Thursday, August 15, 2013

Throwing the First Stone*

In John 8:1-11, People wanted to stone a woman for committing adultery. Yet Jesus said that whoever is without sin, cast the first stone.

Everyone Left.

How many of us would be in that same position of wanting to condemn others when we have sin in our own life?

hmmm, that is something to think about...



You can read about the incident below:

"...
 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' ...
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, .“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'
'No one, sir,' she said.
'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Go now and leave your life of sin.'"  John 8:1-11  (NIV)


Cheer Up*

Do you ever feel like you are going through hard times? Does it seem like it's just one bad thing after the other?


"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4 NIV

I know it can be hard to be joyful when you deal with a bunch of trials and tribulations.  Sometimes things get me down...yet at other times, when I have things happen, I just have to laugh, chuckle, or hangout with people who help me laugh...It's not good to be away from everyone when one is dealing with a lot of hardship.  People are surprised what I deal with on a daily basis because I laugh.  I have learned to find things to laugh about.  

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and 
the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in 
any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV

Learn from what you deal with. If you have a lot of hardships, try to encourage other people 
with what you have learned from all that you have gone through.  and Remember to lean on 
God through it all.

"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had 
to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven 
genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though 
refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see 
him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 
for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."  
1 Peter 1:6-9 NIV

We grow from hardships.  Our faith grows, wisdom grows, and we spiritually 
mature.  Remember to persevere, persevere, and better yet, persevere... 
and be joyful.





Don't Let Your Heart Be Troubled*

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."John 14:1-3 (NKJV)


Our God has a place for each of us in Heaven, if we have received His salvation.  
Heaven is real and breathtakingly beautiful.  
God will welcome us into Heaven some day with our changed bodies.
That means, no more pain or suffering.
There won't be any sadness, loss of jobs, or loss of loved ones.
There won't be sorrow or any hard feelings of ex-spouses or unmet child support to deal with.
We won't deal with divorces nor deal with being considered single or married. We will all have the same status.
We won't long for anything; for everything we will need, we will have.

God has a place for you in Heaven. Are you ready for His return?
Are you ready for God to welcome you into eternity even if it's sooner than you think.

Remember not everyone who goes to church is a christian.  People sometimes pretend and then when they leave the property, they don't live a christian life.  There were times in my own life that I went to church, but I wasn't a "christian." I had to rededicate my life back to God several times in my life because I wasn't living a godly life.


Remember John 3:16,

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."(NKJV)



God is opening up His arms to accept you.  God loves you and has a place for you in Heaven.