Month: September 2019

Are You Spiritually Blind?

Scripture: John 9: 39-41

Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment [to separate those who believe in Me from those who reject Me—to declare judgment on those who choose to be separated from God], so that the sightless would see, and those who see would become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind [to spiritual things], you would have no sin [and would not be blamed for your unbelief]; but since you claim to have [spiritual] sight, [you have no excuse so] your sin and guilt remain.

Scripture Commentary: Am I blind?

This is a question we can ask ourselves. Blind to what? Are you blind to injustice to your fellow man? Do you turn from the truth?

Are you a follower of Our Lord, Jesus Christ? If so, do you try to live a Christian lifestyle and spread the Gospel?

The person in the Scripture did not know Jesus had given him his sight. But once he knew, he worshiped Him and told people what Christ had done.

Do you tell people what Christ has done for you?

The man was cursed and evicted from the synagogue but that didn’t stop him from telling everyone about Christ. Physical sight is nothing without spiritual sight. When you turn to Jesus, you begin to see and understand.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Read the Entire Chapter of the Scriptures Referenced:

John Chapter 9

Matthew Chapter 7

Read Other Commentary on John Chapter 9:

Jesus Heals the Blind

How Will You Live Your Life?

Sermon – Part Two: How Will You Live Your Life? (What Punctuation Mark Describes Your Life?)

God has given us time between our birth and death. How will you live your life? What will your ‘black box’ record about you?

Have you ever done something wrong and wondered why you could not look in the mirror and lie to yourself? Satan tried to make Eve think that sin was good, pleasant and desirable. God’s Word, The Holy Bible, tells us what is good and what is evil.

As God called to Adam, “Where art thou,” He is also calling to you. Where are you?

Genesis 3:11

“And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”

God tells us what to do and what not to do. As with Eve, people think sin is good, pleasant and desirable, and think that the knowledge of good and evil is harmless. People usually choose wrong things because they have become convinced that those things are good. It feels good so it must be good. Our sins don’t always appear ugly to us. And it’s the ‘pleasant’ sins that are the hardest to avoid.

Romans 1: 22

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools

We can’t always prevent temptation. God does not tempt us; the devil does. But there is always an escape. Recognize and confess your sin to God. He will forgive you.

John 1: 29

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

What statement will be in your black box when that day, hour, minute and second comes?

John 12: 26

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Jesus has accepted you? Have you accepted Him?

John 6: 47

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

Life is short. Accept Jesus. That is eternal.

Read the Entire Chapter to the Scriptures Referenced:

Genesis Chapter 3

Romans Chapter 1

John Chapter 1, Chapter 12, and Chapter 6

Read Part One of the Sermon, What Punctuation Mark Describes Your Life?

What Punctuation Mark Describes Your Life?

Sermon – Part One: What Punctuation Mark Describes Your Life?

There is a gap between our first and last breath. In between those breaths is a punctuation mark. These punctuation marks in our lives can be a comma, exclamation point, question mark, apostrophe, colon, semicolon, and definitely the almighty period.

None of us is a mistake. God doesn’t make mistakes.

In Genesis 3: 4-6, it says:

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! 5 For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened [that is, you will have greater awareness], and you will be like God, knowing [the difference between] good and evil.” 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise and insightful, she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband [c]with her, and he ate.

This is the first recorded decision that man and woman made.

In an airplane, there is a black box. With humans, the black box is our soul, our spirit that God placed in us.

John 3: 6

That which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

We all have punctuation marks in our lives.

Are you a COMMA, a mark indicating a separation from life, not doing what God placed you here to do?

Or are you an EXCLAMATION POINT? Do you express excitement about what God is doing in your life?

Perhaps you are a QUESTION MARK. You have doubts, uncertainties, and difficulties that have shaken your confidence.

Or, maybe you’re an APOSTROPHE. Have you turned away from life, taking the path of not being present? In doing so, you show your omission from God and the life He has given you.

If you are a COLON, are you part of a group that set good examples in life or are you a series of things that have no meaning? Are you quoting the good or the bad?

Or, are you the SEMI-COLON – that mark of punctuation denoting a degree of separation greater than that marked by the comma but less than that marked by the period?

No matter who you are, the end – completion – is marked by a PERIOD. This is our death.

What punctuation mark will come before the PERIOD in your life?

