What would you do to see someone you love accept Jesus? What about someone that you just know? What about someone you have never met? Here is one for you, what about someone you don’t like? We all know what the Bible says that we are to share Jesus. You see we all want our family to know Jesus. Or that is what we say. The way we act is will far out way what we tell them about Jesus. I heard tonight to words that made a lot of sense. Live It!!!!!! You see we don’t tell our loved ones about Jesus near enough. Things just tend to get harder with the people that we know. After all we don’t want to offend our friends. What we are really saying when we don’t share Christ, is that they can just go to Hell. Then we come to those people that we don’t like, we are Christians so we don’t say hate. Truth be told it would be easier on you if would quit lying to yourself. Everybody else knows the truth, just open your eyes and do what Jesus commanded you to do. When we don’t share Jesus what we are really telling people is that we hate them enough to send them to Hell for eternity. You see we as Christians have one assignment here on Earth. We are commanded to share Christ with the world and teach the new believers how to duplicate themselves. Not the hardest job in the world. When we are saved and God transforms your life we should get excited about it. We should want to tell other people what has happened in our lives. Jesus gave His life for ours and all he asks us in return is to share the Good news with other people. So let me ask Are you Sharing Christ?
Author: pastortoney
I am a follower of Christ. I have the privilege to pastor a group of followers at That Church. We believe Restoration is for Everybody.
Death at 6PM
What would you do if you knew you would die at 6pm tonight? I know what you are thinking not another one of these. I have had to think more about this question in the last week. On Friday last week, I was speaking at one of our local nursing homes. The subject that day was the unchanging Jesus, great topic. Well at the close of the message I asked the same question that I have opened up with here. We prayed and then sang Jesus Loves Me. I looked at one of the residents there, assuming that they had fallen asleep due to my preaching. We tried to wake the resident to no avail, and then we began to panic. There was no pulse, they were not breathing, and all the while I am thinking about that question. Turns out the resident had what they believed was a heart attack, but for all of us who were in that room it became a wake up call. You see we have all made the statement that if I knew I was going to die I would be busy about sharing Jesus or fixing broken relationships. The Bible tells us that we are all going to die and then we will face the judgment. You might say well I don’t believe the Bible. That is fine, what about this? Statistics prove that 5 out of 5 people die. You can’t argue with that, can you? Have you ever known someone younger than you that died? Maybe you have seen it on the news or read about it in the paper. You see we all have to face the same end. The scary thing I guess is, you don’t know when it is coming. The Bible says our lives are like a vapor of water, here and then gone that quickly. Yes I admit it would be great to know exactly when you were going to die, so that you could make sure that there were no lose strings left. But we don’t know. So why not live our lives like today is the last. Share Jesus with the ones you love, share Jesus with those you come into contact with. Maybe you don’t even know Jesus, well now is a good time to meet Him. Remember you may not make it to 6pm.
What if or Why not?
Ever been posed with the question, What if this Jesus stuff isn’t real? Or maybe you have thought about that yourself. For me this is a question that plagued me for many years. What if? I would pretend to be a follower of Jesus with my Sunday mornings or even some of my money. But as soon as I got out of there it was back to life as normal. I would ask myself the question what if it isn’t real? Why would I want to devote myself to something that may or may not be real? I had seen the power of God in other people’s lives, but never in my own. After all why would God allow my grandpa and dad to die within a year? Why would He allow my mom to get messed up and lose her children into foster care? Why would we be bounced around from here to there without the slightest show of affection? If God were real why would all of this happen to me? I have to say that based upon my past, my future didn’t look too bright. I had to make it on my own, because nobody was going to hand me anything. I kept pushing on, even after what seemed like mistake after mistake. All the while believing that I was doing it on my own. After all in my mind why would I devote myself to a God who didn’t care about me? Well then it happened! The answer to my question was given to me. I was able to discover that this Jesus thing was real. I understood why people devoted their lives to Him. You might be saying right now, how? Well, in christianese I got saved. In plain man’s talk, I began a one on one relationship with Jesus the Son of God. I finally realized that everything that had happened in my life and been carefully planned out by the very Creator of the Universe. You see as a 6-year-old kid when life falls apart you don’t understand anything. God spoke to me through His Word and explained that everything that had happened in my life had to happen to make me who He wanted me to be. So have I ever asked the question What If? Yes. Now I know that the answer is yes Jesus is real and I want to devote my entire life to Him, because He gave His life for me. You know He will do it for you also. All you have to do is Admit that you are a sinner (that means you have broken the ten commandments), Believe Jesus really paid the price for your sins (Hung on a cross and died not because He deserved to but for you), and Confess that you want to be saved (start a one on one relationship with Jesus). See it really is that easy. So why ask what if? Why not ask Why not?
