Honest God Truth

People say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder meaning some like the way it looks and some do not!  Ecclesiastes says God makes all things beautiful in its own time.  All things not just something.  If we think people, places and things are ugly now we need to trust God that it will be beautiful when God’s ready to make it that way.  Jesus walked on earth making people beautiful who weren’t.  The most ugly situation can become beautiful when we see Jesus in its mist.  May God give us eyes to see Jesus and then to see all things beautiful when Jesus chooses it to happen.  In the fullness of time Jesus came.  May he come to us each day in the new year.  I love beautiful things! I pray we can see more beauty in 2020.  God bless you my family.

What do you believe? He’s alive and am forgiven heavens gates are open wide he’s alive.  That truth is comprehensive and believable because of the eye witnesses.  Where Jesus went after he was taken up is the mystery and needs more faith to believe than the resurrection.  Jesus lives!  He lives in heaven and by the Holy Spirit lives in all who believe in what he said and did.  He hears every prayer and answers it correctly out of love for us. Do I believe that?  “Lord I believe help my unbelief.” We can believe the past but trusting that the future is in Jesus control and his plan will be done can sometimes be questionable.  Our mind can understand but it takes more than understanding, it takes faith.  And as Ephesians 2:8 says faith is a gift from God. May God’s gracious gift of faith and our ability to understand bring us through the door of eternal life.  For our joy and God’s glory.  Amen

“That you may have certainty!” Luke 1.  We all want to be right when it comes to our thoughts. God made us to choose correctly for our survival.  In our sinless state we do choose correctly and that means choosing all that God has for us.  He has given us all we need to trust and obey him completely.  Adam and Eve had and did just that before sin came into the world.  So God’s plan is to send his Son into the world to solve the sin problem and for the Son to receive more glory by his life, death and resurrection.  The certainty of him being and doing this is right there in front of all creation.  Some see it and believe and some don’t.  That is an historic truth.  Truth, truth and yet for some there is no truth?  I thank God for giving me the grace to believe and trust with certainty that Jesus came, lived perfectly, died for my sins, rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God.  Thank you Jesus.  Amen

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Peace, peace when there seems to be no peace.  How can you have peace when there is struggles all around you?  Peace is lost and gained in your mind and is played out in your heart which controls your actions.  What is true?  What never changes? What can we trust?  Our money, our health, our interpretation of an event?  No!  We can trust in the Bible and what it says about Jesus.  He created us, loves us, and will never leave us!  Peace is knowing this and believing it in our heart.  Nothing else can give us peace in trying time than to know who Jesus is and trust him completely.  So know him, trust him, and share him everyday.  And you will have peace that passes all understanding. Thank you Jesus.  Amen

Hebrews tells us who Jesus is and what he did and does for us.  It is very appropriate for Christmas Eve. It also tells us how to live because of Jesus.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He will never leave us and he purchased our salvation is a most humble way.  Therefore we should be willing to share what we have with others. We should not love money and we should keep good relationships with others especially our marriage.  We should speak of the goodness of God at all times with praise and adoration.  We have the wonderful privilege of being able to please God if we are willing to love him and obey him.  May the Lord Jesus be glorified in our lives today, tomorrow and forever. Amen

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:28-29‬ ‭ESV‬‬.  These last two verses in chapter 12 are both full of joy and full of fear!  They summarize the entire chapter.  I underlined verse after verse because the power of their convictions were overwhelming.  The joy of our position as believers in Christ and the terrible fear of rejecting Jesus good news.  Our position is secure if we continue to believe but if we fall away we are in an awful place.  How hard is it to ask for forgiveness when you see yourself drifting away from the path of righteousness?  It sometimes is so subtle you don’t see it.  That is why the chapter spends much time talking about discipline and its purpose of keeping us strong in trusting Jesus.  An “easy” life may be very deceptive and dangerous.  Our God i...

Let us encourage one other on to love for God and good works to others.  It is faith in Jesus victory over sin that we must hold onto for our salvation.  God’s grace is in allowing us the ability and opportunity to trust him everyday to love and serve him.  Everyday we must trust him no matter what may come our way.  He is our only hope for heaven.  It is open for us if we keep on believing.  Our mission is to continue on the path and encourage others to come with us.  By faith you are saved through grace.  Thank you Father for sending us your Son our Savior Jesus.  In Jesus name I pray.  Amen

When there is an event and people observe or hear about the event they respond.  If the event causes a reaction they respond in the way their feelings lead. Wisdom says to guard your response for it may be offensive to others. This is a correct behavior that loving people should do. Are their times when the loving thing to do is when an event occurs and the response by the leaders is going in the wrong direction is it loving to stand up and call out the leaders for their wrong response?  I believe Jesus did that often with the Jewish leaders during his ministry.  If the leaders are leading the people in the wrong way calling them out is loving.  A servant leader serves their people by protecting them from going the wrong way. Jesus did that for us and we should be willing to be loving like him.

