Purified Water

While looking into a soda machine, I noticed all of the sodas and the purified drinking water as choices.

Which would I choose? One of the many drinks that had the flavors that are enticing but are harmful to me or would I choose the purified drinking water that is good for me, but is clear, pure and tasteless?

While looking over the drinks, the drinks that I really wanted; the ones that appealed to me the most were the sugary, carbonated, caffeinated drinks. These were the drinks that have the flavor that I was drawn to.

On the other hand, I noticed the purified drinking water and was reminded of how God is pure, clean and for my benefit. We need water to survive, but don't always desire it until we are hot, thirsty and desperate.

Being neither hot nor desperate, I chose the soda.

This is human nature. The nature of the flesh. I need water, but since my need was not great or desperate, I chose what I don't need...what is not beneficial to me...what my flesh longed for.

I realized how much we choose what we want over what we need every day. I realized that I too was a slave to my passions as I chose the soda over the water. I realized how much our needs go unfulfilled while our wants get top priority.

God is pure, but we don't desire what is pure. Not until our need is great, our throats are parched or our situation is desperate. God offers His water freely, but we reject it. Why? What does God say in His Word?

Isaiah 55:1-3:

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

We desire and seek what is not beneficial, but what we need is free. It is satisfaction to our souls, but we don't desire it.

When will we seek that which satisfies, which gives us life? God is the purified water. All we need to do is to go to Him and drink and He will give us the Living Water. As Jesus said in John 7:37-38:

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Seek Jesus and live. Choose the water.

What does it mean "to believe"?

I hear many people say that they "believe" in Jesus Christ, but do they believe in Him the way that leads to salvation?

Is it possible to believe in something or someone without knowing what or Who that something or someone truly is?

I believe so.

Let's start by defining the word "believe." Merriam-webster.com defines it as "(A) : to have a firm religious faith and/or (B) : to accept something as true, genuine, or real ".

When people say that they "believe in Jesus Christ", they are saying that they have a firm religious faith in Him or that they accept that He is true, genuine, or real. The question I have is this..."according to the Bible, does this type of faith lead to eternal salvation?"

The simple answer is "yes." BUT, the proof of what you say that you believe is how you live your life.

If no one ever sees Christ in you, in the works that you do, how can you have truly believed in Him or have you only acknowledged Him?

(John 14:12)
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

So, if you truly believe in Jesus, you will do as He did and if you do as He did, people will see Him in you.

Believing is all that is required for eternal salvation. Not works, so that none may boast, but believing. Yes, you will do works if you believe, but works are not the requirement, but the proof of your belief.

(Ephesians 2:8-10)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Just believe and then live out your belief.

(Acts 16:31)
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

How do you believe?

(Romans 10:9)
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

So, it is with your heart that you believe and with your mouth you confess and speak what your heart believes that saves you.

(Romans 10:10)
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Got it?

Do you believe?

What is wrong with the modern Church?

Do you enjoy going to church? Is church supposed to be "fun"? Are we supposed to be entertained? I guess the question really should be "how do you view God?" If you view God as "your buddy", then maybe you want to go hang out with "your buddy" and "have fun." IF, however, you view God with the awe and reverence that He deserves, then it's a serious matter. Do you engage in chit-chat in Sunday school (assuming that you even have Sunday school at your church) about last night's football game or are you engaged in conversations about the Lord Jesus Christ? I ask these polar opposite questions just to raise a point...that the modern Church has lost it's way. If you listen to pastors in many churches, what are they preaching about? Are they talking about declining attendance and church doors closing? That sounds more like a worrying about losing their job than anything else. There's one solution to the problem of the Church...PREACH THE GOSPEL!

