Have your iniquities separated you from God?

Sermon: Will You Be Prepared When Christ Returns? (Have your iniquities separated you from God?)

Part Two: Isaiah 59: 2

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Matthew 25:10-12

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

How will you R.S.V.P? I will attend or I will not attend.

Read the Complete Chapters of the Scriptures Referenced:
Isaiah Chapter 59
Matthew Chapter 25

Read Part One of the Sermon, Will You Be Prepared When Christ Returns?

Will You Be Prepared When Christ Returns?

Sermon: Will You Be Prepared When Christ Returns?

Part One: Matthew 25: 1-4

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.

This is a story for today, with an emphasis on the question, “Are you prepared if Christ was to come here, now?” God tells us throughout the Bible to prepare ourselves for His coming.

I can pray for you but I cannot live for you.

The parable of the 10 virgins illustrates that each of us is responsible for his or her spiritual condition. I can pray for you but I cannot live for you. I can take you to church, and read you the Scriptures. However, if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you are the one who is lost.

This parable is about you and it’s about me. Some of us are prepared and are waiting. But some of us are waiting for the procession to start before we think about getting prepared.

Everyone is responsible for his own actions.

Now here comes the bridegroom, Jesus, with the bride. They have made many stops along the way. They have seen family, friends, and well wishers along the route. Those of us who have our oil are prepared to join the procession, and we only have enough for the procession. We have none to spare for those who didn’t do what was required. Each person is responsible for him/herself.

Did you prepare yourself?

Are you ready for the good food, music, wine, and the other fine single people who will be in attendance? Or do you need to run off to buy your oil after the procession has begun?

When Jesus comes, you can’t ask Him to wait because you didn’t take the time to get ready. Spiritual preparation can’t be bought or borrowed at the last minute. Our relationship with God must be our own.

God rewards faithfulness.

The parable describes the consequences of two attitudes toward Christ’s return. There are those who diligently prepare for it by investing their time and talent serving God.

Then there are those who take no time and have no heart to work for God. Those who bear no fruit for God cannot expect to be treated the same as those who are faithful.

John 14: 3

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Jesus told His followers, and He is telling us what we must do to enter the kingdom. First, we are to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Then we are to love one another, and help each other spread God’s Word wherever we can.

Read the Full Chapters of the Scriptures Referenced:
Matthew Chapter 25
John Chapter 14

Return Friday, November 23, for the next installment in the sermon, Will You Be Prepared When Christ Returns?

Refrain from the Wickedness of a Godless Life

Scripture: Romans 1: 18-22

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Scripture Commentary: Don’t be a slave to the wickedness that is your human nature.

The people in Romans Chapter 18, just like some of us today, chose to live in wickedness, rejecting God.

God does not usually stop us from making choices that are against His will.

He allows us the choice to reject Him. He lets us declare our supposed independence from Him, although He knows that in time we will become slaves to our rebellious choices.

Does life without God look like freedom to you?

Look more closely. There is no worse slavery than slavery to sin. People tend to believe lies that reinforce their own selfish, personal beliefs. Today, more than ever, we need to be careful about the input we allow to form our beliefs.

The Bible is the only standard of truth. Bible study, and strong support in a Christian church can help you gain strength to resist Satan’s powerful temptations.

God’s gift of His Son Jesus Christ is the only gift we need.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Romans Chapter 1

Let God Fill You with Wisdom and Understanding

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

Scripture Commentary: Lord, give me wisdom and knowledge.

God’s “secret wisdom,” which has been hidden, was His offer of salvation to all people. This reality, originally unknown to humanity, became crystal clear when Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection proved that He had power over sin and death and could offer us this power as well.

God’s plan is still hidden to unbelievers.

Unbelievers either refuse to accept God’s plan, choose to ignore it, or simply haven’t heard of it. Jesus was misunderstood and rejected by those whom the world considered wise and great. He was put to death by the Pharisees and Sadducees. This rejection was predicted in Isaiah 53:3 and Zechariah 12:10-11.

Some people today still reject and crucify Jesus in their hearts. He gave His life for us. We cannot imagine all that God has in store for us, both in this life and for eternity.

God will create a new heaven and a new earth. And we will live with Him forever. Until then, His Holy Spirit guides us.

This world is not our home.