This section of Hebrews is very deep in understanding mercy, grace and faith to obtain eternal life.  Jesus was made perfect.  The man Jesus lived 33 years without sin that is perfection for humans.  He completely trusted the Father in all things.  He never needed to be forgiven and therefore became our Savior.  His choice everyday was to trust the Father which means to obey God in everything.  It was God’s plan from eternity past and it was going to happen.  This is the same plan for us if we keep trusting God everyday.  We much choose to trust and obey him.  We start each day with that goal but unlike Jesus we fail and need to come to the throne of God and ask for mercy and grace.  Jesus is their to forgive us by his blood and we are forgiven.  So we know we have eternal life because daily we desire to obey and trust him.  The desire is the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We may be wayward for a time but God’s plan is perfect ...

Proverbs 25:22 tells us to be kind to our enemies. The reason is so our kindness in response to their evil gives them an opportunity to see their folly or solidify their wickedness.  God uses us to either condemn or awaken them for their need of forgiveness.  God uses us for his glory and we should respond with great joy knowing we are his light in the world. Think of enemies as God’s jewels for us. Amen

A believer in Jesus continues to strive for God and his rest.  This section of Hebrews 3 repeats the message to continue to believe that God is faithful to his word. Joseph was faithful, David was faithful and Jesus was perfectly faithful to the Father.  When we are tempted to lose our faith in God we need to turn to scripture and prayer.  Our hearts need to be prompted to trust Jesus more during those difficult times.  Believe that Jesus never leaves us alone and alway provide a way through our troubles. When we know the truth about God we can believe even when it looks hopeless.  For nothing is impossible with God.  Jesus loves us enough to call us child and friend.  Let us strive to be with him on this journey of life.  Jesus please help us to trust you today.  Amen

Our relationship to Jesus is very special and personal.  Hebrews chapter 2 tells us that Jesus the God of the universe intentionally planned to have you part of his family.  He planned it and is caring it out perfectly and it will happen in and through the people and events in our life.  Even through our own thoughts, feelings and actions.  He does all this and never takes away our ability to choose him on our own. Truly amazing and scripturally true.   The relationship that he offers us as his children is so special that words cannot describe it  but the result of that kind of relationship created the world and all wonderful things. God produces everything out of love.  Love is relational and the result of love is actions that are marvelous, like dying for our sins!  Our goal is to live with the knowledge that we are Jesus’s special children now and for eternity.  Live a life of love for him and all the people God brings into your life. That...

The first chapter of Hebrews is one of the most glorifying section in all of scripture about who Jesus is.  He is the eternal God, creator of all things and he holds all things together.  Where did the universe come from?  Jesus made it as the Son of God. Who made you? The Son of God.  Who came and died for your sins? Jesus Christ the Son of God.  Who rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father?  The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Who intercedes for us every day when we sin, our friend, Lord Jesus.  So the good news of all history is God so loved the world that he sent Jesus to us!  I pray we really open our eyes and our hearts everyday to realize how great a friend, God, Lord, Savior we have in Jesus!  Amen

Good sermons are not when the pastor wants to make a point and uses some scripture to back it up but doesn’t let the word speak on its own.  I have found that human effort to present the truth about the good news of the gospel is better communicated by scripture.  The word of God proclaiming the truth of God.  Human knowledge is good and needed but it takes the Word to change the heart.  The Holy Spirit most often uses scripture to convict the heart and make it new.  The author of Hebrews used the Old Testament to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of all scripture.  The Old and New Testament are not different.  God is the same and he came to reveal himself even more closely in Jesus.  The Father showed us how much he loves us by sending his God to us.  Amazing love. We must worship him today!Amen

 Reading the last chapter first is sometimes good for you know the purpose of the author. Live morally by following the Ten Commandments.  Serve other people with what God has given you. Worship God in spirit and truth. And do all of this because you know the Lord Jesus is with you and will never leave you.  This is the theme of the entire bible.  God knows that we need to be reminded over and over that God does love us and has given us himself to live with forever.  Therefore what ever comes our way in life we count it all joy for it helps us know that God is and that he is with us.  Thank you Jesus for coming to us.  Amen

