Archive for October, 2018

29 Oct

A View of God

Posted by sandhillspastor in Assurance, Attributes of God, Eternal Life, God's Word, Gospel, Judgment, Salvation, The Good News, Uncategorized.

Hello friends,
Again with the weather. We’ve had beautiful days this week, and it brings memories of autumns past. I think this is called Indian Summer. Whatever you call it, I’m all for letting it continue. With all the newsworthy events going on in the world, it is good to pause and take in the good things God provides, including the changing of the seasons.

The popular view of God is that he is a God of love and mercy, of forgiveness, and there are those who promote the idea that he is a loving grandfather who wouldn’t judge anyone. The Bible reveals a God who is love, for sure, but along with this, it also emphasizes his justice and his wrath.

Now, there are many people who would say the God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath and judgement, but not so in the New Testament. This is not true. God does not change. If he judged people in the Old Testament for rejecting Him, He will do so in this age. True justice grows from love and rewards obedience, while punishing disobedience. The New Testament writers certainly did not ignore the fact of a wrathful God. Pay close attention to the following passages of scripture.

From Paul’s letter to the church at Rome: “The wrath of God is being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18). “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed… But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger” (Romans 2:5,8). Further, Paul writes this: But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing His wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world” (Romans 3:5-6).

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:9). The words of John the Baptist in John 3:36; “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” Good News!

In Him,
Pastor Jerry

22 Oct

Rebel or Sinner?

Posted by sandhillspastor in Bible, Culture, Evil deeds, God's Word, Gospel, Obedience, Repentance, Sin, The Good News, Truth, Uncategorized.

It’s time for another visit. Although I hesitate to open every conversation with a weather report, here goes. We have been enjoying some nicer conditions, after our little taste of winter last week. I am seeing some harvesting machinery in the fields, as it begins to dry out from the recent moisture. With the improved weather comes a reminder to pray for a safe and bountiful harvest season.

Occasionally, my mind wanders way back to my earlier days. The other day, we were discussing the misbehavior of children, and as sometimes is the case, we were being somewhat critical of today’s young people. Suddenly, I was taken way back to my youth, to a time of personal rebellion, and remembered my mother threatening to send me to a military type school, because she was at her wit’s end. Maybe the youth of today aren’t much different than they have ever been.

In fact, if you read the Bible, you soon understand the whole human race is in rebellion against God, and has been almost from the beginning. Early in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve rebelled against God, and it continues today.

In the time of Noah, God described mankind as being all evil, all the time. “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5).

“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth in not in us” (1 John 1:8).

Praise be to God, for sending Jesus to die for our sins and restore our relationship with Him. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Sin is a word that isn’t used much these days, but it needs to make a comeback and people need to understand what it means. After all, it is the root cause of all that is wrong with our world. Without an understanding of sin, it is impossible to sort out the good from the bad, the wrong from the right, and finally, to see that the solution to the problem is Jesus Christ.

In Him,
Pastor Jerry

15 Oct

Words

Posted by sandhillspastor in Anger, Christian Living, Culture, Evil deeds, God's Word, Obedience, Truth, Uncategorized, Wisdom, Witness.

Does it seem that we have gone directly from summer to winter? I hope this is just a preview, and that we can go back to fall for a while. After all, winter doesn’t officially begin until December 21.

As I read the news and follow conversations on social media, I am appalled at the lack of civil conversation. It seems everyone has a chip on their shoulder and is just going through life waiting to be offended by some other person. The use of profanity and threatening speech is at a level unseen in my life. The Bible has much to say about our speech, and the use of words. It may be that too few people have any knowledge of biblical teaching. If so, here are a few passages to start with.

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37).

Psalm 19:14… May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 36:1-4; Concerning the speech of the wicked. “The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.”
Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Relating to holy living, as is commanded in scripture: But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips… Therefore, as God’s chosen people…, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:8-12).

As James said, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19).

In Truth,
Pastor Jerry

8 Oct

The Lord is God

Posted by sandhillspastor in Bible, Christian Living, God, God's Word, Truth, Uncategorized, Worship.

On a personal note, I celebrated another birthday last week. I find those milestones pass much quieter than when we were younger. I am grateful to God for His goodness and grace in allowing me another year.

We have had more crazy Nebraska weather. I know it is purely a reminder that we are in that changing of the seasons, but we have had several extremes this past week. It was pretty cool for a couple of days, then we had a day that the temperature made it almost to ninety, followed by a rainy day that only made it to the mid-forties! Oh, and don’t forget the wind. And now some food for thought.

I have noticed the tendency to fail to capitalize the word God, when folks post prayer requests or praise items on social media. I wonder, is this a sign of our secular or post-Christian era, that people don’t have a concept of the only true God, or have we just become lazy in our use of spelling and grammar? Another possibility is that we are just not reading the Bible, and have no instruction in who He is. There is actually a serious lack of Bible literacy today. Here is an observation from a man who is heavily invested in ministering to high-school students: “Never before have we encountered so many high schoolers who have never read the Bible, and much worse, who simply do not even own a Bible.”

New age philosophy and secular thinking promotes the idea of many ‘gods’, or that we are all equal to God in some way. In those media posts, one wonders what god the writer is calling on, or giving thanks to? The first of the Ten Commandments reads this way: You shall have no other gods before (besides) .Me. (Exodus 20:3). God is deserving of our worship. There is no other. I believe He will get His deserved respect from everyone in du time.

From Romans 14:10-12… “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As sure as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; and every tongue will confess to God.’
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Simply put, “Fear God and keep His commandments…” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Trusting Him,
Pastor Jerry

1 Oct

Truth

Posted by sandhillspastor in Christian Living, God's Word, Obedience, Spiritual Warfare, Truth, Uncategorized, Witness.

With the passage of the recent cold front, the humming birds have flown south and I suspect some humans might also be considering migrating south. Personally, I enjoy the different seasons, so I will be here when the snow flies and later, when the grass grows in the spring.

There is one thing seems to be at the top of the news these days. That one thing is “Truth!” Who is telling the truth? Where do you find what is true? Can the truth even be known?

What is truth? It is the question asked by Pilate, as he was interrogating Jesus. One commentary says this: “Ironically, the man charged with determining the truth in the matter glibly dismissed the relevance of truth in the presence of the One who is truth incarnate.” Another says, it is significant that Pilate suddenly turned away from the One who is the Truth, without waiting for answer.

This is exactly the way it is today. Those who claim to know what is true will not consider the source of Truth. They turn away when faced with the truths revealed in the Bible. So close, and yet they deny there is truth that can be trusted.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life…” (John 14:6).
Jesus, praying for His disciples, asked the Father to “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17).

Jesus uttered the phrase: “I tell you the truth”, 30 times in Matthew’s gospel, 13 in Mark, 9 in Luke, and 25 times in John.

Paul speaks of “the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness – a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me…” (Titus 1:1-3).

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows (James 1:17). These gifts include the truth, which does not change.

Truth can be known. Truth exists in the written word of God. The Bible is the standard by which all truth claims are to be measured. Truth is not different for one individual over another.

In Truth,
Pastor Jerry