What Do You Choose?

What Do You Choose?

The world has a choice, but only one:

Jesus or not? Heaven or Hell? Judgement or Mercy?

Proverbs 11:21 Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
But, how are you doing, Christian?
Those ruts are tough to climb out of sometimes, aren’t they? You have a choice, too, just as the worldly have choices, every moment of every day, for the rest of your earthly life. Will you believe He is yours, and you His, always, or will you allow whatever to keep you from following Jesus faithfully?
(Remember, the 1000 year reign is only for the obedient Christians, so you DO have a goal here…)
Jesus said He will never leave you or forsake you. But that doesn’t mean He’s going to just give you the keys to the car without traning! Just like little children, we ALL learn by obedience (Even Jesus). and learn obedience by what we suffer; That lack of His Peace is at our own hand. And you can choose, again, and again, if you require, (until Suppertime), or you can settle it, HERE, now, and become USEFUL to God.
Will you allow the same-old same-old to draw you back in, or will you learn this time, and be done with the choosing, over and over?
Luke 8:21 "But he answered them, “'My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.'”

DO it…

I have a neighbor with little ones, and she has fenced off the yard around her door; Her hubby put in some nice safe barriers for the kiddies. And every once in a while she opens the gate to do something, lets them prove they have learned to listen to her. And if they don’t, and try to go and do what is not good for them, she drops them back in and closes the gate. Your joy is directly dependent on your practice of trust in Jesus, your usefulness to the Kingdom work, by your willingness to learn.
You know what I mean. The want is there. Will you I obey the Conscience God gave you, or give in to the want”? Will you do what you know you should, or not?
I had a close friend who was in rebellion (identity unrevealed for their protection). And when we visited I didn’t say anything, we just visited. As I was leaving this brethren in Christ told me they were glad I didn’t reprimand for what had been going on. As I replied, the very moment I spoke, we both later realized God had replied, as I said, ” You know better.” This fellow-believer went back to faithfulness not long after and stopped losing Peace and Joy.
See, when you are doing what you know you should not you become… Disturbed… You lose your contentment, and you don’t even realize your Joy is gone, until you get it back. You begin to fear, to become upset and that can lead you into a real pit of despair.
Now, we all know where worldly fear leads the UnGodly, but to the Believer Godly fear is very good. It’s a corrective terror, not of losing your salvation, but of not being able to be at peace. No matter where you are, or what is happening, every Believer is at Peace, when they are in obedience to the Spirit of God. Literally a tidal wave can crash down into a believer’s house and he has peace in the results, when he is obeying God. To the lost, death or serious injury is a terrible calamity to wailed over and made songs of! But to the God-fearing what happens to them doesn’t change their Joy; We have, “Peace in Believing”.

So Where is your faith?

In Luke 8 Jesus asks that question of his disciples in the middle of a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee. As Pastor Bret Norton said today, at, the Sea of Gallilee could get 15 foot waves, and even higher sometimes. So these disciples had a seeming right to be scared and wonder why Jesus was asleep while they were going to certainly die! But when Jesus spoke to the waves they immediately calmed. Are these storms a result of your disobedience? You would know if that is true. Just realize God’s hand of correction, thank Him for it, and repent (say you are sorry to Jesus and turn away form that wrong-doing).
Job’s example of suffering demonstrates what God wants you to prioritize, what is really important. And, when Job asked God why, the Almighty responded with, essentially, “Who are you to question Me?” Don’t so be foolish as to question God. But know this, Job didn’t die for asking, did he?
You’re scared, and that’s good…
Like 8:24 “They came to him and awoke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are dying!” He awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water; then they ceased, and it was calm.*
Psalms 89:9
“You rule the pride of the sea.
When its waves rise up, you calm them.”
Is there anything situation Jesus cannot calm?

Get Busy

What is it you should be doing? What has God called you to do?
Every Christian should witness of God’s  grace and mercy. Remember, God, “Is not a respecter of persons.” So, are you idling? Then you can understand why you are being provoked to disobey. “Idle hands” and all that.

