus, he’ll carry you through.

Dear Father. Thank you for saving me. I have been saved! What a precious promise. I’m depending on it! I am being saved. You are changing me and pulling me out of a horrible pit. I will be saved. One day I will see you face to face and have a new body and new me! I can’t wait until glorification! Thank you Jesus.

To God be the glory, great things he has done

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 10:00 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

Friday, Nov 20, 2009

11-20 It’s that Love Thing

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There was a bunch of things that went on yesterday! When I look back, I’m amazed at how busy it was! But let me talk about construction. Yesterday Mike and Bill were up on the roof sealing it. It really did look great once they were done if you are an admirer of black tar! I can’t wait to find out if it stopped the leak. Then they cut me two pieces of plywood which I used to make a few “stage risers” for our Christmas program. In fact I spent a few hours cutting six of them to size. More construction ahead!

Today's Scripture reading is 2 Chronicles 15; Jeremiah 1; Acts 28
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
to subscribe go to http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com/rss.xml

Today’s thought comes from 1 Peter 1:8-9 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

“All you need is love!” (Beatles) “I will always love you!” (Whitney Houston) “My endless love” (Lionel Richie) “Because you loved me.” (Celine Dion) “I think I love you” (Partridge Family) “It must have been love” (Roxette) “I want to know what love is” (Foreigner). So, did any of those “Unchained Melodies” (Elvis Presley) play in your head as you read them? Foreigner’s song especially interested me. Here’s a few lyrics “In my life there's been heartache and pain. I don't know if I can face it again. Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far to change this lonely life. I wanna know what love is..... I want you to show me...... I wanna feel what love is..... I know you can show me......” Our world is enamored with love, but love is an elusive thing. What is love? This is one of the most difficult definitions for mankind! Erich Fromm said that "Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence." We may not be able to define it well, but I’m pretty sure everybody wants it. It makes up for the loneliness, heartache and pain of life, doesn’t it? If only to know that I am loved, that makes life worthwhile. And it is nice if you have the ones you love close at hand. I just read facebook and noticed that this Thanksgiving there are a few families who can’t wait to get together and hang out. “Can’t wait to see you next week!” “Miss u too mama!” “Sooooooo looking forward to next week…” But can you really love someone you’ve never seen face to face, can’t talk on the phone to, and can’t text or IM? It happens. It happens all the time. We love Him even though we’ve never seen Him. Does that make our love any less real? To some people it does. Why? Because a relationship takes emotional investment. I’m really not great at the relationship thing. Intimate relationships take lots of up close and personal time, ups and downs, understanding, give and take and lots of change and forgiveness to get closer. I don’t know if I really want to get THAT close to many people. Staying at a distance is good for me. But it doesn’t work if you want love, and it doesn’t work if you want a love relationship with Jesus Christ. To love the one you have never seen, you have to spend time in the dark talking to the guy you can’t see, even though he can hear you. Really. You have to be willing to pay the price of solitude, meditation and reflection. The reason we don’t have a deeper, intimate relationship with Jesus is because we haven’t regularly invested important chunks of time listening to His voice. He speaks though His Word. Listen to it often. He speaks through His Church. Soak it in regularly. He speaks through His Creation. Find some time to connect. He speaks through His still small voice we call the Holy Spirit. Are you listening? If so, then your love will grow.

Dear Jesus. I love You. I am ready to invest some important sums of time into our relationship. I don’t want to just walk around the periphery of love, I want to be right in the middle of it. I know You love me and are anxiously waiting for me to dive in. I’m coming.

Because Your loving kindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 10:55 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT