Invested

Posted on May 23, 2015 by jesustrek

investingFor the past several years, I have gotten into the habit of checking the status of a certain stock that my wife and I have owned. I looked at it almost every day. It was interesting to see it fluctuate. We were always happy to see it go up; not so happy when it went in the other direction.

We just sold that stock, so I don’t suppose I will be keeping up with it anymore. It doesn’t mean nearly as much to me personally now that I no longer own any shares.

That’s pretty much how it goes with people’s interest in their local church. If they have a lot invested in it, they live and die with the ups and downs of the local congregation. If they have poured their heart and soul into the church, they care very much about its wellbeing. People who have invested their time, toil and treasure in the church tend to pray for it, attend worship services and serve much more than they otherwise would.

It’s just natural that it would be this way. Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21).

Is your heart really with your local church? If not, you probably need to invest more in it.

 

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Overcoming a Huge Deficit

Posted on May 22, 2015 by jesustrek

Word-GamesI play word games on line with some friends. One friend and I are evenly matched—she wins about half the time and I win the other half. Right now we have a game going in which she is absolutely killing me. She has almost doubled the score on me with just a couple of letters left to play. I thought to myself, “She’s leading by 200, but it might as well be a million! There is no way I’m going to come back from this deficit.”

In the same way, we can never overcome the debt of sin we owe. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Whether we have sinned only twice, or if we have sinned a million times, we are separated from God by that sin. We can never overcome that deficit on our own.

However, the very next verse in Romans says, “And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Jesus can erase that huge deficit of sin that we owe. His blood can take all of our sins away, and we can stand before God, just as if we had never sinned at all.

I am definitely going to lose that word game I’m playing. But Jesus has made me a winner in the game of life.

 

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Needed Part

Posted on May 21, 2015 by jesustrek

BlowoutI was out for a walk the other day and noticed a piece of rubber along the road. It was a bit of a tire that had fallen off. My first thought was, “I hope that wasn’t one of the parts of the tire that held the air in!”

All members of the church are important. Don’t be the part that fails to do its job!

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”—1 Corinthians 12:27.

 

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The Rock

Posted on May 20, 2015 by jesustrek
This is the rock I'm talking about

This is the rock I’m talking about

A few weeks ago a huge boulder fell onto a highway that I drive on occasionally. This rock, which was as big as a small house, landed right in the middle of the two westbound lanes. Luckily, no one was hurt. You can imagine the devastation this rock would have caused if it had hit a vehicle.

The Bible describes God as our Rock of refuge. He is our protector; he is our fortress.

The New Testament says that Jesus is the capstone, or the cornerstone of our faith. If we build our lives on the Rock instead of the shifting sand, we will have joy in this life and protection for eternity.

However, those who reject Jesus will be destroyed by their lack of faith. Their decision to disbelieve will lead to their eternal doom.

1 Peter 2:7-8 says, “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

No one who was travelling the road that day could ignore the huge rock in the road. We need to keep Jesus in front of people who are travelling life’s highway. We need to put them in a position where they cannot ignore Jesus. Then they will be forced to make a choice. We hope and pray that they will choose wisely.

 

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Owning Your Faith

Posted on May 18, 2015 by jesustrek

leapoffaithA friend of mine says that she didn’t get serious about living for Jesus until she was an adult. Oh, she had been raised in the church. She believed in the Bible and in Jesus, but she was actually riding on the coattails of her mother’s faith. It wasn’t until her mother passed away that she realized that her faith was something that she needed to live out for herself.

Some of the Jewish people that Jesus spoke with had the same sort of problem. Since they were descendants of Abraham, they thought that they would automatically be in good shape with God. Jesus taught them that this was not the case.

Everyone must decide for themselves to pursue a life of faith. It’s not something to be assumed because of your spiritual heritage.

“Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did.”—John 8:39.

 

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Nothing Else Matters

Posted on May 15, 2015 by jesustrek
Dr. E. Stanley Jones

Dr. E. Stanley Jones

Dr. E. Stanley Jones, a Christian, once spoke at a university in India.  His topic was eternity. When Dr. Jones finished his speech and sat down, the president of the university, who was a Hindu, stood up and said, “If what this man says is not true, then it doesn’t matter. But if what he says is true, then nothing else matters.”

The greatest news in the universe is the gospel. The truth that salvation is found in Jesus, and in Jesus alone, should be constantly in our thoughts and often in our conversations. It truly is the only thing that ultimately matters.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”—Acts 4:12.

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Send

Posted on May 14, 2015 by jesustrek

sendI was supposed to send some information to a friend a few days ago. I typed up the message and found her address. Mission accomplished, right?

No. The next day she called to ask for the information. I told her that I thought I had sent it. However, I discovered that the message never went out. Evidently, I had forgotten to hit “SEND”. Obviously, the message can’t get there unless you send it!

Let’s not forget to “send” our prayers to God.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”—Colossians 4:2.

 

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It Spreads

Posted on May 13, 2015 by jesustrek

glitterWhen my wife wrapped a gift a few days ago, she didn’t realize that the wrapping paper she used had glitter on it. We started finding glitter everywhere—on our faces and clothing—like I said, everywhere! I even had glitter all over my Bible after I did some studying at the table where the gift wrapping took place. We will no doubt be finding glitter around the house for many days to come. We probably have glitter in both cars. I am sure that we took some glitter to church with us last Sunday. We are spreading glitter everywhere we go!

That’s sort of like how the gospel spreads. At least it should be.

“He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”—Matthew 13:33.

 

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Severe Weather

Posted on May 11, 2015 by jesustrek

South DakotaSouth Dakota received various kinds of severe weather yesterday. The extreme weather ranged from a tornado that damaged a small town on the eastern side of the state to more than a foot of snow covering the Black Hills to the west.

You never know what kind of storm nature might bring your way.

The storms of life are also a force to be reckoned with. They hit at unexpected times and in unpredictable ways. Economic hardships, family strife, illness, death… the list goes on and on.

Just as Jesus calmed the storm for his disciples, he can also bring peace as we face the storms of life. Sometimes he calms the storm; sometimes he calms us as the storm rages on.

“He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”—Mark 4:39-40.

 

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Mothers’ Day Tribute

Posted on May 9, 2015 by jesustrek

Happy-Mothers-Day-2015John Killinger’s book Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise includes the following tribute to mothers:

I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who was born of the promise to a virgin named Mary. I believe in the love Mary gave her Son, that caused her to follow him in his ministry and stand by his cross as he died. I believe in the love of all mothers, and its importance in the lives of the children they bear. It is stronger than steel, softer than down, and more resilient than a green sapling on the hillside. It closes wounds, melts disappointments, and enables the weakest child to stand tall and straight in the fields of adversity. I believe that this love, even at its best, is only a shadow of the love of God, a dark reflection of all that we can expect of him, both in this life and the next. And I believe that one of the most beautiful sights in the world is a mother who lets this greater love flow through her to her child, blessing the world with the tenderness of her touch and the tears of her joy.

 

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