The Bema Awaits...

The Bema Awaits

 

 

As we go through life, how many times does someone do something to you and you hold a grudge? We need to live everyday as if we knew that Christ was going to come that day. There are many times in the Christian life where we need to just forgive and forget. But, do we do that? I know it may seem like I am "preaching to a choir" but, the Lord really brought this to my attention tonight.

 

Hebrews 12:1-2  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Jesus faced the cross with joy. We need to face difficulties and trials in our lives too. So, does that little thing that your brother or sister did to tick you off really matter? No! When we meet with Christ in the air, we are all going to have to give an account of our lives to Christ. I don't know about you, but I don't want to look back over my life and just see a life full of grudges that could've been easily forgiven and forgotten.  

A Whole Bible?

A whole Bible?

or a Bible full of holes?

 

 

Do we read the whole Bible? or do we only read the parts that "justify", if you will, our sins? There are many people in this world today that go about their lives living as they want, claiming to be Christians, but living however they want. They don't think about the Bible as a whole, they just read the parts that they want to read that they think will "justify" their sins. If you ask them, they would probably tell you that their sins were ok because the Bible says they are. However, they think this way because as they read the Bible, they are picking and choosing which passages they are reading and they are not reading the passages that they know are going to make them feel guilty about their sins.

 

How many times do we, as Christians, do this? When we have sin in our lives, is there certain passages that we stay away from because we know we will be convicted of our sin if we read them? When we read the Bible, we need to read it has a whole...not full of holes. 

A Funny for Today

If you need a good laugh...

Tonight Jimmy was working on cleaning his room.

(and from the pictures...he is doing a VERY deep clean ;)

As Dad walked by,

this is what he saw.

The only thing that you could see was his socked feet.

  

Then he thought that if he had a pillow,
he could just sleep there for the night.
I don't think it would've been too comfortable though. ;)
Anyway...he said that it would've been a pain in the neck.

God doesn't call the qualified...

Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper,

David had an affair, Noah got drunk,

Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer,

Gideon was insecure, Mirriam was a gossip,

Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter,

Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody,

Moses stuttered, Abraham was old,

and Lazarus was dead.

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

 

This last weekend, I went to the Truth Weekend at Camp Chetek. One of the sessions was on the message of the Gospel. Brother Ben Schettler talked about how we can be missionaries even now. But before we share the message of the Gospel with others, we must understand and get a grip of the Gospel for ourselves.

 

Have you ever just sat back and thought about what Jesus did for us? God sent His perfect Son to the world to take on all our sins and die in our place. We should have died on that cross for all our sins, but Jesus took the punishment on Him and went through the agony of His Father turning His back on Him. If we don't have a grip on that truth, then we are going to have a hard time sharing it with others.

 

Then this morning, Brother Mark Zimmer and his family were visiting our church from Yap, Micronesia. He also talked about how the Gospel changes lives and how we must first have a grip on it before we can share it.

 

I am so thankful that God can use me for His glory. This poor, wretched sinner...it was in His perfect plan to create me disabled so that through me, His glory would be made known. The question is, Are we willing to let God use us? After all, God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!



A Bus Ride, A Conversation, & A Blessing

Lately I have been reading Will Our Generation Speak by Grace Mally. As I was reading it last Thursday night, the Lord really convicted me that I need to be witnessing more. That night, I prayed and asked the Lord to give me an opportunity to witness. What I didn't know was that that opportunity was going to come soon.

The bus that we ride to school is called the "Naughty Kids Bus." So, us girls normally listen to our iPods on the way to school. After we dropped off at the middle school, one of the high school girls was going on and on about how she thought the Bible was just a stupid Book and how she wanted to burn It. (She said all this as I was sitting reading my Bible.) So I just simply held up my Bible and asked her, "You mean this Book?" And this is about how the conversation went.

"Why do you have that?" she asked.

"Because it is the most important Book anyone could ever read." I replied.

"How do you know that It is true? Someone probably just dreamed it up and decided to write it down." she said.

Then I explained to her that we can know that the Bible is God's Holy Word because He says so many times. She was raised Catholic so she asked me many questions about the Bible and what I believe about It and why my beliefs are different from the Catholic beliefs. I was also able to explain why Jesus died on the cross.

"Why do we celebrate Christmas?" she asked.

"We celebrate Jesus' birth. That's what Christmas is all about." I explained.

"I don't get it, how could Jesus come to the earth as a Baby and still be God?" she asked.

Then I thought 'Lord, how am I going to explain this?' So I explained it as best as I could. She then told me that she still didn't understand it. I told her that none of us can understand it fully. If we could, we would be God ourselves. (Then I thought back to my Bible lesson. Just the other day, my lesson taught me the same thing! It was neat for me to be able to share it with her when I had just recently learned it myself.)

We continued to talk the rest of the ride to school. As we were leaving, I was able to give her and one of the guys that rides our bus each a Your Choice: Heaven or Hell tract. They both told me that they would read it. They also said that they would come to me if they have any questions.

I was so thankful for the opportunity to witness just after I asked the Lord to give me the opportunity. Please pray for these two kids that they would think about what I told them and that they would read the tract.

Jimmy

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

 

Wow, I can't believe you are 14 now!

You are an awesome brother.

There have been many times that we have laughed together,

cried together,

and yes...there have been times that we have laughed at each other.

I don't know what I would do without you.  

I love you awesome little brother!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday.



Don't Be Ashamed

Romans 1:16

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:

for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;

to the Jew first,

and also to the Greek."

 

Are we ashamed of the Bible? We live in a world that has the mindset of, "Do what you want, there isn't a God that is going to judge you." This often than not discourages us from sharing the Gospel. But, as Christians, we need to be boldly proclaiming the Gospel to everyone we meet.

 

Ephesians 6:18-20

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,

and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

And for me, that utterance may be given unto me,

that I may open my mouth boldly,

to make known the mystery of the gospel.

For which I am an ambassador in bonds:

that therein I may speak boldly,

as I ought to speak."



 

There are many people that don't believe the Bible and probably never will if we don't get out of our comfort zone and tell them about Christ. In fact, just the other morning, a person that I ride the bus with was complaining on how so many believe the Bible and how she thinks it is just a stupid old book that someone dreamed up. But, instead of being discouraged, hearing a conversation like this should make us that much more eager to share the Gospel.

 

I'm not just challenging you guys on this matter. There have been many times that instead of speaking up and sharing the Gospel, I have just been quiet. I believe that if we ask the Lord to help us to be more bold and give us wisdom and the words to say when witnessing, we will be able to change the world one person at a time.