Yes Man for God

Fellow Believers,

I recently watched Jim Carey's movie Yes Man about a man named Carl that lived his life by saying no to everything. This led him to have a life that lacked meaning and hurt his relationships with those in his life. His whole view on life changed when he went to a seminar where he learned the power to unlocking all life had to offer was by saying yes to everything he was asked. This simple change in Carl's life provided more opportunities that he had passed on before that allowed him to live a fuller life.

This lead me to ponder this question: How many of us have been sitting in church and listening to Gods word preached and still say no to his path for our lives?

Lets explore what Jesus has to say about "yes" when he is talking about the importance of keeping our vows in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:37 (New Living Translation)

³⁷ Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Jesus wants our yeses to have meaning not only to others but with him as well. I have decided to devote my life completely to God, and have started saying yes to whatever he wants me to do in my life. God's will for my life and my family is far greater than anything that I could ever put together on my own. He knows that my plans always fall short and are lacking in substance.

We serve an amazing an powerful God! Are you ready to become a Yes Man for God and allow him to move in your life?

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Understanding the Cost

Fellow Believers,
When I was younger, I heard the following story told about the incredible sacrifice the Jesus made for me. This story is told in modern language and hits just as hard as the Biblical story of Jesus on the Cross.

It was a cool day in early fall when Brian, a longtime employee of the local train company, whose job was to manually turn the bridge to allow trains to pass with safety high above the water brought is son, Chad, to work. Chad was excited to see all that his Dad did at work, to Chad his Dad was his Hero. They went down to see the gears that turned the massive bridge. Then it was time for Brian to start cranking the bridge in place for the train that arrives at the top of the hour. Chad fell and got caught in the gears that needed to turn to close the bridge and provide safe passage for the train that was on its way. Brian knew that the train would be there in 10 minutes and it would take him nearly that amount of time to get the bridge in place. He paused for a moment and knew he had to make a decision: save his son or let his son die allowing all of the passengers on the train to live. Brian knew what he had to do as tears started to form in his eyes he began cranking the bridge closed. Chad yelled and screamed "Dad your hurting me! Please Dad stop! I love you!" Now with tears streaming down his face Brian finished closing the bridge and stood silent as the passengers on the train waived to him. They did not realize the sacrifice that he made so that they might live.

I am thankful that God willing gave his Son to die for my sins. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to hear his Son crying out for him on the cross yet not do anything. It is hard for me as a dad not to want to run to my children when they are crying and pick them up and let them know that everything will be okay.

Let us never forget the sacrifice that Christ made for us. We serve a powerful and mighty God!

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

The Only One!

Fellow Believers,

This evening I am going to conclude our series on numbers in the Bible. I am going to focus on the number one in this post and its significance to our lives as believers. First, let's take a look at what Paul has to say to his disciple Timothy in the following passage.

1 Timothy 2:4-5 (Contemporary English Version)

⁴God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth, which is,

⁵There is only one God,

and Christ Jesus

is the only one

who can bring us

to God.

Jesus was truly human,

and he gave himself

to rescue all of us.

It does not matter how hard we work in our lives or how good we are we will not make it to Heaven. I know that is not what some people want to hear, because there are so many great and wonderful people out there that are not Followers of Christ. We can not work our way to heaven with our good deeds. Nothing that we do apart from God will get us to heaven where we will spend eternal life with God.

Paul lays it out very clearly. There is only one God. Mohammad, Buddha, Joseph A. Smith, and many other gods are not the way to eternal life. My words are direct and to the point as my message today is of utmost importance. There is only one way to eternal life in God's Kingdom and that is through Jesus Christ. He lay down his life and shed his blood to cover our sins without this we would never enter Heaven.

I am thankful for Christ and his amazing grace offered on the Cross. I urge you if do not know Christ as your Lord and Savior today to ask him into your life. This is the most important decision you will ever make.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Celebrating Your Limitations

Fellow Believers,

We all have limitations that hold us back or make us feel like we cannot get things done. No one is perfect and no matter how hard we try to eliminate some of our limitations they will never go away. We look at a limitation as a road block in our path to success, but God says that we should cherish and celebrate our limitations.

2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 (The Message)

7-10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

It is always amazing to me what Satan tries to use to hold us down God chooses to lift us up and bring us closer to him. God uses our limitations as a reminder that we cannot do it on our own and calls us to rely on Him.

We cannot on our own comply with God's will for our life. When we try to do it on our own we fail miserably. It is only when we submit to God and allow him into our lives and to work through us that we live for Him.

Rejoice in your shortcomings as they bring you closer to God and his grace!

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Why Worry! Rely on God!

Fellow Believers,

Lets take a look about what they Bible says about worry!


Matthew 6:27-34 (The Message)

27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

The world we live in today is one that is full of worry about everything under the sun. Some worry about bills and if there is enough money in the bank to pay them, others worry about getting the grade in school, others worry about their safety, and still many others worry about things that they simply cannot control. People who worry can suffer from headaches, over or under eating, sleepless nights, and even death. Many authors have wrote books and doctors give you medicine to help control your stress to reduce the amount of time you spend worrying.

The Bible states it as plainly as it can that worrying is foolish and is being disobedient to God. These may be hard words to swallow for some but need to be talked about in today's world. God's plan for reduction of your stress and worry is simple. Rely on Him in all things. Today, we are often to busy and forget all that God has given us and get caught up in the stress of the world around us. Remember that God is the one who created the Earth by speaking into a void of darkness, if he can do this your problems are easy for him to overcome.

God is the answer! Follow him and realize that God can calm our worries and tame our fears if we give it all to him.

You have the choice today to risk your life because of the worries of this world or you can gain your life by dying to Christ and let him control it.

I hope you choose life.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike