Where is your Heart?

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21

Want to find out where someones heart lies?...Well... Answer that question with this one... What do they treasure?...

Clingers or Kissers

"Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her." Ruth 1:14

go back and read through the 1st chapter of Ruth until verse 18 so you will understand and know the whole story.

This story can be looked on as just another Bible story or it can be more. If we would just dig in the Word of God, we would understand so much more than we do now. There are two kinds of people in this world actually three, but i'm going to just talk about two of them... There's the kissers and the clingers... Now there's not a lot of space on here to write a whole lot, but i'll try my best, to explain and hopefully teach someone, something, and also...everything i say here is not because i hate people who are lukewarm Christians, but i say what i say because i love you and don't want you to make the biggest mistake of your life... Now back to the message, kissers are people who say they're a Christian and they'll go to church and say they love Jesus, but yet their life doesn't show it and when Christ calls them, they will walk away from Him. They will live how they want to live and just put Jesus in their back pocket until they need Him. WHICH IS JUST PLAIN RIDICULOUS! We should depend on Christ like He is our breath... Do you know why? Because He is our breath! God is the one who keeps us alive and yet we don't even acknowledge that He's there! We just live out our own life... which will lead us down the path of destruction......Now! to the clingers, clingers are people who cling on to Jesus and will not! let Him go! Because they understand and acknowledge that He is everything... When the kissers and everyone else turns their back on Christ... and then Christ turns to me and says are you going to leave as well? Do you know what my answer will be? The same one that Peter (Jesus' Disciple) answered "Where am I to go" ... There is no where else for me to go, but to Jesus. So which one are you? the kisser who says they believe and yet when Jesus calls them to serve, they turn there back on Him... or a clinger, who clings to Jesus and recognizes that Christ is everything to them and continues to persevere and to keep their faith in Christ Jesus! I suggest that you think about it. Because if you are a kisser, most likely you are lost, and that's the worst place to be in...this world is not worth losing your soul!

To God be the Glory!

Let Love be Sincere

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." Romans 12:9-13

Love Must Be Sincere! You can not love people the way Christ loved them, if your love is not...sincere. The best way to love like Christ is to be selfless. That's what true love is all about. It's about putting your needs off to the side and caring and taking interest into the needs of others around you. It means to worry about what needs to be done for that person or this person, to be able to help them out in their life and not expecting or wanting anything in return. It means to place your life down for your friends without hesitation because you love them. Which sadly the world doesn't love this way and sometimes it's so frustrating to see what love the world does see as good genuine love and expects us to love like it. NEVER! The world's love is not Christ's love! it is not based on putting others first or allowing your love to have sincerity, the worlds love is ALL ABOUT SELF! It's about what can I get out of this relationship or what can I get out of this friendship or what can I get out of this certain situation in life! IT'S A BUNCH OF NONSENSE! How can love be for self? IT CAN'T! do you know why? We point at a great relationship and say that's true love, but guess what my friends... it's not! Because God points to His murdered Son on the Cross and says this is true love. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13. That my friends is true love. Our Savior Jesus Christ who took on the sin of the world has true love and yet the way the world repays Him is by lowering the value of true love! We should fall on our faces in repentance, because we have lowered God's true meaning of love. Love like Romans 12:9-21 put others before yourself. Love...Protect...and give hear to God's Word!

To God be the Glory!

Go into all the World

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" Romans 10:14-15

There are many people who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and will die and go to hell because we Christians are staying in our comfort zone and not preaching the Good News! It is a commandment to preach the Gospel and yet we ignore the Word of God. It says "And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:15-16. See, it is not our job to saved people, that's the Holy Spirit's job. Our job is just to present the Gospel to them. If they turn away from your teaching, don't look at it like they're rejecting you because they're not. They're rejecting Christ who is knocking on their door. Here is a question for you, How much do you have to hate someone, to not tell them the Good News? Think about it, if they never hear the Gospel and turn to Jesus, they will spend all eterity in Hell! Don't say to yourself "I don't hate people" when you won't pick up your Bible and tell them the best news they'll ever hear which is able to save their soul. I speak for myself as well. Please take in what I am trying to get across and practice getting out of your comfort zone, because the things of this world is not worth or what we should look forward to, but the gifts of God are. "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:2-5
To God be the Glory!

Be a doer not a hearer!

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James 1:19-22

There's a lot of Christians out there that keep their Religious laws and go to church, but are hearers of the Word and not doers. Don't deceive yourself, don't be a hearer of the Word who just hearers the Words of God and then goes about their own business, but be a doer. Be someone who does something for Christ, Christ bought us when He died for our sins, so we're supposed to be slaves to Him. We ought to pour our lives out for the one who gave His life for us. Like it says in James 2:17 "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." Our faith by itself isn't going to get us any closer to God, we must put works behind our faith otherwise our faith is no good. When i mean no good i mean that God isn't going to be saying to you "well done my good and faithful servant." Do you know why?... Because you were not a servant at all!! You sat comfortably in this world and said to yourself "I'm going to heaven because I believe in God." Yeah Right! I don't think so! If you can sit comfortably in this world and not be persecuted in some kind of way then most likely your not saved, because in 2 Timothy 3:12 it says "Indeed, all who desire to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" There you go, right from the Word of God, if you're a true believer and live like a true believer then you will be persecuted for your faith in God. A true sold out Christian is to be looked on by the world as a fool, because if the world does not look at you as a fool then you look like the world and are not serving Christ. You can only serve one master which will it be, the world which will pass away or God Himself the Creator of Heaven and earth, the One who sent His Son for our sins, and the One who is coming back as a judge, to judge the sins of all mankind. The choice is yours! Don't play with your soul!
To God be the Glory!

A God Centered Prayer

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: "O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made Heaven and earth. Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by mens hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God."

