Matthew 16:24-27
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. NKJV

Why do we work for God? The correct answer is, because we love God. Jesus was very clear as He taught that true love does more than just believe, it acts on what it believes.

John 15:12-14
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. NKJV

What about rewards? The word teaches us that we will be rewarded for our labors. I don’t work out of the motive of only getting a reward, but I also remember in the difficult times, that there is a reward in my labor. Rewards are awesome! They are of the very giving nature of the love of God. He loves us and He rewards us for our sacrifices, works, and persecutions. Even our giving is further rewarded!

Luke 6:38
38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” NKJV

Sometimes we get discouraged as we work and we feel unappreciated, not respected, or taken advantage of, but we must remember that our rewards from man cannot compare to our rewards from God. The Lord emphasized over and over in the Gospels to even do things in secret so we would not be rewarded by man but by Himself!

The approval of God is greater than the applause of man!
-Anonymous

Matthew 6:1-6
6:1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward .
3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
5) “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward .
6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. NKJV

We need to check our hearts from time to time and make sure our motives are in the right place. We all love praise, but we need the praise of God more than the praise of men!

• Date - June 19, 2019
• Author - David Chisholm

Recently in an article, Andy Stanley made the statement that he no longer used phrases like, “the Bible says” in preaching. He said he is trying to reach a post-Christian generation that doesn’t relate to the Bible. I understand what he is saying, but disagree with the approach.

My greatest concern for the present culture in the church is that their faith is not based on the word of God. How far do you go to evangelize? I think the pattern of the Bible gives us these answers. Even still,it seems some leaders have decided to go to any length to try to win someone to Christ, including creating a Christ the Bible doesn’t substantiate.

Hebrews 13:7-9 Concluding Religious Directions
7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday , today, and forever.
9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. NKJV

Do we recreate a Jesus that the offended sinner can relate to? Do we recreate a Jesus in the image and likeness of the offended sinner? Do we change the word of God to try to reach an offended man? Does God want to save people so badly that He will renegotiate the process of salvation because the current sinner is too, smart, hip, cool or modern to fall on their face and cry out, “God save me I’m a sinner”??? If someone believes in a Jesus that has been re-branded to not offend modern man can that faith save him?

Do we recreate a Jesus that the offended sinner can relate to?

Romans 10:14-17 Israel Rejects the Gospel
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?”
17 So then faith comes by hearing , and hearing by the word of God. NKJV

If the Lord was so desperate to save us that He would change the plan because some would reject it, I think He would have started with Israel. They didn’t buy His message, or believe His word and to this day are dying in their sins. If the Lord will not change His way for Israel, I don’t see Him changing it for the LGBT community, or the offended Millennial, or the intellectual, or the person mad at the church or any one else! The great delusion is in full manifestation and I pray you don’t fall captive to it!

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
10 And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved.
11 Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false,
12 In order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness. AMP

Stay in the word of God and stay on course and I will see you in Heaven!

Pastor Dave

• Date - May 29, 2019
• Author - David Chisholm

Matthew 5:6
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. NKJV

What has happened to spiritual hunger and thirst in the church of America? In the human body, having no appetite is usually a symptom of illness or eating the wrong foods at the wrong time. Junk-food will ruin an appetite for food that has nutrition.

2 Timothy 3: 1-7 TPT
But you need to be aware that in the final days the culture of society will become extremely fierce and difficult for the people of God. People will be self-centered lovers of themselves and obsessed with money. They will boast of great things as they strut around in their arrogant pride and mock all that is right. They will ignore their own families. They will be ungrateful and ungodly.
They will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander. Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, belligerent haters of what is good and right. With brutal treachery, they will act without restraint, bigoted and wrapped in clouds of their conceit. They will find their delight in the pleasures of this world more than the pleasures of the loving God.
They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality they want nothing to do with God’s power. Stay away from people like these! For they are the ones who worm their way into the hearts of vulnerable women, spending the night with those who are captured by their lusts and steeped in sin. They are always learning but never discover the revelation-knowledge of truth.

I grew up and spent the first 50 years of my life eating what tasted good without much thought about nutrition, or what the food I was eating was doing to the inside of me. The nutritional value of food really had no meaning to me. I was living to eat, but now I am eating to live. Why? Revelation came as I began to experience the symptoms of disease. Living for the pleasures of this world is the same. We like the taste of the world because our flesh and fallen nature is of this world, and we are not looking at the revelation of eternity.

Eternity is more real to me than the present, so my choices are determined by it, not the moment.

Waiting on God and obeying Him when He leads is not as pleasurable to the flesh as the junk-food of the pleasures of sin, just like a healthy meal of vegetables is not as pleasurable as a Big Mac or Whopper! But, how you feel later makes it all worth the discipline.

Waiting on the Lord in prayer, fasting and resisting temptation may not be as exciting as watching your favorite form of entertainment, but it’s what happens later that pays the big dividends! When we wait on the Lord we will experience Him at some point and nothing can top that!

Psalm 62:7-8
7 In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah NKJV

The bottom line is- culture and convenience has given the flesh so much junk-food many have lost their appetite for the manna of heaven. The human palate can be changed in a short time by the discipline of giving it what it needs instead of what it wants. The spiritual palate can be changed as well! I have not drank a soda since 1997. I have taken a sip a couple of times to taste something and it was so repulsive I spit it out. Before 1997, soda was all I drank.

I used to feed my pleasure center with getting high and drunk, now I feed it with worship and the tangible presence of God. Eternity is more real to me than the present, so my choices are determined by it, not the moment. Parents today are confronted in raising their children of either training them to be successful in the world or alive in Christ, it’s hard to have both because culture demands your complete loyalty, or you will be excluded. Many parents are falling for the serpent’s lies. Their children are learning that loyalties are first to the world, and then to the worship of God. Once that foundation is built, it is not likely to change.

Matthew 6:24
24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. NKJ

Nothing has changed since Jesus said this has it?

Be Blessed and controlled by eternity!

Pastor Dave

• Date - May 22, 2019
• Author - David Chisholm