Are you a Negative Nancy?
Ever feel like the world is winning this race? Like everything that you try to do for the Lord is beat by the world. I sometimes feel like when I try to do something that is Kingdom focused, that I get smacked in the face by the world. People question me about my motives or even the purpose. We do a food give away in our town. It isn’t much but the people in our town are grateful. There are people in our community that think this is crazy. They make statements like let them get out and work for their food. I agree, people should be willing to work to provide for themselves and families. The Bible tells us that we as Christians should be willing to do whatever we can for the poor and needy. I am not talking about giving them money. I am talking about some of the basics to life. You can find people all over that are takers and not givers. The sad thing is that most of our churches today are made up of takers. They want to know what the church can do for them. When you begin to do things for the community they get upset because you are taking things away from them. We are told many times to focus on Kingdom things and to lay up treasures in Heaven. I have come to the point that people are going to talk and that is fine. I don’t have to worry about the negative stuff. God has already won the war. Battles may be fought daily here on earth, but rest assured we are more than victors when Jesus is in charge. So are you one of those people that complain or always try to hinder something God is doing? I know you say how do I know God is doing it? Well if it lines up with the Word, then it is God. Do you feel that the world or people are always smacking you? Just remember that we work for the Master and His approval. People will always be upset about things that may not be their idea, or is taking something they feel away from them. So don’t be a taker, but be a giver. Don’t be the negative Nancy about things, but jump in and work for the Kingdom.
Show them or Tell Him
Did you do anything today for Jesus? You said that you are a follower of Jesus, right. Don’t you want to go to Heaven? Don’t you have any faith? Why aren’t you working for the King? You see in these questions lie some of the problems in the modern day follower of Christ. Jesus said if you love Him that you would obey His commands. That means at the very least you will at least tell somebody about Him. Then you begin to run into the problem where people think you have to work your way to Heaven. You see Jesus’ brother James talks about this for us. He tells us that if we aren’t working that we must not have very much faith. Let me ask you why in the world would we work? Well Jesus died for us so why wouldn’t we work for Him? We don’t work for His benefit. We are working as a witness to other people that we really believe in Jesus. Nothing gripes me more than when I hear people tell me how much they love Jesus and do nothing to show Him. Or when they say that they would die for Jesus, but can’t even get them to live for Him. Don’t you think that we are just talkers? You see we can show the world that we really do believe in Jesus by doing what He tells us. We can also show Jesus that we love Him by doing what Jesus said. So allow me to say this, why don’t you get up and do something for Jesus? James says show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith through works. Your call. It is show and tell time.
Why aren’t you dressed like I said?
Have you ever felt that you have to change to meet the expectations others have for you? People have set the rules for us, instead of God. Shouldn’t we be more concerned about what God says we should be, instead of what so and so says? When we get saved we tend to get put into the Christian mold. People tell us what should be in our lives or what shouldn’t be in them. Why do we try to impose our will upon new converts? Don’t we tell people how to dress and what they should do? We even expect people to quit everything that they were doing right away. I would submit that we have missed the boat. Our churches should be filled with people that look just like the world. I am not saying that they should continue to be like the world. They should give up sin lifestyles. But, who are we to tell people how they should look or what they should wear. Yeah I am one of those preachers that wear jeans and a button up shirt. I used to wear a suit and tie. I realize that God saved Toney, because He wanted Toney. I have tried to impose what I thought a Christian was supposed to look like. I realized that God wanted me to be me. That is why He saved me. Are you following? God new that who He made me to be was what He wanted to use. We all can’t be the hands; some of us have to be the feet. The Bible says we are all different parts of the same body. You see we aren’t supposed to look the same. So if that is really true, why do we have a dress code for the people joining our churches? God understands that we are all different, why can’t we? So if you have a three-piece suit or a pair of blue jeans it doesn’t really matter. God doesn’t look at the outside, but looks directly to the heart. So what is your heart dressed in? Quit imposing your standards on people and let God do what God can only do.
Keep your nose in my buisness!!!!