Training

Go out and share the Gospel of Jesus to a lost and dying world.
“Me? I don’t know how to do that! I’ll mess it up!”, you might be thinking. Well yes, you are right. As I said, just lie learning how to drive is a deliberate act, Jesus will not just let you be in ministry until you learn how.
So, here is the best training we can recommend:
www.BiblicalEvangelism.com”
“I am a graduate from 2004.” -Patrick
These classes will teach you how Jesus preached the Gospel to the Lost:
Law to the proud, Grace to the humble.
Use the Ten Commandments to show what sn is, have them evaluate themselves by God’s law as guilty and worthy of Just Judgment of Hell, and then, and ONLY THEN, give them Gods mercy found in Jesus’ Sacrificing Himself for their violations of the Ten Commandments.

What Did Jesus Do? – WDJD:

Would you consider yourself to be a good person? (By whose standard?)
Do you think you’ve kept the Ten Commandments (Romans 3:20) (Go through them by asking questions so they evaluate themselves as guilty of breaking the Law, lie everyone else.)
Judgment: On Judgement Day, will they be innocent or guilty during their appointment (Hebrews 9:27)? (ALL those who have violated the ten Commandments ARE guilty, even if just once, per James in James 2, verse 10, and Paul in Romans 3, verse 19)
Destination: What’s your destination, Heaven or Hell? (Remind them what they admitted they have violated . Why? See Galatians 3:24-26)Then go through each step, again, if need be, until they stop justifying themselves (remember Romans 3:19?) and THEN tell them the Good news (Galatians 2:16).

Encouragement

If/when you mess up, as we all do, just quote John 3:16 and bug out, after giving them a Biblical Gospel tract of course, like are available at www.LivingWaters.com. The School of Biblical Evangelism is far more in depth than this, but this explanation above is the gist of the training Jesus himself trained His Disciples with, by way of demonstration, for three years, in witnessing to the Lost (Look up the interaction of Jesus with the rich young ruler, as an example).

Keep Resisting

James 1:22 ESV “Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.”
Go to Jesus, tell him you are sorry, forget the past, and get busy.
1John 1:9 KJV “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Two Ways to Faith

God uses two means to break people to reach them. He uses calamity and he uses the Law, the Ten Commandments. You suffer as a believer, however, for a different reason. When you are a Christian,  one who has settled his sins at Christ’s altar (see www.HowWillYouDo.org). And, as a Christian, you are no longer “your own.” as God says of you, you are bought and paid for. So when you refuse to do what you know God wants you suffer the results. Stop hurting yourself and do what you most want to do int the world, Make Jesus proud of you.
Lose your salvation?
There are some pretty scary verses in God’s Bible that have given many serious pause, verses that seem to indicate you can lose your salvation. I am happy to remind you that your salvation, once you have accepted God’s payment for your sin, is irrevocable. YOU CANNOT LOSE YOUR SALVATION.
So what about those verses, why do so many get them confused? It’s perspective. Let me explain:
When I was married I never knew how LONELY I was before being married, I never knew what I was missing.. Only until after I was shown what I would feel being separated, during a time I had to work far away from home (a travel back on weekends situation, for SIX MONTHS), did I realize just how terribly lonely I was without my schnooks, my better half, my wife. Unless you are married you cannot understand what i am saying.
Another way to explain the perspective I speak of is being pregnant. NO MAN can understand the joy a woman feels with a baby growing inside her. Neither can anyone understand what I am saying when I say, without pause, I am saved, forever.
Maybe you can grasp it a little if I say, you cannot be a little bit pregnant; You either are, or you are not.
Oh taste and see that THE LORD is good, and His mercy endures forever.
Oh come and learn of gracious love, and a joy that can never be earned.
His Hope lies near, you need merely take it, His Life, His Peace, forever yours.
And in His care, you need never fear, His armies, ever ready, keep you.
Want to avoid problems? Keep witnessing if God’s rescue in Christ alone:

“And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.”

Psalms 35:28 KJV

Patrick Burwell, www.OnlyJesusSaves.org Ministries, Director
Excerpts taken from August 18 th sermon of Pastor Bret Norton,  Bikers for Christ and Countryside Alliance Church Pastor, Broadheadsville, PA:

Bret and Staci Norton received a call to ministry at Countryside Alliance Church in Brodheadsville, Pa:
As Bret says.
“How can we do anything but shout out the greatness of our God from the proverbial rooftops when we serve a God such as ours? Pray for us as we seek to reach the Poconos through increasing gospel impact!”