Jesus promised that the Church would not fail (Matthew 16:18). Paul wrote in Romans 10:14-16 that the gospel must be HEARD to be BELIEVED and that no one can BELIEVE if no one PREACHES. BUT, he also states that they must be SENT and what does the modern Church desire? For people to COME TO THEM. So, the question that needs to be asked is "are we preaching the gospel as commanded by Christ in the Bible?" Read Matthew 28:19-20 to see what Jesus commanded His followers to do:

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The command is to "GO" and the modern church "STAYS"...we are told to "make disciples" and the modern church wants to "make converts or members"...we are told to "teach them to obey" and the modern church tries to "entertain" the congregation.

So, what can be done to fix the Church? Simple. Preach the gospel, make disciples, teach them to obey the Lord Jesus Christ and to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (Corinthians 2:1-3) . Forget about entertaining the congregation, forget about contemporary Christian music, forget about putting your sermons online or a live feed to the web. Forget about everything except the Lord Jesus Christ! Seek God while He may be found (Acts 17:26-28). Then, and only then will we have revival.

What does it mean to witness for Chirst?

First of all, what is a witness? Well, if there is an automobile accident, the police will want to talk to any witnesses. Why? Because the witnesses actually saw what happened. They know the details because they were there. In the same way, what does it mean to be a Christian witness? Does it mean that you invite someone to church? Does it mean that you give someone a Bible? Maybe it means something more.

The definitions of a witness are (1) : attestation of a fact or event : testimony; (2) : one that gives evidence; specifically : one who testifies in a cause or before a judicial tribunal; (3) : one asked to be present at a transaction so as to be able to testify to its having taken place; (4) : one who has personal knowledge of something; (5)a : something serving as evidence or proof : sign b : public affirmation by word or example of usually religious faith or conviction (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/witness).

If a witness is someone who has seen something and then gives testimony, what does it mean to be a witness of Jesus Christ? I would say that it means that we have evidence that we have personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and that we are giving public affirmation to this fact by sharing that fact by witnessing to others. While inviting someone to church is fine, it is not witnessing. We witness to non-believers so that they too might believe. We witness to fellow believers to build them up in their faith and to encourage them. Witnessing is bold and passionate because we KNOW something that is true. How can we NOT be passionate about knowing the Lord Jesus Christ unless we don't know Him at all (2 Corinthians 13:5)?

Have you ever noticed that when someone just hears something but never saw that same something, they can't seem to keep it to themselves (this is called gossip)? Well, if we SEE something and EXPERIENCE something, why then, do we say NOTHING? The fact is, we cannot speak of what we have not witnessed. If you have never shared your faith, does it really exist? If you have never been a witness of Jesus Christ, have you really seen Him?

How far have we fallen?

What is the primary goal of the Christian church? Is it going forth and making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) as Jesus commanded or is it increasing our church membership? What do you think?

If you visit a lot of churches, you may start to notice a pattern. What I have observed is that the smaller churches are more interested in preaching the gospel from the Bible (God's Holy Word) than growing their attendance (of course they do want to grow, but it is not the emphasis) while the larger churches (most of them, not all) are more interested in entertaining and growing their membership while preaching sermon series after sermon series concentrating on life enhancement and "feel good" messages that will offend no one that are not necessarily their own material ("borrowing / downloading" other pastors sermons or preaching from another pastor's book). What should be the pattern for pastor's to follow? Preach God's Word from His revealed and inspired Word OR preach on topics (sermon series') that help people feel better concerning day-to-day issues while using Bible verses (not necessarily in context) to back up their points?

I'm not asking you which you prefer, but which is biblical? Let's go to our the ultimate example...how did Jesus preach? Jesus presented the gospel and invited those that believed His message to follow Him. He never pleaded or begged anyone to follow Him. Is this the way that pastors do it today? Hardly. They seem to beg and plead with people to answer an altar call. They have music and special lighting to enhance the mood. Did Jesus need these type of theatrics? No. He spoke the truth and left it up to you whether or not you believed His message. If you did, you followed Him. If you didn't, He never begged or pleaded with anyone to follow Him. Why do pastor's today NOT follow Jesus' example? Because they have fallen into sin and are trying to do it in their own power. They do not believe in the power of God to move and convict sinners via the Holy Spirit. They believe that it is up to them to convince sinners that they need Jesus without ever relying on the Holy Spirit to convict sinners of their sin first.

