HARD HEARTED!

ACTS 28: 27

"For the HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE ARE HARDENED, and their ears can not hear, and they have closed their eyes- so their eyes can not see, and their ears can not hear, and their hearts can not understand, or they would turn to me for healing!"

The world is becoming more and more HARD HEARTED, when it comes to God.  How many people do you know who have heard the Word of God and yet they have not understood it?  How many people have heard the "Good News", but have rejected it?  They do not comprehend or else they would turn to God for healing and to save their life.  In this One Truth Today Paul is telling the Jews that their hearts have hardened.  Their eyes can not see and their ears can not hear what God is plainly saying to the them and showing them.  If they would only open their hearts and turn to Jesus Christ they would be saved.  Seeing they did not understand and hearing they did not comprehend or they would have turned to the Lord for Salvation.  These people are a stiff necked and rebellious people and they are HARD HEARTED!

How about you, are you still someone with a hardened heart?  Nothing has changed since Paul delivered this message, even to this present moment.  Some believe in God the Father but they have never accepted that Jesus Christ is the Lord God.  They have never opened their hearts and asked the Lord to come in and dwell with them.  They do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and they do not know God.  That is why God sent Salvation to the Gentiles. The gentiles have heard and seen and opened their heart to Jesus Christ the Lord God and they have been saved.  Stiff necked and rebellious people who have a HARD HEART, have not!

The heart and soul of many have grown dull and hardened and calloused.  Only a fool says in his heart that there is no God.  Their ears have become heavy and hard of hearing.  Their eyes have been shut tight, and they will never perceive or become acquainted with what is right there before them.  You can run, but you can not hide from yourself.  Keeping your eyes closed does not make things disappear.  The real pity is that if you do not use your senses, as God intended, then you will never understand or experience the Truth of God.  Thus you will never turn to the only one who can heal you and give you life.  If you want to see and hear and know the Lord God then do not be HARD HEARTED!

MERE MORTALS!

PSALM 8: 3-4

"When I look at the night sky and see the work of your hand, the moon and the stars that you set in place Lord, what are people that you should think about them, MERE MORTALS, that you should care for them!"

Sometimes we humans have an inflated sense of our worth and being.  Some think they are immortal, or so powerful that they can control the world or even the universe.  Humanists try to compare themselves to the God that made the universe, yet they are incapable of making anything from nothing, they can not even make dirt.  Only God can bring things into existence with the command of His voice.  God can make the tangible from the intangible, no one else can even consider this.   God spoke and the world and universe became real.  God made the moon and the stars that all we live in.  Only God can make human beings from the dirt and dust with His breath.  Only God can provide us with the second birth that saves us from death and gives us eternal life.  We on the other hand are MERE MORTALS!

Why does God even care about human beings?  Why does He think about us and provide us with a manual for our life, the Word.  After all God has the universe with its suns, moons and stars to enjoy.  We are MERE MORTALS, born only to die and are here for just a moment. What is man compared to the work of God's hand?  When you think about it, or consider it from the human prospective, it is a puzzle.  It is not a puzzle to God, for He has planned the end from the beginning and man was something that He cared for and thought about carefully. Why did God make man?   

The answer is that God loves us and cares for each and every one of His creations.  We are the apple of His eye.  The Lord knows each one of us by name and everything about us.  He loves His creations.  He loved us so much that He was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son to go to the cross and save us from certain death.  God wants to give eternal life in heaven to everyone that will accept Him and Worship Him.  All we need to do is believe in and accept in our hearts, Jesus Christ His only Son!  We need to come to fear, know and love God.  It is not up to man to question God or His plans.  It is not important what we as humans would do if we were God.  God's mind is above our minds and God's ways are above our ways.  Accept the blessing and wonder of the fact that as MERE MORTALS, God cares for us and loves us.  Praise the Lord!  

A TRUE WIFE!

PROVERBS 18:22

"The man who finds  A TRUE WIFE , finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord."

Are you a married man?  Has your wife been true to you?  Are you two a team that works together in the Lord's righteousness?  Do you compliment each other in your beliefs and ideals? Is your wife your "best friend"?  If all this is true you have found a treasure and you will have found favor with the Lord.  The One Truth Today explains how important it is to be equally yoked and choose the right wife!  A wife who will remain true to you in your youth and in your old age. This kind of wife is more valuable than jewels, or gold or great wealth.  This wife is a treasure and you will receive favor from the Lord, so give Him thanks!

