TWO WINNERS IN LIFE'S RACE

    Two marvelous women, both of them wonderful Christians and leading ladies in their respected families, finished their work on earth a few years ago.

    Both women went home to meet their best friend, Jesus Christ himself, and to ultimately receive their eternal rewards. 

    This happened on two consecutive Sunday mornings. God picked these beautiful lilies from my flower garden. As their pastor, I couldn't complain, because they really do belong to the Lord. 

    I simply had the honor of serving as caretaker of these lovely flowers as they budded, bloomed and grew so productive for Him while going through this life.

    So, we had two funerals. It was sad, quite sad, in one way, but a time for rejoicing in another. Their battles are over, their race has been won. Jesus said in Revelations 2:10, "be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life."

    In John 11:25, 26, He also declared, "I am the resurrection , and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he life. And whosoever believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?"

    That says some mighty things about what Jesus can do, doesn't it? And it also speaks volumes about what life is really all about for every man.

     I firmly believe that God wants all of us to find out who He is, what He's all about, what His will and purpose is for each individual on earth, and what we personally can do to set these things in motion, and carry them out.

    Therefore, I firmly believe that no man should have a more important goal in his lifetime than to win in the game (experience) of life. To do that, you must realize that the Bible is the unadulterated Word of God, and it was written for our knowledge and adminition. This gives us the knowledge we need to carry out God's will (not our own), as we travel this often rocky journey through life.

    These two precious saints, both key member of our church family, were well aware of this. Both had obeyed the Gospel requirements for eternal life as laid out in the Bible. While walking by their faith in God, both had held to those principals that they so dearly believed and adopted as cornerstones of their lives.

    The Apostle Paul, as he was about to lay his head on Emperor Nero's chopping block, said in II Timothy 4:6-8: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that also that love his appearing."

    Hebrews 11 is the Bible's faith chapter. The writer goes through the Bible outlining a wonderful roll of the faithful. In my years in Dearborn County, I believe God has taken home a number of faithful saints that could well be added to the Hebrews list

    Would you like to be one of those? You can be. If I can help you in any way, email me at ashepherdsblog@email.com, and I'll try to answer any questions you have.   

    

   

LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT!

    Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. --Isaiah 55:3 

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    People who walk with God and who have given their lives to Him have a personal walk with the Lord that is incomparable with any other relationship we can have in this life.

    You quickly learn that God is really alive and that He truly cares about you. As you live by your faith in Him you also soon learn that you can call on Jesus any time night or day and that He will respond to your needs, no matter how trivial or how serious they may be.

    God is the creator of all things. He made us. And for the sinless, all-powerful Creator, man was His crowning achievement. He made man because He wanted something back from him. He purposed to create a companionship between God and His creation, a relationship for Eternity.

    We all know the story of how the first people created were placed in a beautiful garden, and how they soon were tempted to disobey Him and how they did sin. That act brought sin into the nature and bloodstream of man. But because of His great love and mercy, that caused God to unfold His beautiful plan of redemption for man through the coming of the Sonship. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he declared Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

    God's idea was to create a bride for Himself, composed only of people who loved Him. He would call that bride His Church. Christ's death on Calvary made it possible for every man to be cleansed from sin and to have eternal life. Every man, however, has not chosen to advantage of His cleansing power, so every man has not been born into God's great church.

    We don't have the space here to really cover all the details, but the point I want to make today concerns those who already have given themselves to Him and who have been called into a life of service to God. God wants to use all of us! Even though you may not fully understand how He wants to use your life, be sure that He does. He has a perfect will for you.

    But, you ask, how do I find out what that will is? 

Well, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 55:3, "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Listen for the voice of God in your life. He will lead you and instruct you in the pathway in which you must go.

    He may not speak to you audibly as He did to Moses and Samuel in the Old Testament, but if you have God's Spirit, He will certainly communicate with you and show you His will.

    Remember, when we pray we are talking to God. We are communicating with Him. When we read His Word God is talking to us. The Bible conveys His will, His ways, and His plans for us. Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

    We soon learn that God is always the same, He never changes. The more you learn about that truth, the more comforting it becomes. That also means that we are the ones who need to change. We need to let Him change us because God does all things right and for our best, when we put our lives in His hands. 

    So listen to God. Listen to the Spirit, and obey. Do that, and you won't go wrong.    

