Romans 10:14-15

14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

When I moved to this small town I live in, I was amazed at how quickly people knew me and knew about me.  12 years later, I am a local celebrity, but then again, everyone is.  At least that is how it seems.  Not one person is more than two people away from knowing someone you know.

I guess that’s how it is in a small town but that’s not always a good thing.  But imagine if one person in this small town told two people about the wonderful news of Christ. Those two people could tell two people and so on.  Before you know it, it would be like getting the same email about “Touched by an Angel” going off the air 40 times a year.

But that is how the news is spread.  That’s what Paul’s message was.  That’s what we need to do.  Salvation comes by faith and faith by hearing the word of God.  Go out and tell someone today that God loves them.  Remember, there is an ANGEL in the middle of evangelism.

Have you ever wondered why God hates sin?  Well there are many reasons and too many to count in this short message but I came to a realization this past Friday night.  Sin changes our view of things.  Let’s say you lie, then you don’t see any negative results, you may lie again.  Before you know it, you might be lying all the time and not even know you are doing it.  Your spirit will be fighting with your flesh and the battle will have a toll on  you.  You will become blind.  You eventually will not be able to see God clearly because sin causes a battle to rage in you and in time you become numb to the truth or blind to the truth.

Jesus told the Laodiceans to repent because they were blind.  Remember it was Christ who made the blind see.  It is He, through your repentance, that can make you see again.
Do you have a sin that is keeping you from seeing God clearly?  Is your sin blinding you from the truth?  Repent then and be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

This is my 200th post for this blog.  Praise God!  May He be blessed for blessing us all.  In honor of the 200th post, I wanted to post Psalm 119:153-160.  Why?  Because if you look at Psalm 119, there are 22 parts and each starts with a Hebrew letter of the alphabet.  Each of these letters also has a number value.   Alef being 1, Bet 2 and so on.  When you get to 10 however you then go to 20, 30, 40, etc. and when you get to 100, you go to 200, 300, 400.  The letter Resh is the value for 200  Here is the passage from Psalm 119

r Resh

153 Look upon my suffering and deliver me,
for I have not forgotten your law.

154 Defend my cause and redeem me;
preserve my life according to your promise.

155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek out your decrees.

156 Your compassion is great, O LORD;
preserve my life according to your laws.

157 Many are the foes who persecute me,
but I have not turned from your statutes.

158 I look on the faithless with loathing,
for they do not obey your word.

159 See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life, O LORD, according to your love.

160 All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.

I also wanted to post this because it reminds me of the Jeremy Camp song.  Revive Me (love that one too Nick?).  In the first verse of the song Jeremy paraphrases verse 155.  Salvation is not for the wicked, for they do not seek your word.

Why not?  Why not seek His word, His face, His ways?  You don’t have to be perfect, in fact you will never be.  You just have to seek and allow Him to change your ways.  You can’t change your ways, but God can change your ways.  Seek Him, Know Him, Be blessed by Him.

Thank you all for being faithful to this blog over the last six months.  With God’s grace, we will enjoy another six together.

Have you ever flown on an airplane?  Ever ridden on a bus?  A train?  If you have then you have given up control of your life to another person.  The pilot’s job is to make sure you arrive at your destination safely.  He wants to be sure you don’t die in a plane crash.  But when you step on that plane and are wisked off the ground and into the air, you have no control whatsoever.  Physics have the most control but the pilot has some.  You have almost none.  Yet, you believe that the pilot will get you to where you need to go.

So it is with God.  If you allow Him to pilot your life, He will get you where you need to be and safely too.  He has more control than a pilot or bus driver too.  He has all control.  He controls absolutely everything so you can definitely trust Him if you can trust a fellow human being, albeit a trained individual, but still a fellow human.

Just trust God.  When perseverance is needed, trust God.  When you need fed, trust God.  When you need salvation, know and trust God. 

If you are old enough, you may remember those ring around the collar commercials.  “you got ring around the collar”.  As a child, I never knew what that really meant but I knew those commercials well.  When I got older, I came to realize what it meant and even had such a ring at times.

As a child, you typically don’t know what sin is but you hear adults talk about it at times.  When you get older, you realize what it is and then have a choice.  It’s like ring around the collar, it somehow finds you and you have it, you need that special detergent to get rid of it.

The psalmist in Pslam 19 knew this too.  He said in verse 13

“Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.

14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Oooh, those dirty sins.  We are faced with them everyday.  We know we shouldn’t lose our temper and yell at someone.  We know we shouldn’t talk about so and so becuause of what such and such said about him or her.  We know we shouldn’t look at that member of the opposite sex in the ways we so often do.  But we do.  Why do we?  Because we are humans and alone we cannot avoid sin.  But if we turn to God like the psalmist and make pslam 19 our prayer, God will help us and keep us from sin and it will get easier and our collars may just be a little cleaner too.