We are starting Hebrews and want to know the author.   We need to learn constantly about the author of this and all scripture, namely the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, God. Learning about the man God choose to use to write it is good, but the mature know that learning about God is what is necessary and most useful in discerning the difference between good and evil.   The more you learn about Jesus, through scripture, the better you understand life and how God is involved in everything.   There is a spiritual battle going on that God wants us to participate, because he receives more glory when we trust, obey, and love him in the battle he gives us.   Let us win today’s fight for Jesus’s glory and our joy.   Amen

Where does your joy come from? If your joy comes from anything but Jesus it will fail you.  Only Jesus is everlasting whereas everything else ends.  Only God is.  God created everything and we often desire what God created over him.  When your joy is in the present more than the presenter then the joy ends.  If you find more joy in the presenter because of the present he gave you, then the present was a joy builder. Therefore find joy in Jesus because he gives himself to us everyday through his gifts.  Don’t stop at the present but realize that the joy comes from the presenter.  Joy to the world for the savior is born!  What a present! Amen

The angel said fear not.  The statement of “fear not”is throughout scripture.  Fear is a gift from God because it protects his creation.  Fear of nature, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of rejection, loneliness and most of all fear of death.  So when fear overtakes you what should you do?  First we should learn to only fear the one who is ultimately in control and has the power to fulfill his every desire, namely God. Second we need to run to him when he offers us forgiveness, mercy and grace through Jesus Christ.  Fear is good when it leads us to a closer relationship with God.  If fear keeps us from him, then it is sin and Satan corrupting that emotion. There is no other way to true happiness but to true to God in our fear. Thank you God for allowing me to fear, please let it be fear in you and result in love for you.  In Jesus name, Amen

Evil seems to want to please people instead of God. Remember when Saul fell into sin it was because he was afraid of not pleasing the people.  The Jews in this section of Mark did not arrest Jesus because they were afraid of the people.  Pilot did not release Jesus because he was afraid of the people.  What is our motivation in our life?  Are we people pleasers or God followers?  Jesus mission was to obey the Father and not follow evil. By fulfilling God’s will he blessed people instead of pleasing them.  So true love means trusting God and knowing his will is best for everyone.  Thank you Jesus for your love, faith and obedience to the Father God. Amen

We are so blessed because we have put our faith in Jesus and trust him to save us.  In the Olivet discourse Jesus calls us the elect.  Jesus tells his apostles about the future, what will happen to them by people and what God will do to the heaven and earth.  It is frightful to hear, but full of hope because Jesus promises to be with his elect through the Holy Spirit.  Truly the only one to fear is God. And if God is for us who can be against us?  I am so thankful to be part of the elect!  Thank you Jesus.  Amen

Jesus in Mark 12 has this urgency and purpose that is so powerful you would never think of him as weak or passive.  He shows us how to love with intentionality and honor.  He knows his mission which is partly honoring his Father.  He was kind and stern, humble and meek.  Jesus lived perfectly with not one hint of lack of control.  He had emotions but they fit the circumstance ideally.  We have a terrific Lord and Savior.  The more we know him the more we can love and trust him.  Love you Jesus.  Amen

Jesus wanted his disciples to know the importance of heaven.  It is so easy to put all our desires on obtaining worldly goals. Jesus tells us that heavens goals are exceedingly better and obtaining them is impossible without God’s help.  All children need help and all believers have a constant need of help from God to enter the kingdom of God.  We like Bartimaus must cry out to Jesus for help and then with joy follow him.  If we want to be in heaven with Jesus there is no other way but to jump into his arms and let him carry us home.  Thank you Jesus.  Amen

Who is Jesus?  In this section of Mark 8-9 Jesus showed his disciples that he was the most important person who ever lived. In the transfiguration he was speaking with Moses and Elijah and God the father told them to listen to Jesus as he was standing their in all the brilliance of his glory.  Jesus not only fulfilled scripture he was what scripture was written for.  He is the completeness of all that is good, holy and true.  His power has no limit and his love for us has no end.  With him all things are possible.  He and the father are one and he sent his Holy Spirit to live in us so we can be with him forever.  Perfect love casts out all fear and doubt.  Thank you Jesus for who you are.   Amen

Mark 8 Jesus asked his disciples who he was and that is what he asks us everyday.  Jesus came to fulfill all of God’s promises by being the coming Messiah or Christ which  was very important. God always does what he says he will do and that is why everything Jesus did was fulfilling the law and the prophets.  His identity today is hidden to the proud and self righteous but the humble receive eyes to see and hearts to believe.  Let us proclaim his name today so we honor him now as we will in heaven.  Amen