The Perfect Plan

I was talking to a couple of friends last night about some of the most controversial and confrontational issues that seem to be brought up anywhere you go, that seem to be the focus on TV shows, radio, newspaper, and the Internet. We talked about may different things, but one thing i noticed about everything that we talked about whether it was, homosexuality, abortion, health care, government, and so on...God gives a perfect plan for each and every one of these things.

Every question you could have about every one of these issue and many, many more, the questions are answered in the Word of God...God gives us the answer to each of these questions. He states clearly in His Word, that sex is to be saved for marriage (between one man and one woman), that thou shall not kill, (the scripture says that he begins to form us, while we are in the womb) he said that by His stripes we were healed, (He also gives men the wisdom to treat and prevent many diseases).

The more we talked about all of these things and looked at the facts, God's plan is PERFECT!! The only time things don't work is when we don't execute our part of God's plan, but God knew that would happen, in fact he said in His word, that there is no one righteous except Him, and he told us that our righteousness is as filthy rags, we can't obtain righteousness in our power. The Bible says in Romans, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God!! Here is where we see the perfection of God's plan, he sent his only son Jesus to die on a cross to save us from our sins!! Jesus' blood wipes away all of our sins, all we have to according to the Word of God is call upon the name of Jesus and we shall be saved!!

God's plan is perfect, take care of your part of the plan and call upon the name of Jesus and he WILL save you!!

God Bless,
Nathan

Salt Pillars

Heard a great message last night on Hebrews 12 and the great cloud of witnesses that are in heaven cheering us on and Bro. Taylor also talked about Job's wife and how when the angel of the Lord came to deliver them from Sodom and Gomorrah he told them leave the city and don't look back for nothing. Which was God's way of telling us that we need to leave our sins and never look back!!

There are many great Godly men and women in heaven that are rooting for us and if they could tell us anything they would tell us, run on!!! Don't look back, there is nothing on earth that is worth missing heaven for!! It reminded me of the loved ones that I have lost that are there now and I can hear them telling me now, run on, run on, run on!!!! Hebrews 12 talks about running the race with patience, very important that we remember to do this, because this race is not a sprint, it is a marathon...so run on!

The only thing is that I am seeing a lot more salt pillars than I want to see, there are people turning back on God and they are turning back for things that will leave them thirsty for more and unsatisfied...so if you're reading this now and feel as though your faith is faltering or you feel weary..RUN ON!!! Don't look back, don't be a salt pillar...RUN ON!!!

God Bless,
Nathan

Prayer

Prayer is such a vital part to our relationship with God, I mean think about it...what if you only talked to your friends once, maybe twice a week? The relationship would suffer, you wouldn't know anything about your friend, you wouldn't know the things they like, the things they don't like, their goals, their dreams, their passions, none of that. You would know who they were, but you wouldn't know them! Same thing with a marriage or even a dating relationship, do you think the relationship would last long or have any kind of strength if the only time you talked to your spouse occasionally throughout the week and the only time you really took time to talk to them was when you wanted something from them...just a hint that relationship won't last long!

So, why do we act like it's so different with God? We will never see the revival that we say we want, we will never see the lost come to know Christ, we will never see the drunk freed from his addiction, we will never see the homosexual delivered from the bondage of their sin, UNTIL we learn what it means to pray. We MUST have a continual conversation with God, when we do we will know his will, we will know his passions, his heart, his desires!! The Bible says this, 2 Chronicles 7:14 - If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and PRAY, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (emphasis added)

Notice the scripture says to "seek His face," which means that we are not asking God to do anything for us, but we are simply wanting to know Him. The writer in Philippians 3:10 simply said, "That I may know him..." I implore you to cry out to God, let Him know, all I want is to know you!!

Don't be satisfied with anything less than an extraordinary walk with God!
God Bless,
Nathan

Stuff

In 1 Samuel 25:13, there is a story of a time when David is angry with a man because he wouldn't give him any food, but that was not what the cool part of the story is...this is, the Bible says there in verse 13 that David left 200 hundred men with the "stuff" and took 400 to go and get himself some grub(paraphrased). Then if you go on to chapter 30, you will find that David and his men lost everything, their city had been burned to the ground, their families had been taken, everything that they had worked for and fought so hard for, was GONE!

