Over the span of my ministry, I have been asked some key
questions by people who are searching for the will of God in their lives. As we all know, life can present some difficult
circumstances that can really try our faith.
However, I tell my congregation; never let your
circumstances circumvent the preeminence of God and His Word in your life and dictate
how you will react to your issues. In
saying this, I’m starting a monthly blog –
What does the Bible have to say about……
Every Christian walks the Road to Emmaus
The Road to Emmaus Luke 24: 13-35: I have wanted to post this for a very long time now. Reading through the scriptures you will find that we all travel down the same kind of road as these two disciples. Being a disciple or follower of Christ does not mean your life is free from issues, trials, diversions and all manner of heartaches and hard times. It does mean though, God will be with you through them all even if you don't realize He is walking right beside you.
If you read through the dialogue these two disciples have with The Lord (They didn't know it was even Him!), you will see disappointment, heartache, loss, defeat, no hope, deflated, depression, anxiety, loss of vision, loss of faith, feelings of abandonment and the list goes on and on and on.
All the while, they did not know that The Lord Himself was right there with them even though they felt totally defeated and as if all hope was lost. We all go through this. Been there done that. Presently, I know of people walking the road to Emmaus in their lives.
The scripture says Jesus kept them from recognizing Him: Sometimes we have to let our faith be our guiding light..What we know He said and what He said He will do. Faith has to be your legs beneath you or you will continuously fall. However God in His grace knows how really weak we are and always is there to pick us up when we cant stand or we are feeling totally defeated. He loved these disciples who were acting completely out of the will of God..He loves you too and will never forsake you or leave you. Gods love for you goes beyond our ability to understand. At your worst, He loves you and even though you might not recognize Him, know He is there.
After walking that 7 mile trip, the disciples were comfortable enough to invite this complete stranger in to stay the night. The reason: "Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the scripture to us."
The Word of God strengthens the weak, gives life to the lifeless and is a helper of our soul. This didn't happen in a church, it happened on a lonely road that two very lost and disillusioned disciples were walking on. Always talk to God no matter how you feel and no matter where you are at. Tell Him how you feel and be honest about your issues that's going on in your life.
Sometimes our eyes gets closed to who it is we serve. Sometimes we are blind and dull of feeling and cannot see God even though He is all around us. Take Him at His Word: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.
Even though these disciples were so down trodden and so discouraged while on the road to Emmaus, after one meeting with Jesus and the unveiling of scriptural truth to their hearts, they went from tired and spent to encouraged and ready to go as they immediately headed back to Jerusalem with a different perspective, renewed faith, fresh anointing and ready to believe.
The second trip on Emmaus road was one that led to promise, victory, vigor, spiritual vitality, vision, faith, love, hope and proper perspective! Nothing can stop a believer who has the love of God in their hearts and has faith in Christ as their foundation!
May God bless you on your road to Emmaus...Remember, He is there and He is talking with you. Take a moment and break bread with The Master, Emmanuel Himself - God with us!
Pastor Jay
12/30/15The heart of man:
Jer 17:9 KJV
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
It has been said that Satan is mans arch enemy. Truly the biggest enemy that we face is the one that lies within us; ourselves. In the heart of man, there is born all manner of wickedness and evil. Every travesty that has ever been committed in humanity has been first devised in the heart of man before it was made reality.
The heart of man is the womb that gives birth to all manners of evil. Therefore God must be sought in the heart to make the repair that man so desperately needs. The Word tells us that Jesus stands at the door and knocks. That door is the door of the heart of man. As a Christian, we must always fight the tendencies of the fallen nature of our heart even though God has born us again this fight will go on until one day we are made perfect in His kingdom.
At the heart of every problem is a problem in the heart. “ God strengthen us to allow your Holy Spirit to guide our hearts and choose your ways over the fallen ways of the heart. Help us to always live by faith and not by sight. Your word says in proverbs 28:26 that a fool trusts in his own heart. Keep us from ourselves oh Lord. For man has been destroying himself ever since the dawn of time in the Garden of Eden so many years ago. Take our hearts Lord and fix our eyes on thee. In Jesus name.”
Pastor Jay
5/11/15
Marriage:
Marriage
is a holy institution established by God in creation with the creation of male
and female. Man cannot change the design that God has put on
marriage.