When pastor's and churches stop trying to DO "God's work" for Him and allow Him through obedience to work through them, then we will have sinners coming to Christ and churches growing in membership. We can't do anything for God. We must instead abide in Christ (Ephisians 3:1-4) and bow to the Lordship of Jesus and confess Him as our Savior.

Are preachers supposed to write their own sermons?

Have you ever wondered how many preachers actually write their own sermons? How would you even know if they didn't? Well, I've found out in my many experiences that preachers sometimes take credit for sermons that they didn't write. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with quoting someone or even using someone else's sermon as long as they give the proper credit and don't make a habit of doing it all of the time. If the preacher gives credit to whomever DID write the sermon, then at least they're not trying to deceive anyone. However, if they don't, isn't it plagiarism? I know that when I was in college that if I quoted someone or used someone else's material that I had to give credit to them or else I would be accused of plagiarism.

The reason that this bothers me is because God warns us about prophets going to the people and claiming to be giving them the Word of God, when in fact, God didn't send them or give them His Word (Jeremiah 23). In fact, the opening words in Jeremiah 23 are aimed at "the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of (God's) pasture." This sounds an awful lot like preachers who are not speaking the Word of God.

When considering if this is really important or not, ask yourself one question..."should preachers be studying the Word of God themselves to receive the Word that God wants their congregation to hear or should they take it easy and just download someone else's sermon because it's easier to do so?" Do you care? You should. I do. What does God say about it?

Jeremiah 23:20-22

²⁰"The anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;
In the last days you will clearly understand it.
²¹"I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.
²²"But if they had stood in My council,
Then they would have announced My words to My people,
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds.

So, what in the world is going on in churches these days? Are preachers trying to announce God's Word to His people or are they just plagiarizing other preachers instead of spending time with God and getting His Word directly from the source? Why does it matter? If the Word comes from another man and not God, then is it still God's Word? My point is that the Word that the preacher gets should be directly from God. If it's from a man, then it has the chance of having someone else's point-of-views and someone else's theological beliefs. Sermons should come after studying God's Word and meditating on it as well as praying about it. Why are we replacing it with the sermons of Pastor Mega Church? It's just so much easier to download and regurgitate someone else's work isn't it? This reminds me of President Obama and his great teleprompter debacles. He does the same thing that the downloading preacher does...he gets someone else to write his speeches and he simply reads it off of his teleprompter. But the funny thing is that when the teleprompter goes out, he doesn't have a clue as to what he's supposed to say...BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT HIS OWN WORDS! The same thing is true of the preacher who doesn't get his sermons from God and write them himself as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Consider the Words of God concerning His Word:

Jeremiah 23:20-22

²⁹"Is not My word like fire?" declares the LORD, "and like a hammer which shatters a rock?

³⁰"Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who steal My words from each other.

³¹"Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.'

³²"Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams," declares the LORD, "and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit," declares the LORD.

So, in conclusion, the preachers who don't get their sermons from time spent with God are leading the congregations astray and are not benefiting anyone. God condemns this growing practice and if you are attending a church where the preacher is downloading all of their sermons, I suggest that you find another church to attend. It's a good bet that if the preacher actually uses their Bible (i.e., holds it in their hands and reads out if it), then you are probably at the right place!

Are we supposed to be "HAPPY"?

I wonder if we are supposed to be happy. Perhaps someone out there can help me with this. As I observe the world around me, I have noticed that so many people are unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives. Why is this? Are we entitled to "happiness" and are we supposed to stay in a marriage ONLY until we are no longer happy with our spouse?