Read the Entire Chapter:

1 Corinthians Chapter 2

Additional Reading:
Isaiah Chapter 53
Zechariah Chapter 12

Confidently Trust the Lord, Your Savior

Sermon: Do You Know the Gift of God: Confidently Trust the Savior

Part Four: John 4: 50-53

Jesus said to him, “Go; your son lives!” The man believed what Jesus said to him and started home. As he was already going down [the road], his servants met him and reported that his son was living [and was healthy]. So he asked them at what time he began to get better. They said, “Yesterday during the seventh hour the fever left him.” Then the father realized that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives”; and he and his entire household believed and confidently trusted [in Him as Savior].

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Do you believe Jesus died and rose from the dead on the third day? If not, who are you praying to?

The nobleman in John Chapter 4 believed that Jesus could heal his son. Therefore, he walked 20 miles to ask Jesus to come to his home to heal him. Jesus looked at the nobleman – a Gentile, a Roman – and said, “Go; your son lives!” And the man believed the words that Jesus spoke to him, and he went home. He didn’t tell Jesus that He had to come to his house in order to heal his son.

When he met Jesus, he addressed Him as Sir, putting himself under Jesus although as a Roman, he had legal authority over Jesus.

The nobleman not only believed that Jesus could heal his son; he also obeyed what Jesus told him to do by going home. He demonstrated faith.

James 1: 6

But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind.

Do you have the faith of the nobleman? Will you listen and do what God says?

When you pray to God, thank Him for everything He has done in your life. Be obedient to Him. And when you ask for God’s guidance, leave your problem in His hands.

God loves us all. Be obedient to God. Have faith. Believe.

Read the Full Chapters of the Scriptures Referenced:
John Chapter 4
James Chapter 1

Read the other parts of the Sermon, Do You Know the Gift of God?
Do You Know the Gift of God? (Part One)
Jesus Offers You Living Water to Slack Your Thirst (Part Two)
Believe the Word that Jesus Speaks to You (Part Three)

Believe the Word that Jesus Speaks to You

Sermon: Do You Know the Gift of God (Believe the word that Jesus speaks to you)

Part Three: John 4: 46-53

So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.

Do you have faith in Jesus?

In this scripture Jesus is preaching and teaching the Gospel on his way to Cana in Galilee. He had already turned water into wine at the wedding on His first visit to Cana. Now Jesus has done many miracles, talked to Nicodemus, cleared the temple of people using it as a marketplace and bank, and healed the paralyzed man at the pool.

I could go on but let’s look at this nobleman from Capernaum whose son is sick and dying. He heard that Jesus was coming out of Judea into Galilee and he goes looking for him.

This person is not a Jew. He is probably a Roman officer in Herod’s service. He walked about 20 miles. Was he going to ask a Jew to heal his son? Or did he walk to ask the person he knew to be the Messiah to heal his son?

We don’t know how he knew about Jesus and why he had so much faith in Him.

Do you pray and the leave your cares in God’s hands?

Or do you try to fix everything by yourself? If so, you are saying that you don’t believe God – that you have no faith. If that’s the case, then why ask God for help?

We often go to God and expect an immediate answer. We took our time in going to Him. Why can He not take His time?

If we received instant answers, would we learn anything?

When God answers you, you will know that it is Him.

Hebrews 4: 16

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 13: 5

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Pray. And have faith.

Read the Full Chapters of the Scriptures Referenced:
John Chapter 4
Hebrews Chapter 4
Hebrews Chapter 13

Return Thursday for the next installment in the sermon, Do you Know the Gift of God?

Read the other parts of the sermon, Do You Know the Gift of God?
Do You Know the Gift of God (Part One)
Jesus Offers You Living Water to Slack Your Thirst (Part Two)
Confidently Trust the Lord, Your Savior (Part Four)

Jesus Offers You Living Water to Slack Your Thirst

Sermon: Do You Know the Gift of God: Drink From the Living Water

Part Two: John 4: 6-10

Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The Samaritan Woman: How can you ask me …?

Jesus asked the Samaritan woman at the well for water to drink. She was startled that a Jew would ask her, a Samaritan, for anything!

She knew the Jews hated her people. They felt that Jews who had married Assyrians betrayed both their people and nation. Add to this that this Samaritan woman knew how her own people felt about her.

When Jesus asked her for water, she asks, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” Jews did not deal with Samaritans.

Jesus’ Response: If you knew the gift of God …

When Jesus refers to the living water of God, He is saying to us to drink of the everlasting God. He is not referring to a physical thirst as she thought, but of a living desire to be closer to God.

When we read His Word, The Bible, we are reading His Living Water. And when we study The Bible, our spirit – the Holy Spirit in us – is being fed.

A Talk with God is a conversation like no other.