We all face them.  Those trying times when we think all is a loss.  We wonder if God is angry with us and is punishing us.  We wonder if He will ever love us again.  We don’t go to church, we avoid any chance to love our neighbors and then we think God is giving up on us.  NONSENSE!

In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah goes through a list of woes that have come upon him but then he recalls a truth about God:

 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
       for his compassions never fail.  

23 They are new every morning;
       great is your faithfulness.

That’s some fantastic news.  Those feelings of being neglected and forsaken by God, they are not from God.  They are from within your sinful heart.  It’s calling out for help but is not sure where to look.  It knows you must look toward God, but then it reminds you that He is angry.  But remember, His love never fails and it is new every single morning.  That’s hope that never fails. AMEN!

Everyone wants to succeed.  Even when people say they want to fail, they want to succeed.  We all want to excel in something and many times this comes from pride.  When it does, it is not success we know, it is pride we know and eventually, we fall.  But if you know where success comes from, you will always succeed.  Success comes from The LORD.  He who cannot fail, will not fail us.  Never will He leave us nor forsake us.

When Nehemiah was sad because the city of his fathers lie in ruin, he asked the king if he could go and rebuild its walls.  In Nehemiah chapter 2, he tells those that he is trying to enlist help from that “The God of heaven will give us success.” (Nehemiah 2:20)

When you know where your success comes from, you will not fail.  It’s a matter of faith and not your own strength.  Every day of our lives we see success and failure in some regard.  Start each day seeking and knowing the success that comes from God and see the amazing transformation that can take place.

What word can accurately describe God’s wonderful power and love and grace?  There is not a single word nor are there a thousand words that can be fit together to accurately describe Him.  We like to be around people that we find to be amazing.  Put someone on a television and we elevate them to celebrity level.  But they are just humans like us.  God is so much bigger and so much more elegant and extravagant, yet we put Him aside and bring Him out when convenient.

God is our only means of salvation.  He’s our creator, our redeemer, our life.  He’s not some celebrity that we want to meet some day or idolize.  He’s our God.   This reminds me of the words of Isaiah in chapter 43 verses 11 and 12

“I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.”

We are His witnesses that He is God.  Not that He needs us to tell anyone because He makes Himself known but He uses us as His witnesses.  What an honor!

Take a look at Amos 4 particularly starting with verse 6 and going through verse 12.  God says to Israel, I have done this to you and you have not returned to me.  Then at the end, He says “Prepare to meet your God!”  WOW!  Are you prepared to meet your God?  On September 11, 2001, without warning 2,976 people died.   They went to work or were touring or were trying to help people escape the burning buildings.  Just like that, without warning, they died and on that day met God.

November 22, 1963, 3 shots in six seconds rang out in Texas and without warning the United States lost a president.

December 7, 1941, without warning 1100 men and women are still entombed in the battleship Arizona.

It can happen any day.  The end could start tomorrow or a year from now and last seven years, but your end will likely come in that time if it does start.  Are you ready?  Don’t be foolish and wait on a rapture that won’t happen.  Be prepared today.

With the recent bank failures going on around the United States, I found comfort recently in 2 Corinthians 5, the first 5 verses.  Paul mentions that the spirit was given to our bodies which long to be in heaven.  It is a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. 

The FDIC or federal deposit insurance corporation guarantees that the money we invest in a bank is safe.  We simply cannot lose it.  What it doesn’t guarantee is that the value of that money is safe.  If I have 1000 dollars in a bank, I can get 1000 dollars out.  1000 dollars to me right now is a lot of money but in 2009 may have about the same value as 500 dollars or even 100 dollars.  But the FDIC guarantees that I can get 1000 George Washingtons out if I so choose. 

God gives us a better guarantee.  He has guaranteed us a place in heaven through His son Jesus Christ.  This is like our FDIC insurance.  We can get there.  But the greater guarantee is the value of this deposit.  The value of this deposit never decreases and in fact, can drastically increase each day of your life.  As you grow closer to God and understand Him more and appreciate Him more, you can have a greater value of the spirit He has sent us to guide us and lead us to Him.  Even if we feel the value is decreased, it doesn’t.  God’s stance is never dependent upon our disposition.  It is now and always will be the sovereign choice of God to do what He pleases and therefore His value never decreases. 

It’s amazing to stop and ponder.  It’s a deposit made in heaven, not in a human bank.  A heavenly bank.  A deposit that we can rest assured will always be of great value to us.  Rest assured in these weary economic times, God has our back.