I believe that the problem is that we as a nation and culture have bought into the lie that we "must" be happy at any cost! We want instant gratification and feel that we must always feel like we are "in love" with our spouse. The minute that we no longer feel these feelings of "love" and things get tough, we want to find someone new that will be all about us. While it is nice to experience the newness of new found love, it is inevitable that we will also lose the initial excitement and feelings of love that we had at the beginning of any relationship.

In short, every relationship will experience hard times and feelings of distance between spouses. It is inevitable that we will have arguments and, if left unresolved, we will allow our relationships to grow cold where we will then give up on the relationship and will be open to or will start seeking a new relationship, whether we realize it or not. Why do you suppose that the divorce rate is so high in this country? The divorce rate for 1st marriages is 50%; for 2nd marriages, it's 67%; for 3rd marriages, it's 74%. Notice that the rate increases in every subsequent marriage. Why? Once you take the easy path out of a relationship that God desired to be permanent, it gets easier and easier to take the easy road out of every subsequent relationship.

"It's too hard to stay together," "I'm in love with someone else," and "I don't love them anymore" are common excuses for ending a marriage. What it comes down to is "I care more about myself than I do about the person that I pledged to put above myself." Don't you remember the vows that you took when you got married? You promised to take care of the other person, to love them unconditionally forever, to stay with them even if times got tough. Does your commitment mean anything to you? Does your word carry any weight at all? No matter how hard a relationship has become, you have, in some way, contributed to it, good or bad. All relationships are circles; What goes around, comes around. Your attitude contributes to your relationships. Your words have the power to build up or to tear down and you can choose which way you use those words. No matter what your spouse says to you, you have the power to choose to be loving and encouraging to them. You can change their attitude towards you by loving them unconditionally, but it takes courage, patience and time. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is a good relationship. Relationships are only as good as the time, love and effort that you put into them. If I have a garden and don't tend to it, it would be full of weeds within weeks. Relationships are like gardens in the same way...if you don't continually spend time caring for your relationship, it will be full of weeds as well and will fall into decay and ruin.

So far, I've left the Bible out of this conversation. But what does God's Word say about divorce?

Malachi 2:15-16
¹⁵ Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

Matthew 5:32-33
32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
³³"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.'

Mark 10:10-12
¹⁰When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.
¹¹He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
¹²And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

1 Corinthians 7:10-14
¹⁰To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.
¹¹But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
¹²To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
¹³And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.
¹⁴For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

1 Corinthians 7:26-28
²⁶Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.
²⁷Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife.
²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

According to the Bible, God meant for marriage to last for life. Divorce only makes things harder, especially if children are involved. God tells us to remain married, even in crisis. Why would God tell us this? Aren't we supposed to be "happy?" Is "happiness" supposed to be our goal? Not according to God. If it were not in our best interest to remain married, don't you think that God would allow us to divorce without consequences? We must remember that what God has spoken in His Word is the Truth. If we value Truth, then we should follow God's instructions as it is in our best interest to do so. If we cannot handle the "troubles" that we will face in marriage, then we are told to remain unmarried (1 Corinthians 7:28).

Also remember that God says that "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD." (Proverbs 18:22) Why does God says this and also say that married people will face many troubles in this life? Perhaps it's because anything worth having that is considered to be "good" will not be easy to maintain. Since we are a fallen race, then things are going to be hard. Life is hard as it is, so why would a relationship be easy?

In closing, I want to share something with you...I have discovered the secret of life. Read the scripture below and pay particular attention to the bold words which I have made bold for emphasis:

Philippians 4:1o-13
¹⁰I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Contentment is the secret of life. If you can learn contentment regardless of the situation or circumstances, then you, too, can avoid the "happiness" search. Of course, the biggest Truth that is revealed in the above verses is that the strength needed to be content in every circumstance comes from Jesus Christ. He is the One that gives grace and strength to those who belong to Him. Do you belong to Him? I pray that you do. How do you get to know who He is? Read His Word, repent of your sins, obey what you read and pray for His strength. Abide in Him every day, meditate in His Word and show His love and remember that it's not about you. It's about Him.