In this present society of our world, the emphasis on choosing a wife is wrong and and misleading.  It is not the outward beauty that a man should look for.  It is the inner being and core beliefs of the woman that you marry that will count the most.  Does she love God and put Him first in everything in her life?  Does she have a desire to learn the Word of God and then put it into action for herself and her family?  Is she a hearer of the Word, or a doer of the Word?  Does she recognize that the Lord is the head of her household and that her husband is placed by God to be the head over her.  She must respect and love her husband and children to be in God's will.  Will she teach her children the true values of the Christian life and discipline?

The world tells men to look for things that will change over time and the youthful beauty of today may fade and shrivel, but not the heart.  The wife of our youth is the one who will comfort us in our old age. If you are wise enough to look for and find a real treasure, it is the gift that keeps on giving up until the very end.  The Lord will surely look with favor upon your household and His blessings will be evident to everyone.  Do not forget to always thank God for His blessings to you, A TRUE WIFE!  Always reinforce how much she means to you and your family.  Never take for granted the gift of God.  Cherish your true wife.  Love your true wife as you love God!  

A TRUE WIFE!

ALL MUST REPENT!

ACTS 26: 20

"ALL MUST REPENT of their sins and turn to God!  They must prove they have changed by the good things that they do."

Repentance means to turn around and stop going in a direction away from God and instead take a path that Leads to God.  ALL MUST REPENT, means that every person that has taken a breath and lived in this world must turn to God and ask His forgiveness for their sin.  They must then prove that they have changed by their fruit, the good things that they do!  This is an absolute.  If anyone tries to tell you there are no absolutes, they are fools.  Humanists try to tell us that all things are relative and there are no absolutes.  That is because they want to rebel against God and become a god themselves.  Why would non believer's want there to be no absolutes?  Then there would be no God!  They fail to acknowledge that it is absolutely true that everyone that is born, has died or will die.  Your life on earth will come to an end without exception.  Only a fool says in his heart there is no God.  The devil's first lie was that "surely you will not die".  Who should you believe?

ALL MUST REPENT of their sins.  They do that by turning to God and accepting His Salvation. We become a new person, with a new heart and a new spirit.  We know and can prove this is true because of the good things that we do in place of the evil things that we have done.  Others will notice that you have changed and become more righteous.  There are no exceptions to this call of God and it is absolutely necessary that you hear the One Truth Today, if you want to live and be born again.  If you have not turned away from the path of sin and the evil way of life, you have not repented.  What kind of deeds are you performing?  What kind of life do you live today?  If you say you are a child of the Lord, are living a consistent life, worthy of repentance?

You have heard the expression that "talk is cheap".  It is easy to say something, but it is actually much more difficult to do what you say in your life.  We all need to understand that it is most important that we are doers of the Word and not just hearers.  This scripture gives us a way to reveal to ourselves and others that we have truly repented and belong to the Lord forever!  It is by our actions and deeds that we demonstrate the fruit of repentance.  Good fruit does not come from a bad tree and bad fruit will come from a bad tree.  Ask yourself, what kind of fruit am I bearing?  What kind of deeds am I doing and what are my actions like?  Have I changed since I accepted the Lord into my life?  Can others see and know that I have come to the Lord?

ALL MUST REPENT!

NO ONE BUT YOU!

PSALM 5: 1-2

"Oh Lord, hear me as I pray:  pay attention to my groaning.  Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,   for I pray to NO ONE BUT YOU!"

Who do you cry out to for help?  When you are groaning and hurting and in trouble or pain, who do you want to listen to your cry?  Is it a parent, sibling, or friend?  Is it someone in authority over you at the time?  Will they listen to you, and more importantly, can they answer or solve your problem?  We want someone to consider our sighing and groaning and hear our prayers, but, can that someone pay attention and be able to answer us?  Sometimes there is no one to hear our prayers.  Sometimes no one listens to us.  In some cases, people may be happy that we are having a problem.  Your family, or boss, or the government may not listen to your cries and prayers or listen when you groan and sigh.  They may be too busy to listen.  They may be impotent to help you at all.  

The One Truth Today tells us who to cry out to and who pray to!  There is only one who will always hear us as we pray.  There is only one you can absolutely count on to pay attention to your groaning and sighing.  Their is only one who actually hears the sound of our cries and knows us by name and can then answer our prayers!  This scripture confirms that our King and our God hears us and pays attention to us and can then answer us.  As believer's we count on the Lord to do this and that is why we should pray to NO ONE BUT YOU!  God is listening right now and we can talk to Him at any time and for any reason.  He is the answer to all questions!

