"The house of the wicked will be destroyed, But the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." (Prov. 14:11,12).
Lord Jesus, help us to set our "tents" upright so that as we flourish, we may be a great people of God. Help us use the "insight" given by you, today. We all know some pain today. My prayer is that you grant all of us your peace.
Dave
Crazy Papa
I'll make 'um an offer
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Rejecting The Savior Is Accepting The Judge
Barb (Mom) and I went to our Easter service tonight instead of in the morning because the entire family will be celebrating Easter at our home and we wanted it to be special which required many things to do. I am so grateful that we went this evening as our Pastor's (Resurrection message) was so crystal clear with a dynamic ending to his message.
He used the text of Paul's sermon on Mars Hill, which I probably would never have considered, but what was most intriguing was his points made in considering the final few verses of scripture and they were:
Act 17:31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
Act 17:32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this."
Act 17:33 So Paul went out of their midst.
Act 17:34 But some men joined him and believed ...
First of all God helped me to understand (completely) that we all have a "Fixed" appointment with God sometime in our future and as Christians we need to be looking forward to that most humbling date with the Father (Acts17:31). We don't know what date that will be and we haven't been given any clues which is God's purpose, which is so that we live our "fullest" for Him while we stand in our mission field!
Second, from these passages of scripture we can see that there were three different responses to our Lord's call through Paul's message. The first and second response was in verse 32 where some "sneered" at the invitation of Paul and rejected his call to Christ and the other was that some simply mocked Paul by saying "we shall hear you again concerning this" as though, with all of their arrogance, they would make time in the future to consider Paul's invitation.
And finally, in verse 34 it very pointedly stated that "...some men joined him and believed..."
Our time on earth is "fixed" by the Father and where we stand each day becomes our mission field and as such, our goal daily is to heed the call of Christ to announce His return to people who would otherwise not be aware. Each day that we live life, passing through to our "fixed" appointment with our Father is another day in the mission field, wherever that may be and our obligation, given what Christ has done for us, is to pronounce the "Good News of Jesus" to those around us. Some will "sneer" at us, others will "put us off" and continue to enjoy the "pleasures of this present world" and there will be those who will understand your comments and want to follow Christ. These decisions are not ours to make however, they are ours to help others seek out and resolve for they too, have a "fixed" appointment with the Father.
Finally, Pastor Todd made this comment which I believe was the most profound of his message: "We have one of two choices to make on this earth. We either choose to accept the claims of Christ and follow Him, or we reject those claims and see what it is that awaits us at our "appointed" time with the Father. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to be two things to mankind and that would be our Savior or our Judge.
"If you reject the Savior, you will be accepting the Judge"! Our decisions in this one area of life determine our eternal destiny and they should be very seriously considered. I hope this thought process helped you, as it did me. On the wonderful "Resurrection Sunday" morning, with the stone rolled away, Jesus Christ walked out of that borrowed tomb to become your Savior or your Judge.
I hope you all have a very joyful and fulfilling Easter Sunday.
Dave
He used the text of Paul's sermon on Mars Hill, which I probably would never have considered, but what was most intriguing was his points made in considering the final few verses of scripture and they were:
Act 17:31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
Act 17:32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this."
Act 17:33 So Paul went out of their midst.
Act 17:34 But some men joined him and believed ...
First of all God helped me to understand (completely) that we all have a "Fixed" appointment with God sometime in our future and as Christians we need to be looking forward to that most humbling date with the Father (Acts17:31). We don't know what date that will be and we haven't been given any clues which is God's purpose, which is so that we live our "fullest" for Him while we stand in our mission field!
Second, from these passages of scripture we can see that there were three different responses to our Lord's call through Paul's message. The first and second response was in verse 32 where some "sneered" at the invitation of Paul and rejected his call to Christ and the other was that some simply mocked Paul by saying "we shall hear you again concerning this" as though, with all of their arrogance, they would make time in the future to consider Paul's invitation.
And finally, in verse 34 it very pointedly stated that "...some men joined him and believed..."
Our time on earth is "fixed" by the Father and where we stand each day becomes our mission field and as such, our goal daily is to heed the call of Christ to announce His return to people who would otherwise not be aware. Each day that we live life, passing through to our "fixed" appointment with our Father is another day in the mission field, wherever that may be and our obligation, given what Christ has done for us, is to pronounce the "Good News of Jesus" to those around us. Some will "sneer" at us, others will "put us off" and continue to enjoy the "pleasures of this present world" and there will be those who will understand your comments and want to follow Christ. These decisions are not ours to make however, they are ours to help others seek out and resolve for they too, have a "fixed" appointment with the Father.
Finally, Pastor Todd made this comment which I believe was the most profound of his message: "We have one of two choices to make on this earth. We either choose to accept the claims of Christ and follow Him, or we reject those claims and see what it is that awaits us at our "appointed" time with the Father. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to be two things to mankind and that would be our Savior or our Judge.
"If you reject the Savior, you will be accepting the Judge"! Our decisions in this one area of life determine our eternal destiny and they should be very seriously considered. I hope this thought process helped you, as it did me. On the wonderful "Resurrection Sunday" morning, with the stone rolled away, Jesus Christ walked out of that borrowed tomb to become your Savior or your Judge.
I hope you all have a very joyful and fulfilling Easter Sunday.
Dave
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