Have you ever said I will pray for you? Or maybe you have thought well that is your problem, take care of it yourself. Hey I think that we are all guilty of that. We live in a society where we are trained to mind your own business. Maybe you have heard it said this way, Mind your own business or don’t put your nose where it doesn’t belong. After all we don’t want to offend anyone by putting our nose where it doesn’t belong. The Bible says something different from what the world says. The Bible actually tells us to bare each other’s burdens. If we see a fellow believer in trouble to step in and help them out. So, if we believe the Bible is God’s Word and is the mandate for the way we are to live our life. Why don’t we do what it says? Instead of just saying oh I will pray for you. See I think that all to often we try to get off the hook by offering a small prayer for the person in need. After all we don’t want to put our noses where they don’t belong. Most of the time we pray for people we are asking God to help them. We don’t even realize that God has already sent the help in the form of the people in His church. I am not saying that we shouldn’t pray to God on the behalf of others. What we need to realize is God is not a genie in bottle. He choses to work through us to help His people. God has instructed us to bare each other’s burdens. To help each other out. So next time don’t just say I will pray for you, but offer to be the helping hand of God to that person.
What have you sown?
Have you ever heard, what you sow you will reap? Do we really understand what that means? I mean we understand that it has a physical meaning right. After all if you spend your life drinking and drugging, we all know how that ends up. Or say we over eat, and then we know what happens after that. Well you know this has a spiritual meaning to it also. God says to us what we sow we will reap because He is not mocked. What does all that really mean? Well let’s start at the end. God is not mocked. You can’t expect to live a life wide open doing what you want and never have to answer for it to God. He sees all and knows all, so it isn’t like you are doing anything in the dark. Did you realize that even though you go into your house and close the door, God could still see you? So you will have to pay the piper so to speak at some point. So let’s look at the first part, what you sow you will reap. I always think of this as a big savings account. If I sow or do good things I will have good things come my way down the road. If I sow or do bad things, I can expect to have bad things come my way down the road. This doesn’t have anything to do with going to Heaven, as Heaven is the gift of God and we do nothing to earn it. When we do things not expecting to gain anything here on earth, we will reap the benefits later in heaven. That is a lot of what making the decision to trust Jesus is. We chose to sow that decision into our life and then we reap the benefits of it. Have you sown Jesus into your life?
Me against the World?
Ever feel like you are all by yourself? Everyone in the world has turned against you. Or maybe no one is willing to step up and help you. When everything is going good everybody wants to be on your team. But let things turn and no one wants to be with you. Maybe everyone has turned on you. You have been doing exactly what God has called you to do and now even those who said they would always be there have turned aside. You begin to feel like what is the use? Why continue to be the odd man out? So how do you deal with that? Do you really just give up and do things the way the world wants? What about as we witness and receive negative feedback? We don’t feel like we can do it, do we? You see we all worry about this person or that person being against us. God has said that He is in our corner. That doesn’t mean that bad things don’t still happen. Remember the disciples? All of them lost their lives at some point. Does that mean that God wasn’t for them? You see God’s ways are above our ways. He doesn’t just see what is in front of us. God sees the big picture. He knows what is best for us and how to protect us. The Bible says If God is for us, who can be against us. Don’t worry about man, but trust in the One who created you. It may seem like you against the world, but remember God is on your side. So it is two against the world and your on the winning side.
Who is your dad?
Did you have a great Father’s Day? I enjoyed the day with my wife and six children. Here is a thought for the day after. Did you tell God Happy Father’s Day? I know we think of this day, as one for our earthly dads. There are many men out there who are dads to more than just the children they help to produce. I have had many dads in my lifetime. There have been guys who have come along side of me to help steer me in the right direction. Some to offer advice in matters of life, others to help out in physical needs. There have been those who love me for just who I am. Then there have been those who love my children like they were their own. Isn’t that everything a dad is supposed to do? Well I would submit that God fits all of those qualifications, doesn’t He? You see, God had to pay a price to become our Father. Many people fail to realize that being a Father will cost you something. There will be the times when your children don’t listen and break your heart. I should know, I did this a lot. Then there might be time that it will cost you financially. You see God was willing to bounce back from all of those times for us. He was even willing to give up His biological son, so that we might have the ability to be adopted by Him. I have had the chance to be adopted by the very creator of the universe. Why? Because He paid a price so that He could become my Father. So I would challenge all of you to stop and tell your Heavenly Father you love Him. After all He didn’t have to be your dad but He chose to anyways.
Thoughts from Pastor Toney 