The
scripture says in the book of Genesis 2: 22-24 - Then the LORD God made a woman
from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the
man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh; she shall be called 'woman', for she was taken out of
man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother
and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
There
is a portion of our society today who has willfully and wantonly rebeedl
against the design of marriage and the holiness it should represent.
Marriage is to be between a man and a woman only. This was commanded to
us by a God that condemns same sex relationships in multiple places in
Deuteronomy and the first chapter of the book of Romans.
As
a pastor, I have witnessed over the years a total lack of devotion and true
commitment between spouses. We have trained ourselves that when times get
tough it’s time to bail out. The real problem is that the marriage was never
seated in the faith of Jesus Christ to begin with.
People
get married every day, but how many truly understand what it means to enter
into “Holy Matrimony”? People who get married and are about to enter into
an institution created by God should fully understand and agree to do it Gods
way! Marriages fail for many reasons I know, but when people go into
something like marriage that God has rules and regulations for and they do it
unadvisedly and take it lightly with no understanding, calamity will soon pay
them a visit…
“Marriage
should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge
the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” Hebrews 13:4
Pastor
Jay
1/25/15Tattooing:
Lev
19:28 NKJV
28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for
the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.
The
Holy Scripture makes it very clear that God commands us not to tattoo
ourselves. Understand that this is not a statement that leaves it
up to our discretion; it is a clear command from God.
Tattooing
has become very popular in our culture today all around the world. As the
world slips further and further from the knowledge and will of God, we can see
more and more of Gods commands flagrantly disregarded. Why do we
feel the need to scar ourselves or permanently mark ourselves? What
influences such behavior?
The
answer is Satan. The scripture states that we are made in the image and
likeness of God:
Gen 1:26-28 NKJV
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in
His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created
them.
The
scripture also says that our bodies belong to the Lord:
1 Cor 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's.
Keeping
the scripture in mind, you can clearly see how Satan loves to take what belongs
to God and defile it. You can clearly see how Satan loves to take the
image of God and try to taint it! Our bodies are the temple of The Holy
Spirit, in other words our body is a church so to speak…A place in which God
inhabits, a place where prayer and worship takes place just like a
church.
What
would you think, if driving down the road, you see a church with graffiti all
over it…Foul words, sinful or demonic images on the wall of what was a
beautiful church that represents God in Heaven? Would you not look at
that and say that is the work of the devil?
So
does God.
Pastor
Jay Keaton
11/25/14
The End of The World:
One of the most popular subjects that people like to talk about in lieu of the many world issues that seem to be overtaking humanity is: are we experiencing the beginning of the end of the world?
The answer to that question is yes. The world is experiencing what has been predicted in the Bible would take place at the end of the world. However, there are many so called prophecy experts out there who claim to know something when they really are full of pride and know absolutely nothing.
It’s no wonder that the very first thing that Jesus said in Matthew 24 where our Lord begins to teach His disciples the signs that would take place when the end of all things was at hand he said to “take heed no one deceives you” – Matt 24:4…..Deception would obviously be the theme of the day in the last days and throughout the course of Christianity….I look on facebook and see people saying for sure it’s not this year or next as if they somehow have the mystical knowledge of the mind of a Sovereign God who by the way will do what He will when He will!
So sign number one is deception… Do we see deception running rampant right now regarding Christianity, Prohecy, and religion in general? Yes… People don’t even know what church to go to! The world can't tell who's right in Christianity because of all of the fakes and deceivers out there!
This is one of two main statements in Jesus' end of the world sermon in Matthew 24:36
36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." NKJV
Here is the other one: Matt 24:42-44
42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." NKJV
So as you can see, the main emphasis here is that nobody knows when it's coming but you better be ready…. The Lord gives us a lot of signs that we can see that tells us that we are the terminal generation. However nobody knows when. Is the end coming? Yes it is. Do I feel its close? Yes I do. But here is the deal; If you’re ready, what difference does it make? If you know it’s close, be evangelistic and make sure others are born again and accept Jesus as their personal Savior….
Bottom Line: End of times talks and discussions are exciting to talk about and I love to teach on Bible prophecy and the end of times but don’t listen to people who in their own mind think they are smart enough to know something that our Lord Jesus says no man would know….JUST BE READY!
Pastor Jay
10/11/14
Resolving Problems With People: read Matthew 18:15-17
Settling
disputes, differences, hurts, and all issues is a part of daily living….99
perrcent of the time, when people have issues, it involves other people.
