Keep Your Eyes On Him

     "He said to them, make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many , I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But He will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' Then you will say, 'We at and drank with You, and You taught in our streets.' But He will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from, Away from Me you evildoers!' (Luke 13:24-27)."      This was Jesus's response to the question, 'Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?' The owner of the house is God Almighty. When He closes the door, or in other words, after He has called His children home and taken the ones who have made it through the tribulation period, that is it~there are no more opportunities to come to Christ. Those who made the choice not to believe Jesus in their lifet...

     "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone  is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken (Psalm 62:1-2)."      There are people that demand our time and situations that take our attention. We try to fill the void or hurts in our life with a number of things~work, family, sports, excessive spending, overeating, exercise, drugs or alcohol. As you can see, not all of these are necessarily "bad" things, but until you come to the place where Jesus is your everything, and you depend on Him and Him alone, you will continue to take matters into your own hands.  You see my friend, Jesus wants all of you. He wants total surrender-your will to His will. He did not die to be second place to anyone or anything in your life. "You shall have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3)." That is, anything or anyone that you put before the Lord God. This could be your spouse, child, job, friend, parent, sport...

     "The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all (Psalm 34:17-19)."      In this life, we will have troubles; we cannot escape them. Storms will come-you either just came through one or are getting ready to go through one. I am not trying to sound negative, I am just stating a fact. Jesus promises that we will have trouble.  "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33)." You may be asking why do we have to go through heartache and pain? While I do not know all the answers to that question, I do know that we live in a fallen world- one where sin abounds. We have an adversary-satan-who tries to wreak havoc in your life. He will do anything to try and steal your joy. With that being said, we must remem...

       "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen (2 Peter 3:18)."      When Jesus saves you, this happens one time. He places His Spirit within you and gives you a new heart. Over time, as you hear the word preached and meditate on it, you begin to grow in your knowledge and your walk with God. This does not happen overnight. It is a continual process. In the beginning, you are like a little baby who craves "pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:2)." What is the "pure spiritual milk Paul is referring to here?" It is simply God's word. In order to grow spiritually, you must stay in God's word. It is imperative that you do this on a regular basis. If not, you will fall. There are so many things that contradict God's word and if you are not grounded in the truth, you will begin to c...

     "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:22-24)."      The word worship means "to show reverence and adoration," but it is more than that. Harold Best defines it in his book, 'Music Through the Eyes of Faith' as "acknowledging that someone or something else greater-worth more-and by consequence, to be obeyed feared and adored...worship is the sign that in giving myself completely to someone or something, I want to be mastered by it."      Think about that for a moment. What or who do you worship? This question can be answered by what consumes you-your time, energy, thoughts and choices to name a few. God is the only one who is worthy and deserves all of our worship.       Worship is not just worshiping at church on Su...