Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
What is "the gospel" or the good news?
Jesus Christ died and rose again to make a way for you to come to God...
#1 ADMIT IT… You are a sinner
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
Sin is our failing to perfectly live up to the perfect standard of God. If we all tried to throw a rock to the North-Pole, some of us would get closer than others, but we’d all fall short. No one gets into heaven by being good enough.
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
#2 The Wages (or penalty) for your sin is death
Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, (Hebrews 9:27) For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a)
All of us, 100% , will die someday. Everyone will someday die and stand before a holy God to be judged, and sentenced, to one of two places for eternity. Everyone failing to be perfect (according to God’s standard—not ours) will miss heaven and be sentenced to a place apart from Him to a prison (called hell) where we face a death sentence of dying forever.
#3 THE BAD NEWS is You can’t save yourself
...All our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
The bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)
The best we have to offer doesn’t earn us a place in heaven, we just aren’t good enough. Imagine someone telling a judge who sentenced you to prison, that although you broke the law, you did some good things too. A good judge would have to say that although you had done good works, that He as a good judge, must sentence people who broke the law. (We have all broken God’s moral law of the 10 commandments, many times, each offense deserving the death.)
#4 THE GOOD NEWS is God made a way to save you through Jesus Christ
God demonstrates His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1 Peter 3:18)
Imagine you had cancer, but a new procedure will let you transplant your cancer cells for Jesus’ healthy ones. Jesus made a way to take your cancer cells and the death they bring (cells called sins) and deposited His right cells (His righteousness) on your behalf (when you accept Him). The transplant means He had to die for you to get a new (eternal) life spent in heaven.
If while sentenced to prison, having no way to “bail yourself out”, someone paid your fine, justice could be served and you could still go free. That’s what Jesus did at the cross, paid your fine so you could go free, but you must accept His gift, or choose punishment.
#5 How do you claim your free gift of salvation?
The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23)
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ... “anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. (Romans 10:9-11)
To believe (or to have faith - trusting alone in Jesus to save you) requires action. The step of faith (or trust) God requires is “repentance”. To repent means to turn from our sin and live for God. If while drowning in the ocean, the coast guard threw a lifeline, belief alone is not enough. To be saved you must act, reach out, and grab it. Repenting is giving up everything else to grab hold of God.
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14;6)
Are you ready to accept Jesus on His terms? If so repent and give Him control of your life. You can pray something like this - Dear God, please forgive my every sin (name them). I believe Jesus died and rose again to save me, thank you for the promise of heaven, I give you control of my life.
Please call us at 907-235-2609, or leave a comment here and we will rejoice with you.
Live holy, preach Jesus!
#1 ADMIT IT… You are a sinner
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
Sin is our failing to perfectly live up to the perfect standard of God. If we all tried to throw a rock to the North-Pole, some of us would get closer than others, but we’d all fall short. No one gets into heaven by being good enough.
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
#2 The Wages (or penalty) for your sin is death
Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, (Hebrews 9:27) For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a)
All of us, 100% , will die someday. Everyone will someday die and stand before a holy God to be judged, and sentenced, to one of two places for eternity. Everyone failing to be perfect (according to God’s standard—not ours) will miss heaven and be sentenced to a place apart from Him to a prison (called hell) where we face a death sentence of dying forever.
#3 THE BAD NEWS is You can’t save yourself
...All our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
The bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)
The best we have to offer doesn’t earn us a place in heaven, we just aren’t good enough. Imagine someone telling a judge who sentenced you to prison, that although you broke the law, you did some good things too. A good judge would have to say that although you had done good works, that He as a good judge, must sentence people who broke the law. (We have all broken God’s moral law of the 10 commandments, many times, each offense deserving the death.)
#4 THE GOOD NEWS is God made a way to save you through Jesus Christ
God demonstrates His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1 Peter 3:18)
Imagine you had cancer, but a new procedure will let you transplant your cancer cells for Jesus’ healthy ones. Jesus made a way to take your cancer cells and the death they bring (cells called sins) and deposited His right cells (His righteousness) on your behalf (when you accept Him). The transplant means He had to die for you to get a new (eternal) life spent in heaven.
