Archive for the ‘Salvation’ Category

8 Dec

Why Christmas?

Posted by sandhillspastor in Advent, Christmas, Faith, Salvation, The Good News.

Dear friends,

It has been a cool week weather-wise. This is okay, sometimes we have lots of snow by now. As we enter the second week of December, our thoughts turn to the celebration of our Lord’s birth. Christmas reminds us once again of God’s love for us.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). 0ld Testament prophecy had predicted the birth of a Savior centuries before.

Isaiah wrote, “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6).

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5).

Most of Bethlehem did not know who He was. When Jesus was born, there was no big celebration. The only people who knew He had come were shepherds watching their sheep. John tells us, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was his own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:10-12d.

In the world today, millions do not know who Jesus is. If they know of Him, He is a good man or a great teacher. To them He is not God, nor is He the One who can save them from their sins. When they read or hear that God so loved the world He gave His only Son, they leave out the part about believing in Him. They think we are all God’s children, but they are wrong. Only those who place their faith in Christ are called children of God.

Romans 10:12 tells us we are saved by calling on the Lord. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Here is something to think about this Christmas season. Do you know who Jesus is? Is He your Savior?

For Him,

Pastor Jerry

3 Nov

The Light of the World

Posted by sandhillspastor in Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Salt and Light, Salvation, Witness.

Hello all,
Another month has rolled around. With it comes the change back to Standard Time. I, for one, would prefer to have it set one way or the other and stop this twice-yearly craziness.

It seems the world is becoming a darker place at a rapid pace. I’m not referring to the length of daylight hours, but to the sense of spiritual darkness. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the light of the world. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Isaiah, referring to the coming Messiah said, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in darkness, a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). Jesus references this prophecy in Matthew chapter 4; “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (vs 15-16).

Speaking of Jesus, John wrote, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).

In writing to the church at Thessalonica, Paul said, “But you brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of the dark world, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

The good news is this: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:90).

As we share the gospel with others, we may hear these words that were spoken to me many years ago; “You pointed toward the light and I followed. I was confused and lost, and you pointed the way.” Words that warm my heart even today.

For Jesus,
Pastor Jerry

20 Oct

The Lord’s Patience

Posted by sandhillspastor in Bible, Culture, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Judgment, Salvation, Truth.

Dear friends,

The weather seems to be moving toward the changing of the seasons. It has been much cooler in recent days. There were reports of frost in areas to our north Sunday morning.

Our local network of churches met on Sunday afternoon, and it was encouraging to hear how the Lord is working in each of those ministries. There were reports of increasing church attendance, and growth in the areas of youth groups and Bible studies. Small churches sometimes get overlooked in the grand scheme of things, but I believe they have a big part in God’s plan for getting the Good News out to the world.

In this age of anti-Christian thought, we must be reminded that the Bible is true, and that it contains the Word of God. The skeptics would have us think believing in a loving and just God is a myth. This is a lie from the devil and is designed to make us doubt.

I’m reminded of the words of Peter’s second letter. “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:3-9).

The Lord desires everyone to come to Him, accepting His salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. If you have not done that, why are you waiting? He is patiently waiting for you to admit your sin, repent (turn from) it, and believe that Jesus came to save all who will believe. Do not reject His offer.

For Him,

Pastor Jerry

6 Oct

On Aging

Posted by sandhillspastor in Best Life, Blessings, Christian Living, On Aging, Reward, Salvation.

Dear friends,
Here we are at the beginning of a new month. Another reason I like October is that I get to observe another birthday. I have reached number 81 as of today. God has blessed me with more years than I could have imagined when I was younger.

One might wonder how to become wise as our years advance. We all can remember when we were young and unwise, sometimes getting into trouble because of the lack of wisdom. Scripture has good advice on achieving wisdom. Psalm 111:10 reminds us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His instructions have good understanding.” In Proverbs we read, “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).

We are encouraged to persevere in our faith as we advance in years, knowing the Lord will be with us: Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4). Moses asked this of God, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

As we age, we remember the lessons we learned in our early years. Wisdom is using those lessons in a practical way. As it says, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, not that we are afraid of Him but we respect and acknowledge God as our creator, giving Him all the honor and glory that is due Him. When we do that, He gives us wisdom to apply what His word teaches us.

