I have been thinking about the journey we make to the saving knowledge of Christ. For some it is almost like they have always been saved. That is a nice thought, but not at all true. You see regardless of the amount of time you spent in the church house growing up doesn’t mean that you automatically got saved. It had to be a time in your life that you realized your lost condition and accept the payment Jesus paid for you. We don’t get saved by osmosis. Then for some of us we had a radical life changing experience. The difference in your life was noticeable to you as well as all the people around you. These transformations seem to get more glory as the story is told. We read about Paul and how he had the Damascus Road experience and it radically changed him. Those are awesome stories to hear. My point in this short post is to say that it doesn’t matter how your journey happened to Christ, the important thing is that it happened. For some it happens as a child, like for three of my boys, some not until adulthood sometime, like for myself, yet there are some that don’t make the completion of the journey until they are knocking on deaths door. However it happens doesn’t matter the important thing is that it happens. Don’t be like so many that think they have something because mom, dad, or grandma had it. Or because they walked the isle shook a preachers hand got dunked and then lived anyway the jolly well please. You see when you really get saved there is a change, you won’t want to do the same things that you have always done. You won’t want to live in a lifestyle of sin. So today before you get up from where you are make sure that Heaven is your home.
Tag: Life
Not the way I would plan it
Well, my life has certainly not turned out to be anything I thought it would be. I used to always think that the perfect life would be two kids a good job and a suburban house. Working in some type of law enforcement position is what I thought I would do. Well none of that has ever been true of my life. I now have seven kids, yes I said seven and I don’t live in a suburba
n type house. I do however have the perfect job, not one might I add that I thought I would ever do. I am a pastor of a local new testament SBC church. You see I figured out one thing a long time ago, you have to play the cards your dealt, and you never know what the dealer is going to give you the next hand. The dealer is God mind you. You have to understand that God really does know what is best for you. Trust me I know how hard it is to be able to wait on God. We as humans want everything now and want what we think we need. My seventh child was born on Saturday. It seems like everything was going fine for the first few hours and then the dreaded news that Rainen would have to go to the NICU. Is this a blessing or something else that seems to be going wrong. You see we only have a Ford Expedition that seats eight people. He makes nine. I want to stress out and try and figure out something. Talking to my wife she says remember the many times God has provided. My friend called me earlier and shared the same thing with me. I would like to say to those who read this that God is always on time even if it is not our time. If we can trust Him for our salvation let us trust Him for our needs.
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.
Thoughts from Pastor Toney 