“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
John 14: 6
12 “Look, I AM coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22: 12-13
Pastors Noreen & Henry Kevern
Missing the Boat
“LORD, the great and awesome GOD Who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and rebelled; we have turned away from Your commands and laws.”
Daniel 9:4-5
There is so much misconception about God. We all have our own definition of God and some people do not care to know God. We spend much of our lives listening to others but fail to listen to what God is saying. We are so caught up in our self and miss out on what God calls out to us for our lives. We fail to take the time to spend with God and to seek the relationship that He wants with us. We often think about God as a person just sitting up on a throne in heaven not doing much of anything. Our lives are evidence of that conception. We live our lives just trying to get by, putting God in a box to take out at our convenience, especially when we want something or something is not going right. We go about our days, rushing here and there and only think about our own selfish desires. We look for ways to divert our pain; we seek far too many things that do so much harm to our lives. We ask and wonder why God does not give us right away what we ask Him for. We tend to treat God as a wish granter and when He does not give us what we want, we get mad at God and in our own way, put God at a distance from us.
When was the last time you thanked God for the troubles in your life?
Yes, I said troubles. We all have things that we do not like going on in our lives. And most of us worry so much about money and it drives us to want more and more, we tend to wear ourselves out trying to get more of it as if money could solve all our problems. I know as I have been a worrier for years. Worried about how to pay the mortgage, the utilities, the food and over the years a million other things. We all worry about something: Our children, our marriage, our job, our car, whether we can do something for a vacation, or buy something we saw on the internet. We want. We want even more. We have not enough of everything. We like stuff. We keep looking for the next best thing that is going to fulfill us. And we never seem to have enough. And we just go on and on about our troubles, never really trying to figure out where we have missed the boat, how we have caused so many of our problems. I do not say that we are at fault for everything, because others can cause us problems. But it is how we react and deal with our troubles that define us as a person.
There is not anyone on this earth who has had or has a perfect life except One and that Person is the One we are to learn from. Jesus.
Are you living out in your life, grace? In God’s grace? Are you struggling with your thoughts and wonder why things are not working out the way you want them to? Are you walking a self-destructed path, plagued by addiction to things that are destroying you and those around you? Are you wasting your time and the gifts that God has endowed you with by pursuing things of no real importance? Do you spend time seeking God and asking Him to allow His Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins? Do you even really spend time with GOD?
There is an old song that brings me out of myself and fully into the heart of God. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. How often we miss the boat is obvious by what is going on in the world. God’s church is divided into so many different denominations and each has its own set of rules to follow. We have put God in a box and never seem to spend the time to get to know Him. We are content to go to church and be preached at but never spending other time with God. We busily rush around, and can’t seem to make the time for God but we always seem to have enough time to be on our phones or watch tv. We are so busy with our lives that we push God out and think that one day, one hour is time enough for God. Then there are those who are plagued by so much trouble and because God did not give them what they wanted, or bring them out of their situation that they get mad at God and ignore Him.
My brothers and sisters, we are missing the boat. We need to climb into our boats and bring Jesus with us, keeping our eyes on Him through the rough waves of life. And when we keep our eyes on Jesus, we can follow Him with the way we live our lives. Jesus did not come to earth and create a bunch of different churches but told us that we are to worship in the Spirit and in truth. Our coming before God and spending time with Him, we are to open our hearts and minds, our whole being to the Holy Spirit and let Him convict us of our sins and to teach us how we are to live. We are to be a Spirit filled church not corporate churches, each building their own little world. Although some churches seem to get the message of being God’s hands and feet, most do not. We tend to forget that we, each individual person, are the church. We are the body of Christ. And we are each given different gifts so that we can be the hands and feet of God. Each of us are blessed with certain things in order for God to work through us to be what we were created for. We are given dominion over the earth to take care of it and to take care of one another. We are to live our lives fully invested in being a child of God. Our churches should be all the same, living out the life that Jesus showed us. We are to love one another, help one another and yes, we are to show people how to live out the life that God have called us to. Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew 18:15-20: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For wherever two or three gather in My Name, there am I with them. This is one of the hardest teaching that Jesus has given us. We hear so often that we are not to judge and so we have sat back and allowed sin to multiply in the world. We don’t want to be branded as someone who is telling another that they are sinning because we want the world to like us. That is the lie of satan. He tells us that if we talk about the sin of others we are being judgmental. But that is not what Jesus teaches. Judgment is when we condemn and punish, not when we speak the truth of God. Pointing out sin is to show God’s love. Jesus here points out three times that we are to confront people about sin and after that if they refuse to repent to God, then we are to treat them as a pagan, a non-believer of God. This is one of the many things that Jesus said and we wish He did not. It is so hard to stand up and point out sin. The world shuts us down and we let them. We are to follow God’s law not the laws that man has made that are contrary to God’s law. Understand this, Jesus did not come to take away the law but to fulfill it. (see Matthew 5:17-20) God’s law is the same as it has always been. Just because someone says that God’s law is not correct and goes around pushing the evil one’s agenda does not nullify God’s law. When we fail to put God and His way first in our lives, we sin. When we covet, desire something more than God, we sin. When we do not honor our parents, we sin. When people lie, steal, commit sexual sin in all its forms, whether it be adultery, having sex with another outside of marriage, being homosexual. (See Leviticus 18) In Deuteronomy 5, we learn the Ten Commandments. In Leviticus 19 we can read various laws that God has given us. In particular, I want you to think about this law. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I AM the LORD. (Leviticus 19: 9-10) We live in a world where is so much yet so many have nothing. This is a lesson for us to learn on how to treat others and what our roles is in doing so. As the church, we are the ones who sow the Word of God. We are to share with others the blessing that God gives us. As the church of God, we should have food pantries in every church so that those who need something can go and take something. God is not telling us that the government is supposed to take care of each other, but that we are to. Our churches should be places of help for one another. Churches should be investing in the welfare of others. There are a couple of ministries that I would like to point out that take this mission into the world around them. In Arizona, there is a ministry called, Gospel Rescue Mission. It provides food and shelter, and other things for the poor, the homeless. In New Hampshire, there is a ministry called Isaiah 61 Café. They provide meals and food for the poor and the homeless. Anyone can come and get a hot meal and if you can afford to give something, you give. No questions asked. They provide showers, bathrooms, washers and dryers and even have lockers for the homeless to leave their things in. The only thing they require is that no one does drugs or drink alcohol. It is a safe place; it shows the love of God. In Atlanta, Georgia, we went to a church that provides a meal after church for anyone. There only requirement was to attend the church service beforehand because they realize that people need to be fed the Word of God.
When was the last time you provided food for the homeless? You, personally? When was the last time you bought food and bought extra to give to a food bank? What if we had collection boxes at every church or grocery store to collect food? People should not have to provide proof to receive food. There will always be people who take advantage of others, but when we see someone doing that, we can point out their sin. WE REALLY are to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. What if churches got together and purchased buildings where they could refurbish them into places where the homeless could come and have a place to live in order for them to get a job and be able to save up their money so they can find a place to live? What if the church would have housing at a rate that people could afford. Just look at California, housing is so expensive that people cannot afford a place to live. I am not talking about the government doing it but we, the church, the people of God doing it. Our tithes should go to provide for the poor and the homeless, not providing bigger and fancier church buildings. Whether you are a church that meets in a home, or has a huge building for worship, ever church should be providing for the poor and homeless. At some St. Vincent de Paul’s they provide medical services for the homeless and the poor. We as the church, the people of God, should be providing for one another. Sure the government could also give to these ministries. If we are to be the hands and feet of God, if we are to do to others as we do for ourselves, if we are to be disciples of Christ and bring His Word to others, then we are being the church.
Worship of God requires two things, His Spirit and His truth. If we are living out our lives as Christians, we should be taking care of each other. Jesus did not call us to just tell about Him but to be His hands and feet. What we do to one another, we do to Him. Taking care of one another is giving glory to God. If we are only spending an hour at church a week, or not even going to church we are not walking in the way of the LORD. We need to come to God daily in order for Him to nourish us in HIS WORD. We need to receive His Body and Blood to nourish our souls. Jesus said we are to eat His flesh and drink His blood, which HE gave us at His last supper here on earth. We are to eat and drink so that GOD can fill us. We need to live our lives fully devoted to GOD in every way. We are to be overcomers of all that is not of GOD. And we need to stand firm in our faith and in GOD’s Word.
So let us Turn our eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