Read the Full Chapter of the Scriptures Referenced:

Genesis Chapter 3

John Chapter 3

Read Other Sermons by The Gospel Mailman:

The One That Is Lost

Jesus Came to Save the Lost (Part One)

Be Willing to Accept Jesus Into Your Heart (Part Two)

God Can Hear Your Cry and Save You (Part Three)

Return Thursday for the conclusion of the sermon, What Punctuation Mark Describes Your Life?

You Can Inherit the Kingdom of God

Scripture: Matthew 25: 34-36

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Scripture Commentary:

Through parables, Jesus teaches us, in a language that we can understand, how we can inherit the kingdom of God that has been prepared for us.

Jesus tells us how to live, how to treat people and ourselves. If someone is in need, how can we go about life not helping them? How can we not feel their pain?

People aren’t always in need of money, food, or a place to stay.

They may need someone to talk to, or someone to just listen to them. God placed His Holy Spirit in us but if we don’t call on Him for direction, the door won’t open.

Lord, my God, help me to be the servant to feed the people you place in my life. Help me to listen to them. Help me to clothe the naked with your love and forgiveness. I want to spread your Gospel; I want to be a better helper.

Read the Entire Chapter of the Scripture Referenced:

Matthew Chapter 25

Read Other Commentary on Matthew Chapter 25:

They That Were Ready Went In With Him

The Wise Take Time to Prepare

Will You Be Prepared When Christ Returns?

Can You Hear the Voice of Jesus?

Scripture: John 5: 27-29

and to judge the sins of all mankind because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be so surprised! Indeed the time is coming when all the dead in their graves shall hear the voice of God’s Son, 29 and shall rise again—those who have done good, to eternal life; and those who have continued in evil, to judgment.

Scripture Commentary:

Will you hear the voice of God’s Son, Jesus? Can you hear His voice now? Are you doing what He is telling you to do, or are you doing what you think you should do?

If we don’t hear Jesus now, how will we hear Him in the grave? In saying that the dead will hear His voice, Jesus is talking about the spiritually dead who hear, understand, and accept Him.

Those who accept Jesus’s word will have eternal life.

God is the source and creator of life for there is no life apart from God, either here or hereafter. Our life is a gift from God. Because Jesus is eternally existent with God, the Creator, He, too, is “the life.” It is through Him that we live eternally.

Jesus is talking to you now. Are you listening? Do you hear Him?

Read the Entire Chapter:

John Chapter 5

Read Other Commentary on John Chapter 5

Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

You Can Depend on Jesus to Make You Whole

How to Be Good Enough for God

Scripture: Romans 10: 2-4

2 I know what enthusiasm they have for the honor of God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God’s favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God’s way of salvation. 4 They don’t understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that.

Scripture Commentary: You, by yourself, will never be good enough to get into heaven.

I am a good person, I try to live right so I know I am going to heaven. You will be surprised how many people think this way. I was one of them. These thoughts are misdirected.

You will not get into the kingdom merely by being a good person. Some people think it’s a complicated process, but it’s not. Believe in your heart and say with your mouth that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead on the third day.

Jesus is the way to heaven.

Jesus ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God, the Father. You are saved when you ask for forgiveness of your sins. This is how you go to heaven.

Read chapter 10 of the Book of Romans. Paul tells us how to be saved. We aren’t to live by customs or traditions. We are to live by faith in Jesus Christ, not in ourselves.

Salvation is God’s gift to us.

There is no human effort, no matter how sincere, that can ever substitute for the righteousness God offers us by faith. We cannot earn salvation – we cannot be perfect.

Read the Entire Chapter:

Romans Chapter 10

Read Other Commentary from the Book of Romans:

Do Not Continue in Sin – You Have Been Set Free

Jesus Freely Died For Your Sins

Create In Me A Clean Heart

Part Three: I Want to Have A Clean Heart for God (Is the Punishment Fair?)

Psalm 51: 10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Turn to God. Renounce a life of sin and rebellion. Let God create a clean heart within you. He will give you direction, love and the power to change.

It is not God who must live up to our ideas of fairness. Instead, we must live up to His. Don’t spend time looking for loopholes in God’s law because there are none. God is perfect, we are not.

God will judge us for what we are, for our own sin, not someone else’s. Each of us is accountable for our own actions.

2 Timothy 4: 8

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Read the Entire Chapter of the Scriptures Referenced:

Psalms Chapter 51

2 Timothy Chapter 4

Read Parts One and Two of the Sermon, Is the Punishment Fair?

Part One: That Isn’t Fair! In Reality God is Fair.

Part Two: Grace Is God’s Gift