Sunday, May 2, 2010

Salvation is Yours if you ask...

Do you need to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?

1. Recognize The Fact That You Are Lost.


No one will make an effort to escape danger until he recognizes the fact that he/she is in danger.

God’s Word shows the danger of being in a lost condition.

“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not,” Ecclesiastes 7:20.


“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23.

2. Recognize That Jesus Died As Your Substitute.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” II Corinthians 5:21

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree,” Galatians 3:13

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” I Peter 2:24

3. Repent Toward God, With Genuine Sorrow Because You Are A Sinner.

“Repent ye… But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” Matthew 3:2,7,8.


“Except ye repent, ye shall all …. Perish,” Luke 13:3

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death,” II Corinthians 7:10.

4. Ask God To Save You, To Forgive Your Sin For Jesus’ Sake, And Trust (believe) Wholeheartedly That He Will.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:31

“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation…For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Romans 10:8-10,13.

5. When Should You Be Saved?

“Behold, now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation,” II Corinthians 6:2

6. What Causes One To Remain In A Lost Condition?

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God,” John 3:18

“ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36

Here is a sample of a prayer that you might say, simply saying this prayer will not save you, it must be a heartfelt prayer that you truly mean.

God, I want to be Your child, a man/woman who lives their life in You, and through You, and for You.  I acknowledge my sins and shortcomings, my failure to live up to the standards You have set in Your Word, the Bible, and I receive Your Son, Jesus Christ, into my needy heart, giving thanks that He died on the cross for my sins.  Thank You for giving me Your grace and Your strength so that I can follow after Your heart.

Martha - All Stressed Out!

Have you ever felt nervous... fidgety...  on edge...  cranky?  Sort of like your life was falling apart and you were losing control?  Even though you knew it and you didn't want to act the way you were, did you keep on stomping through your day, lashing out at anybody and everybody who crossed your path such as your parents, your brother or sister, your friends, or someone else?

I have experienced many days like this in my life.  We are not alone.  There are many an example of woman experiencing this feeling in the bible.  One example is Martha.  Martha was a friend of Jesus.and after studying her a little you will realize she too got too worked up.

Let's look at the story of Martha to see what exactly it was that sent her "over the edge".

Now Jesus and his disciples were coming to her house.  When I think about this, sure this is enough to send any woman over the edge.  Imagine Jesus coming to your house.  Just like Martha, I can imagine myself worrying about serving Jesus and having my house in perfect order for his visit.   Through her efforts to serve and work, Martha failed to just stop and enjoy Jesus and worship Him.

We see that Martha's busyness and neglect of her spiritual life showed as she was stomping through her day, stomping through her kitchen, the dining room, and the family room.  She even lashed out at her sister, Mary....sound familiar?  Does to me.  After all this stressed built to a point she couldn't handle it any more she lashed out at Jesus!  Can you believe it?

Martha was definitely out of control.  This led to what many of us see in our daily lives and others lives as well...saying things we shouldn't say, blaming others for our awful condition, bossing everyone around, comparing the amount of work we do to the work of others.

Now let's turn to the scriptures and let God speak to our heart...

Luke 10: 38 - 42

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.   39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.   40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.  41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:   42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Both sisters loved Jesus and both served Him.  But we see a stark difference in their behaviors, which reveals something about what was going on in their hearts at the time.

Mary loved serving the Lord, but she loved listening to Him as well.  In the second Jesus started talking. Mary stopped!  Her service came to a halt and she set her serving dishes to the side and took a seat at Jesus' feet so she could listen to Him.  Mary demonstrated a heart devoted to God by hearing His words and worshipping Him.  In a sense, she was obsessed with Jesus.  Mary shows us that she knew when and how to make the choice to stop all the busyness of her life and spend time with God.

So how do we become a woman like Mary...a woman after God's own heart?

1.  Choose to spend time with God.

    say NO to some time watching TV,
    say NO to some time on the telephone
    say NO to some time with friends,
    say NO to some time in the mall, in order to
    say YES to some time with God.

2.  Choose God's ways at every opportunity

3.  Commit yourself to God daily.
     Make a daily, definite, audible dedication of yourself to God.  Say it out loud -- "Lord, today I give myself anew to you"

4.  Cultivate a hot heart -- God has a few things to say to us in Revelation 3:15-16 about our heart condition.

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.   16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

coldhearted - unemotional, unconscious of God
lukewarm - indifferent
hot-hearted - the heat of your heart and emotion reaches a high temperature.  Passion, emotion, excitement!

Now, what is your heart's desire ...  and your heart's temperature toward God?

Saturday, May 1, 2010

The Perry's - "If You Knew Him"

This is a link to the Perry's singing "If you knew Him".  This is a very powerful song and may now be one of my new favorites!  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NBx9SEgA2E

Men Who Do Housework Have Happier Marriages!

Family Matters: Dr. Linda Mintle
Feel like doing some spring cleaning? Well, rev up the vacuum cleaner. Pull out the dust cloth and get to work men. You might be surprised to learn that all that dusting and vacuuming have marital benefits. According to marital researcher, John Gottman, you will have a happier, less lonely and more involved marriage than men who don’t help around the house. Yes, you read that correctly. Men who do housework can claim a host of marital benefits.

Housewives all over America are applauding this finding. Finally, research that makes sense! Does it sound too good to be true?

Dr. John Gottman at the University of Washington studied men who did housework and child care. He discovered that men who do housework are not only happier in their marriages, but also have lower heart rates, better sex lives and better health. And the men who pitched in with household chores were less stressed and physically healthier in the four years following the initial research meeting. Do I hear an “Amen” to this conclusion?

Now I wish I could stop here and let you think that housework has curative powers-- that doing housework is the key to fabulous relationships. This certainly would liberate a lot of women and encourage men to share in the exciting work of mopping floors and cleaning showers, but it isn’t housework that cures troubled marriages.

Even though doing housework was tested as a separate factor in the marital study, housework wasn’t the issue. It turns out that husbands who do housework tend to be mutual and supportive partners. And spouses who act in mutual and supportive ways have satisfying marriages with good sex lives.

So the take away from this study is this: Engage in mutual and supportive acts with your spouse. According to women, one of those mutual and supportive acts appears to be housework. Women like it when men pitch in to help. You might even say that a man who does housework puts his wife in the mood to celebrate later!

Men, the next time you see your wives struggle to keep up with all the housework, turn off that basketball game, pull out that toilet bowl cleaner, pat yourselves on the back and say, “I’ll be less lonely, less stressed and less likely to be sick if I scrub this commode.” Your wives will give you a big smile and say, “Now there’s the man I’m glad I married!”

Do you or your spouse show support and mutual respect by helping with housework?

Check out Dr. Linda Mintle’s book on marriage, I Married You, Not Your Family (Siloam Press, 2008). Also available in Spanish, Me Case Contigo, No Con Tu Familia.

~ Dr. Linda
article found at:  http://blogs.cbn.com/familymatters/archive/2010/03/25/men-who-do-housework-have-happier-marriages.aspx