Living with destiny

As a believer in Jesus Christ I have the assurance that I have been forgiven of my sins and now I have eternal life. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." is very clear about this truth. This means that I am going to heaven when this life is over which means my destiny is heaven. If this is truth and it is then ought we not live our lives now in the light of our destiny which is heaven? The answer is yes. Much of the writings of the epistles have this as a reoccurring emphasis that the grace given to be saved is not from us but from God and then to live this life as a believer also takes grace that is God's divine strength and ability to live a life that is pleasing to God. Let us focus on things above because that is our destiny as a believer in Jesus Christ.

Common trait

There is something we all have in common and it is the one thing we do not like others seeing when it happens, failure. We all fall and make mistakes and our best plans at times just do not seem to work. On Sunday I am going to address how we can overcome our failures. We can work hard at minimizing them and I think we should do all we can to do that but there is no way to elliminate them completely because we do not live in a perfect world. The encouraging thing as a believer in Christ is that greater is He that lives in me then who lives in the world. I have been given divine ability that will help me to overcome my weaknesses. There is help from the Lord as we trust in Him.

Facing our fear

This next Sunday I am beginning a series of messages titled "Overcoming the F's of Life". The first one is overcoming our fears. I do believe that everyone at one point or another has had to deal with some type of fear. For some it was rather mild but for others a particular fear can control certain aspects of one's life. I encourage you that you can handle the fears of life when we approach that fear by using biblical principles. To ignore your fear is not the solution because it will arise at a time of inconvenience to you. I can deny that I do not fear anything but that is not most likely reality. You may not have any fear to address at this moment but we all have had to address one at one time or another or we know someone who is struggling with fear. This message on Sunday is design to bring forth some practical helps to set people from fear.

Having a heart for God

Here at Bethel we just finished a couple of services with Evangelist Glenn Meldrum and the message was loud and clear. We must get our hearts right before God and develop a heart that will pursue the things that please the heart of God. This can only be done by being completely honest with yourself before God. As a pastor I desire to see God move in our midst and I desire to see God bring to our lives the freedom and peace we all want. These two things are not that different in that to receive either one is to develop a heart that will pursue God. This is easy to say on paper but living it out in our everyday lives is the challenge we all face. We have the interruptions, emergencies and our everyday distractions that keep us from doing some of the things that we would really like to do. The solution is once again in being honest with yourself and clarifying our priorities. Once that is done then we must begin to set the proper disciplines in our lives to insure that we will actually make our priorities our priorities. What I mean there is that we can say something is our priority but until I actually do that on a consistent basis it is only a stated priority and is not a real priority. Now back to having a heart for God. I would imagine that the vast majority of believers say that having a heart for God is an important thing for them to have in their lives. This is the first step in actually having a heart for God but until we set time aside everyday to be with Him, until we read His Word everyday, until we make being in church for worship and fellowship a healthy habit and until we are willing to set aside anything we are presently doing that is hindering that process it will not be possible to develop a heart for God in an increasing manner. This is a journey and a process and I am trusting you will be willing to join me on this wonderful journey of living life with His blessings because we are developing a heart for God.