Someone once said, “I became old and wise because God protected me when I was young and stupid.” I might add this observation; we are still here because there is more God wants us to do for Him. It begins with this: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life” ( John 6:40

I leave you with this from Solomon. “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

Living for Him,
Pastor Jerry

22 Sep

My Story

Posted by sandhillspastor in Best Life, Calling, Change, Obedience, Salvation, Witness.

Hello friends,
We are drawing nearer to the fall season. I have noticed the leaves beginning to turn from green to red and gold. I continue to enjoy this season as I have for most of my life. I have many memories of hunting seasons from years ago.

You have heard it said that everyone has a story. Some stories tell of struggles with life, and others relate successes and victories in and through those experiences. Christians are encouraged to share the stories of their lives before and after coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Each one of us has a testimony to the changes He has made in us. A witness tells what he has seen and done. There is no one who can tell us we did not experience what we have seen with our own eyes. Please permit me to share a bit of my own story.

I grew up in a family with good morals, but we only rarely attended church. Sometimes Mom would take us kids to the little country church down the road, but Dad thought he had to stay home and care for the livestock on Sunday morning,

I was nearsighted, so from early I loved to read. I read everything I could get my hands on. I read the newspaper for myself when there were stories my parent thought I was too young to understand. When there were no books, I read the Bible and the dictionary. I enjoyed the Bible stories and read about Jesus, but that is as far as I went.

As I got older and went to town for high school, I became somewhat antagonistic to Christianity. I was one of those who looked down on Christians as being weak and out of tune with life. I developed some bad habits that led to wrong decisions.

After getting married and having a family, I started attending that little church down the road “for my boys.” Little did I know God had me where He wanted me. One Sunday morning in early 1982 I gave my life to Christ and my life changed dramatically. In time, the Lord called me into pastoral ministry. He took an agnostic rancher and made him a preacher… and that is my story in short form.

I heard the voice of the Lord… And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).

Blessings,
Pastor Jerry

18 Aug

Jesus, Lord of All

Posted by sandhillspastor in Bible, Christian Living, Culture, God's Word, Obedience, Salvation, Witness.

Hello friends,
We keep getting those timely rains. There hasn’t been much watering of the lawn this summer, but plenty of mowing. There are blessings all around and we don’t have to look far to see them.

Sometimes I read articles from other sources that I feel are worth sharing. One of those came to me from Pastor J.D. Greear. He tells of efforts in the past to remove certain sections of the Bible.

He writes, “If someone did this today, they would probably cut out Jesus’ teachings on the sanctity of sex and marriage. They would keep the miracles and cut out large parts of the Sermon on the mount.

Our culture says it is fine to worship Jesus—just edit Him to fit their preferences so you can still bow where you need to bow.

For followers of Jesus, that is not an option. Jesus is Lord. If He is not Lord of all, then He is not Lord at all. People treat the Bible like a cafeteria, where you pick the food options that you like and ignore the rest.

People think you can do that with Jesus. You can accept the parts of Him you want and postpone the others until later. I once heard a college student explain that she had accepted Jesus as Savior now and planned to accept Him as Lord later.

You cannot divide Jesus! He is either Lord, or He is not. If God is the only God, and He is the only one who can save and the only revealer of mysteries, then we as Christians must make this clear to others. To not do so is not just cowardly, it is cruel.

Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood in faithfulness to God when everyone else bowed to a false god, even though they got thrown into a fiery furnace for it an entire empire got to see the reality of the God of Israel on display.

“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

The eternal future of coming generations depends on our ability to stand firm in the present.”

For Him,
Pastor Jerry

28 Jul

Faith, Not Works

Posted by sandhillspastor in Best Life, Calling, Christian Living, Faith, Salvation.

Hello friends,
Warmer weather has returned. After a relatively cool week, we are back to summer heat. County fairs are in full swing around the area, and we are reminded that schools will be starting up soon.

There was a question in our Sunday school lesson this morning on setting goals in life. We all have had goals we hoped to attain. Sometimes they come to pass, and other times we end up far from where we had intended to be. As we reach one goal, we are off in search of the next one. Each time we believe we will find contentment. Why is that?

Pastor Greg Laurie has some thoughts on this subject. “From the day we are born, we have been searching. We were created in the image of God, so we are aware that there is more to life than mere existence. There is purpose. There is meaning. But they are not always apparent, so we search for them in moments big and small.

The apostle Paul give us invaluable insight into these ideas of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment in Ephesians 2:10. ‘For we are God’s workmanship.’ We have a very high ceiling—the potential to accomplish some amazing things and experience soul-deep fulfillment.