Most of the time, people will pick up their cell phones and call the pastor to
go and fix their problems! Wrong! If Gods people will act in love
and good Christian character and follow the principles Jesus laid out in
Matthew 18:15-17, bringing their issues to the person that is involved, there
would hardly be found any malice at all in the Church of our Lord.
However,
when we let anger and a wrong suffering go, it can easily turn into anger and
hate and will eventually cause divisions in the church. Let me say this
clearly..YOU have a responsibility to live out your Christianity the way God
designed it to be. Nobody is perfect, but if we follow these principles
and put our faith in action, we will not only help ourselves but we will cause
those around us to grow in Christ. And we solve problems the way God
intended it to be.
Pastor
Jay
9/21/14
Serving God from your heart:
The scripture tells us that God is interested in the spiritual condition of our hearts. “Man looks upon the outward appearance but God looks upon the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7. Many religions and religious groups focus on an outward religion that calls attention to the works of their hands while the condition of their heart is never addressed. We can fool people by doing and saying things that seem Godly when our hearts are never right with God at all!
If you've ever wondered what it is that God wants from you the answer is simple; A pure heart. God wants your actions in this life to be a reflection of Jesus Christ in your heart. Deeds that are done because Christ is the motivating factor brings life and blessings from God in Heaven. James, the half-brother of Jesus said it best; “Show me your works without your faith and I will show you my works because of my faith” James 2:18
Pastor Jay
9/2/14
SIN:
The one thing that all of humanity shares is the issue of sin. This is a subject not preached much from American pulpits due to its sensitive nature and the possibility of someone being offended at the truth….However, I'm not one of these weak-kneed preachers. Sin is something that left in place in your heart will cause you spiritual death.
Jesus' whole mission was to deal with mankind’s sin issue that kept us separated from God and out of right standing with Him as well. Sin by definition is lawlessness or transgression of Gods will for your life….People can sin in thought, word, or deed. You may say “with these standards how can anyone not sin?” That is the very point. Nobody that is human can live a perfect life without somehow violating the righteous standards of our Father in Heaven. For this reason, we need a Savior. Sin left humanity permanently at odds with God.
Jesus did what no man could do; go through all of life’s trials and tribulations and remain perfectly faithful to God and never sin which made Him the perfect sacrifice (Lamb of God) without spot or blemish. In other words He faced everything you and I could face and overcame it…..Now here is the beautiful part…..To everyone who believes in Christ Jesus the Lord and is born again, God takes the victory over sin that Jesus won and gives it to you because of your faith in Christ Jesus The Lord!! He took my place in judgment for my sins and gave me His victory just for believing…What a wonderful exchange!
Pastor Jay Keaton
8/8/14
Going to Heaven:
Let me be straight with you; You must be born again. Our Lord
Jesus Christ expressed this to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. No matter how much religious knowledge you
posses, or how fluent you are in the scriptures, you have to be born of God
spiritually. Jesus said, “what is born
of the flesh is flesh, but what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (JN 3:6)
There is no entitlement to heaven passed on to you from your
parents, spouse, grandparents etc. You
yourself must come to The Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to be your personal
Lord and Savior. Not just empty words spoken
from your mouth for God knows the intent of your heart but a sincere desire to
be forgiven and to follow Christ!
Bottom Line – The only way to Heaven is to believe in Jesus
Christ with all your heart and that He paid the penalty of sin in your behalf. You see, Jesus did what no man could do....He lived a perfect life without sin in perfect obedience to God our Father, faced every kind of temptation and sin but never fell to any of it making Him the perfect sacrifice in our behalf! In fact He is the spotless lamb of God! So, when we believe in Christ, His victory over sin becomes our victory and ticket to Heaven! Now, the sin account is settled between me and God not because of what I have done, but because of what Jesus done and the fact I have placed all my faith in Him as the Messiah and my personal Lord and Savior!
When you truly do this with all sincerity from
your heart, The Lord will spiritually transform you into a child of The Living
God. He will take you out of the kingdom
of darkness and place you in the membership of the Kingdom of Heaven…..Make no
mistake about it your life will change! Your views will change, your personality
will change and your desires will change.
If you are truly born again you will be a “new creature in Christ” (2nd
Co 5:17, Gal 6:15) and on your way to Heaven.
Pastor Jay Keaton
No comments:
Post a Comment