    

LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF

  First of all, let me introduce myself. I recently retired as pastor of the First Apostolic Bible Church, Lawrenceburg, IN. My wife, Janet, and I founded the church when we moved from Seymour, IN to Dearborn County more than 44 years ago.
 I'm a retired newspaper reporter/editor and also served for 20 years as Cincinnati correspondent for People Weekly magazine. During this period, I was also correspondent for Life magazine for a number of years.
 My many years of ministry have been a wonderful experience that taught me much about life, people, and their problems. I found you can help them by introducing them to the world's greatest problem solver--God, Himself. 
 God's word--the Bible--provides both you and me much information as well as the answers to many problems of both the individual and society. This wonderful book declares itself to be God's word and gives us His position on most all of the situations we face in this life.
 The Psalmist declared, "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven." (Psalms 119:89) In Matthew 24:35, Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
 Today, I'm a great-grandfather who has served the Lord Jesus Christ for the better part of 60 years. He called me to serve him as a boy of 14 in a humble little country church in Southern Indiana. I've never been sorry that He chose me, and I treasure our relationship as the greatest single decision I've ever made. 
 This walk with God is built on a relationship and a God-given testimony that has proven to me God's faithfulness throughout all these many years. I'm writing this blog to tell you He's been a miracle-worker in my life. He also loves you as much as me, and is anxious to do exciting miracles in your life as well.

CHANGING FOR THE BETTER

   Have you ever had difficulty trying to change a habit? Human beings are creatures of habit. We tend to continue acting as we have acted in the past. Like a river flowing through a canyon, the longer a habit continues, the more deeply it becomes ingrained, and the harder it is to change. This is true of all habits, good or bad.
    Ephesians 4:22-24 shows that major changes must occur when we are converted to serve God. Old practices and attitudes must be replaced by new ones. Christians must learn good habits like Bible study, prayer, love, faith, patience, attending church meetings, giving, teaching others, etc. We must also eliminate bad habits like foul language, uncontrolled temper, gambling, drugs, smoking, drinking, gossip, lying, pornography, sexual promiscuity, etc.
    Knowing what changes to make is not enough. We also need to know how to make them. Change does not come easily. Since the Scriptures provide us to all good works (2 Timothy 3:16,17), they give all the guidance we need. God's word is the best source of guidance for self-help and motivation for self-improvement.
    Before people are willing to act, they must be motivated. A sound sleeper is more likely to get up in the middle of the night if the house is on fire than if he remembers he did not brush his teeth! Christians have some of the strongest possible motives for changing.
    Proverbs 4:23 - Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The way you act is determined by your attitudes and intentions. People and circumstances may influence you, but you do not have to give in. You do what you decide to do (cf. Matt. 15:18,19; 12:34-37).
    Joshua 1:8 - To succeed in God's work, meditate on God's word. List the pertinent Bible passages about each habit you need to change. List reasons why you should change. Meditate on these verses daily, filling your mind with them. (Cf. Psalm 1:2; 119:11.)
    Most other achievements in life require about 10% ability and 90% just plain determination and hard work. In spiritual matters, every accountable person has the ability to please God; so changing to please God is 100% determined by our choice. God has provided everything we need. The decision is ours.
    We will never change until we make up our minds to pursue the means God provides until we succeed. The decision to do this is repentance, and no one will change to please God without it.
   In what other important endeavors will we succeed without a plan? Consider the forethought needed to build a house, run a business or a household, program a computer, etc. Worthwhile activities, to be successful, need planning.
    Likewise, to change your life, you need a specific, practical checklist of steps you will take to change. Analyze the circumstances or causes that lead you to fail to do right, then plan how to avoid those causes. It may help to write your plan down and modify it as needed. This plan will include some specific points we are studying plus other points that fit your specific problem.   Prayer is essential in two ways. A child of God should pray for forgiveness. If you are not yet a child of God, you need to believe in Jesus, repent of sins, confess Christ, and be baptized to be forgiven of sins (Mark 16:16; Rom. 10:9,10; Acts 2:38; 22:16). When you have done those things, you become a child of God (Gal. 3:26,27; Rom. 6:3,4; 1 Peter 1:22,23). If you sin afterward, you need to pray for forgiveness (Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:8-10; Prov. 28:13; Matt. 6:12).
Then pray for God's help.
   Matthew 6:13 - Ask God to "deliver us from evil" (cf. Matt. 26:41). Tell God exactly what your problem is. Pray often and regularly (1 Thess. 5:17; Col. 4:2). Pray especially at the moment when you face temptation (Matt. 26:36-46).

   God has promised that, if you ask His help, He will hear and answer.