Finding our meaning and purpose begins with the decision to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. When we do that, God creates ‘us in Christ to do good works. He unlocks our potential to ‘do the good things he planned in advance for us to do. He unleashed us to be change agents in a world desperate for them.

Some people try to find purpose in doing good deeds to earn God’s favor. But that is a dead end. In the two verses that precede Ephesians 2:10, Paul says, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. It is only when we acknowledge that we can never do enough to earn God’s favor that we start to find purpose.

The more closely we align our daily lives with what God created us to be, the more we will experience the sense of adventure, purpose, fulfillment and joy that comes from our walk with Christ.”

In Him,
Pastor Jerry

21 Jul

Differences

Posted by sandhillspastor in Eternal Life, Faith, False teachers, Gospel, Salvation, The Good News.

Dear readers,
It is amazing how quickly we can go from being dry all winter to the place where people are complaining about the rain. Let us remember, it can get from wet to dry in a very short time.

Our devotional thought this week concerns the difference between religion and faith. There is a marked difference between the two. Religion is the number one substitute for genuine faith. Religion convinces you are worthy and then gives you a list of things to make yourself more worthy.

Religious people would rather have a religion that just teaches you to live a good life, to be a social activist, to be generous, to be a better you, to be better a dad and husband and partner, to live strong. As Christianity has gone mainstream, people have corrupted it to say just that.

That is not the gospel. The gospel is that you have no worthiness. All your righteousness is like a filthy rag. Isaiah says it best, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

We have no righteousness of our own. God created us, and we have precious worth in his sight. But sin caused us to be separated from God. We need to be saved, rescued, born again. Those words may sound backward and uneducated and even old fashioned to the world, but they are the words of eternal life.

The religious almost always reject those truths because they like to see themselves as respectable. Jesus points out that religious people will miss the party, that is, heaven, because they refuse to acknowledge that they are unworthy. That’s why they don’t take Jesus seriously.

Jesus says in Matthew 5 that only the poor in spirit will inherit heaven. The poor in spirit say, “Maybe I’ve done some good things, but even my good things were done for bad motives. My kindness was mixed with self-righteousness and selfishness. Oh, wretched man that I am! Every part of me is stained with sin.”

The poor in spirit see Jesus’ invitation for what it is; something they are desperate without.

The bottom line is this: It is not about our “religion”, it is a relationship with the Lord Jesus that saves us.

For Him,
Pastor Jerry

28 Apr

The Only Way

Posted by sandhillspastor in Eternal Life, Eternity, Faith, Gospel, Salvation, Truth.

Hello friends,
Rain! We have finally seen some rain, although not a huge amount we are grateful to the Lord for His provision.

There are many in the world who, if they believe in heaven at all, think it can be obtained by doing good deeds or following some set of rules. The Bible teaches otherwise. In the very familiar John 14:6, the Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Sinners need a Savior. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” we are told (Romans 3:23). Speaking of Jesus, the apostle Peter told his audience, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). This means we have direct access to God only through the Lord Jesus. We need no one else to intercede on our behalf. There is no other one or any other way to connect with God.

If we believe that God is the God of creation, we must also believe he is the God of salvation. He has provided a way for us to enter heaven, and it is not by any good works we might do. Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, “For it is by grace you are saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

To those who are depending on works, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Again, Jesus says He is the way, not one of many ways. Proverbs reminds us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him (Lamentations 3:24).

Blessings,
Pastor Jerry

21 Apr

Don’t Wait

Posted by sandhillspastor in Assurance, Cross, Eternal Life, Faith, Salvation.

Dear friends,
Spring seems to be just out of reach. Daytime temperatures just don’t quite reach the level that would be comfortable for me. However, the spring flowers are enjoying the season, and it is good to see signs of new life.

We celebrated another Easter season with our church family. As I sat listening to the Resurrection message this morning, I wondered how many times does it take for the message of the Resurrection to change a mind? I know it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict a person of their sins, but the message must be heard.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3).

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Could it be that a person needs to hear the message of salvation more than one Sunday a year for the truth to sink in? In my own experience, I had been attending worship at our little country church for a few years, until one Sunday morning it all made sense.

No one is righteous by their own “good works.” The scripture says, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21-24).

We are told the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). For a gift to be of benefit, it must be received. Have you received His gift of salvation? How long will you wait?

Just wondering,
Pastor Jerry

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