2 Kings 19:15-19

This prayer that Hezekiah prayed didn't start out by telling God his needs, but started by lifting God up, worshiping Him and just giving Him all the glory. Yes, he ask God for a favor, but the focal point of the pray was on God. This my friends is a God centered prayer. Think about how we start our prayers today, most of the time it starts out like this "Lord I need this, this, and this and I pray for this person and if you can answer these prayers, then I promise I'll read my Bible tonight" This is not a God centered prayer, we have got to start our prayers by lifting up and praising God Almighty who is such a Holy God. I mean think about it, He is The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, The Creator of all things. I believe He deserves to be #1 in our prayers and not our needs. Now I have had trouble with this for a long time now and God just opened my eyes about a month ago that I was praying just for my needs and for my own life, as well as others lives. It is good to pray for others and ask for good things such as wisdom and knowledge, but when it gets in the way of giving God His praise and His glory then it becomes, in a way, wrong. God should be our focal point in our prayers, Bible reading, and life. A wise man once said that "we are most satisfied in Christ when Christ is most glorified in us." which means the higher God is lifted up and the more He's glorified the more we gain from Him. It's hard to understand, but it's the truth. We have got to put God first in not just our prayers, but in everything we do. He has to be the center of our lives and if we put Him first in everything then we gain everything there is worth to be gained and that is Christ Himself.

To God be the Glory!

Philippians 2:3-5

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:"

This is a great verse to remember when you start thinking way to much about yourselves. We get so caught up in our own little world that we just don't care about others around us. We need to start looking at others interest and start helping and not asking for help. One major thing is, we have got to start caring and helping others without expecting a reward, just help people because it's what Jesus did and we are called to do as He did. Christ calls us to be humble and He said the humble will receive lots of blessings, but we should not be humble and kind because we want the blessing, but because we want to please our Heavenly Father. If we will humble ourselves and put others first, they will see that humility and Christ can use that to change their lives. I try very hard to worry about others interest and not my own and I do struggle a lot with pride, but Christ helps me and when I pull through the feeling is amazing. So I challenge you to worry less about yourself and start caring more about others, because in the end, it's worth it.

To God be the Glory!

Psalm 18:1-3

"I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies." Psalm 18:1-3

This is a great verse that encourages me in troubled times and just lets me know that God is always there. It's good to know that no matter what, God is there and He will take care of things. Jesus Christ will be our deliverer and save us from our enemies, but only if we let Him. We have to surrender everything we own physical and spiritually, for Him to be able to be our savior. God will not let us down as others do around us, that is why we must put our trust in Christ and not people. He will be our friend when we are at war against the world and He will be our fortress and shelter when trouble comes our way. It is He and He alone I trust my life with and you should too.

To God be the Glory!

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

This is one of my favorite verses along with so many others in the Word of God. We should practice this kind of love in our daily life. This is a great example of what Christ acted like here on earth and the way He always acts, He does not envy, as we do, He does not boast, as we do, He is not proud, as we are, He is not rude, like us, He is not self-seeking, as we are, He is not easily angered, like we are, He keeps no record of wrong when we ask for forgiveness, as we do. Christ is love; the reason He came down from Heaven and died a horrible death to save us worthless sinners, is because He is love. We need to show people the same love that Christ showed all people. Is it hard? of course it's hard, but we must persevere through the tough times and turn to God for help. This is what I try to practice daily, I want to be the man that, is trustworthy, that can protect the ones he loves, that can persevere under trials that come his way and that doesn't seek things for himself. Will it be hard? sure, but I'll put my trust in Christ and he will guide me. Like Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." That's why I have nothing to fear and neither should you, this is not something Christ is asking, but is commanding us to do. In Matthew 22:36-39 Jesus says that loving others is the second greatest COMMANDMENT, with Loving God being the first. Which means that it is law and we shouldn't take it lightly. The real problem is that, the real meaning of love has been done away with in this world, we tell our girlfriends, boyfriends and other people that's in our lives that we love them and yet it's not the same love that Christ talks about. Romans 12:9-10 says "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." Lots of people these days aren't sincere when they say "I love you." They just want the other person to think they're nice. Now are all people like that? no, they're lots of Christians out there that understand the love of Christ and practice it daily, but the word love in this world has really lost its value. I would like to close with this, if you don't love then you can't know God and I can say this because in 1 John 4:8 it says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

To God be the Glory

1 John 2:15-17

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

How many times do we catch ourselves loving the world and believe we still love God? Well it just said that if we love the world then we can't love God. In other words, you either hate the world and love God or love the world and hate God. The choice is yours, but make sure you choose wisely because it's your soul your dealing with and if you wrongly choose, then it'll cost you everything. Are Christians going to struggle with loving the world? Absolutely, I know I find myself loving the things of this world and turn them into idols, but then the Holy Spirit calls me out and I repent and turn from my evil. The major issue these days is that people call themselves Christians and yet are in love with the very thing God hates. They crave sinful things, they lust with their eyes, and boast about themselves, and yet they will suffer an eternal death because they loved the creation more than the creator. See it doesn't matter if you know God, what matters is that God knows you. Heres an example, if you walk up to the front gate of the White House and say to the security guard "I know the President, please let me in." You know what he's going to say? He's going to look at you and say "yeah right," but now if you walk up to the gate and the President says he knows you and is expecting you, then you will be able to enter. The Same thing with God, if you say you know God, but God doesn't know you. Then you loved the world and disowned God so then God will have to disown you because God can not be with sin. It says in 2 Timothy 2:12b that "if we disown Him, He will also disown us;" So stand firm in the faith because this world and everything in it will pass away, but if we surrender ourselves to Christ and do His will. Then we will spend our eternity in Heaven with Him.

To God be the Glory!