If while sentenced to prison, having no way to “bail yourself out”, someone paid your fine, justice could be served and you could still go free. That’s what Jesus did at the cross, paid your fine so you could go free, but you must accept His gift, or choose punishment.
#5 How do you claim your free gift of salvation?
The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23)
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ... “anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. (Romans 10:9-11)
To believe (or to have faith - trusting alone in Jesus to save you) requires action. The step of faith (or trust) God requires is “repentance”. To repent means to turn from our sin and live for God. If while drowning in the ocean, the coast guard threw a lifeline, belief alone is not enough. To be saved you must act, reach out, and grab it. Repenting is giving up everything else to grab hold of God.
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14;6)
Are you ready to accept Jesus on His terms? If so repent and give Him control of your life. You can pray something like this - Dear God, please forgive my every sin (name them). I believe Jesus died and rose again to save me, thank you for the promise of heaven, I give you control of my life.
Please call us at 907-235-2609, or leave a comment here and we will rejoice with you.
Live holy, preach Jesus!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Salvation Army purpose - straight and to the point
The great fact remains that, unless we are saving sinners, our very existence as an Army is not justified. — Catherine Bramwell-Booth
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
A great FREE resource - Radio Worship
I said I'd pass this website on to a few of you, so here it is.
This web-site "Radio Worship Network" plays great Christian music of every genre from your computer - you just have to be on-line.
Give it a try and trade time wasted on "worldly" and the non-glorifying music for some good music and lyrics that will honor our Lord and help us stay "on mission".
http://radioworship.net/
General William Booth said, "Why should the devil have all the good music".
Live holy, preach Jesus!
This web-site "Radio Worship Network" plays great Christian music of every genre from your computer - you just have to be on-line.
Give it a try and trade time wasted on "worldly" and the non-glorifying music for some good music and lyrics that will honor our Lord and help us stay "on mission".
http://radioworship.net/
General William Booth said, "Why should the devil have all the good music".
Live holy, preach Jesus!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Just GO FISHING
Hello soldiers, friends, family, and fellow followers of Jesus,
Just taking a moment to praise God for a fantastic day yesterday. Our C.S.M. (Corps Sargent Major - or our held elder) took our Divisional commander (the head of the Salvation Army in Alaska, his son, and myself out for a day of fishing. It was just a glorious day. God provided fantastic weather, great fishing, a smooth ocean, and the beauty of His creation. It is such a privilege to spend time with fellow brothers in Christ, share scriptures and testimonies, and enjoy time in God's presence. Thank you Lord for your provision.
Needless to say, 8 halibut and countless cod later, we came in and broke bread together around the table with our 3 families.
I thank God for true friends and fellow workers in our Salvation Army mission to be fishers of men.
Please pray that we will take full advantage of our opportunities this week to be fishers of men.
Fishers of fish catch the living and they end up dead. Fishers of men catch those that are dying and they find eternal life.
Go do some fishing for souls today.
Live holy, preach Jesus!
Just taking a moment to praise God for a fantastic day yesterday. Our C.S.M. (Corps Sargent Major - or our held elder) took our Divisional commander (the head of the Salvation Army in Alaska, his son, and myself out for a day of fishing. It was just a glorious day. God provided fantastic weather, great fishing, a smooth ocean, and the beauty of His creation. It is such a privilege to spend time with fellow brothers in Christ, share scriptures and testimonies, and enjoy time in God's presence. Thank you Lord for your provision.
Needless to say, 8 halibut and countless cod later, we came in and broke bread together around the table with our 3 families.
I thank God for true friends and fellow workers in our Salvation Army mission to be fishers of men.
Please pray that we will take full advantage of our opportunities this week to be fishers of men.
Fishers of fish catch the living and they end up dead. Fishers of men catch those that are dying and they find eternal life.
Go do some fishing for souls today.
Live holy, preach Jesus!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday's Sermon - Humble yourself before the Lord
Today's message was by Major Doug Tollerud, the Divisional Commander for The Salvation Army of Alaska.