No respectable person would have said a word to this woman. But Jesus is having a conversation with her!

In John 4: 16, Jesus asks her to get her husband. She answers truthfully that she has no husband. Jesus responds, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.”

When she discovered that Jesus knew her private life, she quickly changed the subject. Will you try to change the subject?

The woman reveals that she knows the Messiah is coming. Jesus then reveals himself to her, and she returns to the city to tell others. Despite her reputation, many took her invitation and went to meet Jesus.

Jesus used her to introduce the people of this city to God. If you think about it, she is the first female evangelist.

Don’t think that God cannot use you because He can use us all.

Read the Full Chapter of the Scripture Referenced:
John Chapter 4

Read the other parts of the sermon, Do You Know the Gift of God?
Do You Know the Gift of God? (Part One)
Believe the Word that Jesus Speaks to You (Part Three)
Confidently Trust the Lord, Your Savior (Part Four)

Do You Know the Gift of God?

Sermon: If You Knew the Gift of God

Part One: John 4: 6-10

The Woman from Samaria

Today we’re going to talk about two people who had heard of Jesus but who had never met him. The first is a Samaritan woman who frequented Jacob’s well each day for water. She is referred to as a person of mixed race. Also, she is described as a person who was known to be living in sin.

Before I go further, here is some background on Samaria. It’s in the Northern Kingdom, a part of Israel between Jerusalem and Galilee. After the Assyrians had conquered the Jews, many Jews were deported to Assyria and foreigners were brought in. They helped to settle the land and keep the peace. With the intermingling, intermarriages between the Jews and these foreigners resulted. Jews living in the Southern Kingdom looked upon these people in the Northern Kingdom as ‘a mixed race’ of impure people.

Today some groups of people consider people of color as inferior. There are no inferior people. We are all God’s children, and God does not make mistakes!

Jesus’ journey to the well

Jesus and his disciples had walked about 40 miles from Jerusalem to Samaria in the hot sun. The roads were dirt. They weren’t walking in Air Jordans but in sandals or bare feet.

Jesus was tired and he sent his disciples into the city to purchase food. Jesus then sat by the well, resting and waiting. Because it’s Jesus, we know that he knows what the future holds, so he knows the woman is coming!

There are no chance encounters with God

The woman came to the well around noon. This was her habit because she knew no one would be at the well at that time. She did this to avoid meeting anyone because everyone knew of her and her reputation.

But on this particular day Jesus was there waiting for her!

Like the woman at the well, you are here today not by mistake but by design. You could have been somewhere else but you are here.

You can’t go anywhere that God does not know. There is nothing you can say or do that he doesn’t know.

What will you do when you find God sitting, waiting for you? When that quiet voice speaks to you, what will be your response?

Read the Full Chapter of the Scripture Referenced:
John Chapter 4

Return later this week for the second installment of the sermon, If You Knew the Gift of God

There Is No Death In Jesus Christ

Scripture: Romans 6: 7-10

For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Scripture Commentary: Why do you fear death?

What are you doing in your life that you know is wrong? Are you a part-time Christian? If any of these apply, then death has a hold on you.

Put Christ first in your life.

Look at yourself. Be free from the hold of sin and death. Then you will have a new life with the Holy Spirit being your comforter, and you will be bound to Christ.

We have a choice to live a life with Christ, doing good. Or we can live in sin with satan. Without Jesus, we would be doomed, suffering and separating from God.

We have one master, and He is God.

You are free to choose, so choose to be free of sin and death. Jesus died on the cross to save us, so we can choose to live with Him in eternity.

God has freely given us the gift of life with Him forever.

Read the Entire Chapter:
Romans Chapter 6

Can You Hear God’s Voice? He Talks to You.

Scripture: Acts 28: 26-27

Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Scripture Commentary: Do you hear God when He is talking to you?

… Or are you hearing your inner voice? God is talking to us every day through His Word. If you are so preoccupied with yourself that you can’t hear him, you are lost.

Paul was trying to tell the people about Jesus.

Some of the people heard and some did not, just as today some will listen and learn about Our Lord Jesus Christ and some will not. The choice is yours.

In Paul’s time the people had to wait for someone to bring the news. We have the new! We can look back and see what happened. Also, we have The Holy Bible to tell us the Good News.

God is telling us how to follow Him. He also gives us a blueprint for how to treat our fellow man. God loves us so much. He gave His only begotten Son to show us the way.

Can you hear God talking to you?

Read the Entire Chapter:
Acts Chapter 28