Why??? Cause David and his men were too busy focused on "stuff," we do this all the time!! We focus on "stuff" that does not matter in the light of eternity, we watch and hour of TV instead of spending time in the Word of God and praying, we go to a ballgame instead of going to the house of God, we get so caught up in "stuff" that God becomes the last item on our priority list, next thing you know it, we fall right back into the sin that has held us captive for so long the sin that we thought we were past...we lose all of that spiritual ground that we had gained, all that we fought for is lost...

Thank God for his mercy!! We need to be more like the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5, it said that she suffered many "things" of many physicians, there was a bunch of "stuff" the doctors had tried, there was a bunch of "stuff" that was in her life and rather than focus on the "stuff," she set her eyes on Jesus and determined in her heart that if she could just touch the hem of his garment she would be made whole and because of her faith, she was healed!! She focused on Jesus and not on the "stuff" around her!

So what is it for you "stuff" or Jesus?

God Bless,
Nathan

Inspiration

Wow, it is crazy how God created us where we can be filled with so many different emotions! Just earlier today, my wife and I, we said good-bye to one of my closest friends and his wife, that is going to Vanuatu for 2 years. It is unbelievable the vast mix of emotions that I am feeling right now and without a doubt, all of Steven's family and friends are feeling right now. I am so excited about what God is going to do through Steven and Kara, I am sad to see them go and not be able to hang out with them for another 2 years, and I am anxious to hear the great testimonies of God's power being made manifest in their lives!

Most of all I realized how tough it was to say good-bye, we hugged and said our goodbyes, and took pictures. And as we did this i realized why God commanded his disciples to GO! Because think about it, if Jesus had just suggested that it would be nice if we went, or mentioned how great it would be if we were His witnesses to the World, do you think there would have been such an urgency about preaching the Gospel?? I don't think so, we're too comfortable to take action from a suggestion, too at ease to have a passion for something that would be good, if it happened!!

Jesus commanded us to GO into all the World and preach the Gospel, to be His witnesses! Sure, he may not call you to somewhere across the seas, but what are you doing to obey that commandment in your own neighborhood?

BE His witnesses!!!
Nathan

Witnesses

Just preached yesterday on how we are called to be the witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ, The Bible says in Luke that Jesus said to his disciples that you are the witnesses of these things. This was during the time when Christ was giving the Great Commission, as Christians so many times we get so caught up with getting people converted that we forget that God did not call us to convert people, he called us to be His witnesses. We are called to simply present the gospel, and leave the results to God!!

Two quick examples of this;
1. Jarius came to Jesus and requested that he come and heal his daughter, and while they were yet on their way to his house there was a woman that had an issue of blood for 12 years that came and touched the hem of Jesus' garment and through her faith she was made whole. Yet when Jarius got back to his house with Jesus and Jesus told the people that the girl was not dead, but asleep, they laughed at him. There will be people that mock you, people that will laugh at you, people that reject you and disregard you when you present the gospel to them, but remember the results are not yours!

2. The woman at the well had a life-changing encounter with Christ at the well and then went into town and began to tell everyone come and see the man that told everything that I ever did! The bible says that the people came and heard Jesus and after a couple of days of being with him they told the woman, John 4:42 - And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Isn't that great, the change that was made in their lives was not because of what she said, but because of the work Jesus had done in their lives! So don't be intimidated, share your faith with someone today and leave the results up to God!!

God Bless,
Nathan

New Beginnings

I love the beginning of the month, it always reminds of the potential for greatness that resides in new beginnings. You can set new goals, rearrange your priorities, take a look back at the month before and see what you like and what you didn't like.

The beginning of a new month can be a great time to decide that you are going to strive to be closer to God, spend more time with your family, pursue that dream that God laid on your heart several months ago. You can determine in your heart to do anything, when you have a new beginning.

What would you do with a fresh start, a new beginning?

God Bless,
Nathan