To listen to Sunday's sermon now, just click the play arrow here for audio or download options.
For past sermons or podcasting see the full size sermon player at the very bottom of this blog page. Choose a message by title OR click the podcasting icon at the bottom of the sermon player.
You can also access my sermon player (and countless other preachers) at http://sermon.net/The_Salvation_Army_Homer
God bless your study!
Live holy, preach Jesus!
To listen to Sunday's sermon now, just click the play arrow here for audio or download options.
For past sermons or podcasting see the full size sermon player at the very bottom of this blog page. Choose a message by title OR click the podcasting icon at the bottom of the sermon player.
You can also access my sermon player (and countless other preachers) at http://sermon.net/The_Salvation_Army_Homer
God bless your study!
Live holy, preach Jesus!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
What a great time with God last Sunday!
Dear soldiers, friends, and fellow followers of Jesus,
I hope that you experience the moving of God's Holy Spirit like we did just last week. (I'm writing this before today - so I trust we will encounter Him again this morning.)
Last week after a fantastic time of studying holiness and the privilege of all believers to be set free from slavery to sin, to be love slaves to our Savior leading to righteousness - we then moved into the holiness meeting. During worship the Holy Spirit moved people to pray aloud proclamations of the goodness of Jesus, their repentance, and their gratitude for Jesus giving His life so that we can have a relationship with Him that saves us from sin and hell, for holiness and heaven.
We have had students graduate grade levels this week in public school and "finish well". Some of our young people will be entering High School next year, and others moving onto middle school and Jr. High. My Wednesday night declaration was that I expected that they would win every student in their school to Jesus before they graduated.
I have a 14 year old young lady going through soldiership class acknowledging that her heart breaks knowing some of her fellow school mates are headed for hell, and she had righteous anger over other "self-proclaimed" believers who "do nothing" to verbally share their faith.
God is moving here in Homer - praise God. We plan to do some street witnessing on Wednesday (a cruise ship is coming in, so we expect to share with visitors - and plant seeds that will spread out in a pentecostal fashion when they all return home).
We have divisional leaders joining us on this Sunday - pray with us that God will use their visit to allow us to mutually inspire one another and spur one another on to greater accomplishments for our King of Kings.
God bless your Sunday - take time to worship Him today.
As always if anyone reading this isn't 100% sure you would go to heaven if you died tonight - send me a comment or email - I'd love to share with you the truth about what Jesus did to save you from hell and sinful living - to a life of peace and power.
Live holy, preach Jesus.
I hope that you experience the moving of God's Holy Spirit like we did just last week. (I'm writing this before today - so I trust we will encounter Him again this morning.)
Last week after a fantastic time of studying holiness and the privilege of all believers to be set free from slavery to sin, to be love slaves to our Savior leading to righteousness - we then moved into the holiness meeting. During worship the Holy Spirit moved people to pray aloud proclamations of the goodness of Jesus, their repentance, and their gratitude for Jesus giving His life so that we can have a relationship with Him that saves us from sin and hell, for holiness and heaven.
We have had students graduate grade levels this week in public school and "finish well". Some of our young people will be entering High School next year, and others moving onto middle school and Jr. High. My Wednesday night declaration was that I expected that they would win every student in their school to Jesus before they graduated.
I have a 14 year old young lady going through soldiership class acknowledging that her heart breaks knowing some of her fellow school mates are headed for hell, and she had righteous anger over other "self-proclaimed" believers who "do nothing" to verbally share their faith.
God is moving here in Homer - praise God. We plan to do some street witnessing on Wednesday (a cruise ship is coming in, so we expect to share with visitors - and plant seeds that will spread out in a pentecostal fashion when they all return home).
We have divisional leaders joining us on this Sunday - pray with us that God will use their visit to allow us to mutually inspire one another and spur one another on to greater accomplishments for our King of Kings.
God bless your Sunday - take time to worship Him today.
As always if anyone reading this isn't 100% sure you would go to heaven if you died tonight - send me a comment or email - I'd love to share with you the truth about what Jesus did to save you from hell and sinful living - to a life of peace and power.
Live holy, preach Jesus.
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