The fact is that the Lord loves us and cares so much that He considers our prayers and cries. That is in stark contrast to the world.  Most of the time, people just do not listen to us.  They rarely understand what we are going though or what our pain is.  The most important thing to understand is that people may not have the answers to any question or any problem, but God always does!  We should always consider who we ask for help and who we cry out to and groan to.  Can they solve our problem or answer our prayers?  Sometimes a parent can help, sometimes a doctor or scientist can help, but there is only one place you can go to where there is always help and the answer to your prayers can always be met!  Oh lord, hear me as I pray: pay attention to my groaning.  Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to NO ONE BUT YOU!

ARE YOU HUMBLE OR PROUD?

PSALM 138: 6

"Though the Lord is great, He cares for the HUMBLE, but He keeps His distance from the PROUD."

The Lord is High and Mighty and Exalted.   We on the other hand are not.  If you truly know God then you will fear Him and His mighty Power.  Some people realize this and and as a result lead a humble life.  They know that in comparison to God they need humility, to be cared for by Him. There are many who are prideful as a result of some ability or accomplishment or gift from God. They mistakenly take credit for what was given to them and forget the source of their achievement.  What are you like?  ARE YOU HUMBLE OR PROUD?  Pride is hateful before God or man according to Ecclesiastes 10: 7.  Our One Truth Today in Psalms reminds us that the Lord keeps His distance from the proud person, but He cares for the humble. Anything that can separate us from God is not a good thing!

The Lord has respect for the lowly and humble.  It is clear He has fellowship with the humble and brings them into His care and mercy.  This proves once again, that although the Lord is High and Mighty, He loves us even though we are truly insignificant in comparison to Him and His power.  What a wonderful Saviour and God we have that loves us even though we are beneath Him in every way possible.  No matter what our condition or position in life, the Lord reaches out to the humble and touches and saves them.

In contrast, if we exhibit pride, the Lord keeps His distance from us and can even say that He has never known us.  If God only recognizes you from a distance, this is not a good thing.  As the Word says, "the haughty He only knows from afar".  So there is not much question as to how we should act if we want the favor of the Lord.  We must avoid being prideful or haughty.   We want to be close to the Lord in every way.  We must remain humble and lowly in attitude so that God does not remain distant from us.  The next time you get puffed up and pridefully extol your accomplishments or gifts, think about how God reacts.  Choices lead to consequences and the question is ARE YOU HUMBLE OR PROUD?

DRINK FREELY FROM THE WATER OF LIFE!

REVELATION 22: 17

"Let anyone who hears this say, come.  Let anyone who is thirsty come.  Let anyone who desires, DRINK FREELY FROM THE WATER OF LIFE."

Have you ever been really thirsty?  All that is on your mind is to get a drink of water so that you can go on living.  In the desert, where water is scarce, this problem happens often and is many times severe to life.  When those who are thirsty come upon an oasis they will run and dive into the water, lapping up the water that quenches thirst.  This is what saves their life. What if they did not find the water of life?  What if they could not drink freely because there was not enough? They would shrivel up and die, a horrible agonizing death.  What about you, have you heard the One Truth Today, that Jesus Christ is offering to anyone who hears, the water of life, freely and abundantly!  Do you want to live?

Have you ever been hungry?  So hungry that you would eat a bug or even what is left in the refrigerator.  If you did not find some food,  you would not be able to sustain your life.  Do you know who said, "I am the bread of life"?  Perhaps you have an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach and you realize that you need to eat something right now!  We have all been hungry and thirsty and we continually search for that which will satisfy us for the moment.  Your hunger and thirst will never end until you find and accept Jesus Christ into your life.  He will be your daily bread and He will let  you drink freely from His water of life.  Best of all He lets anyone come who hears His message and responds.  

Jesus Christ is the only nourishment you will ever need in this life and the eternal life to come. Jesus Christ is the only one who can satisfy you thirst of your hunger.  He gives it freely to all who love and obey Him.  He gives rivers of flowing water, that you can drink from freely and at any time.  Can you hear the Holy Spirit and the Word of God calling to you now?  He wants you to know that you never have to hunger or thirst.  Once again, Jesus Christ is the answer to any and all questions that we may have in this life and the one to come.  That is why you are here and that is why He is your Saviour.  Are you hungry, are you thirsty, do you want to be satisfied?  The Lord is calling all of us and it is His desire that we, DRINK FREELY FROM THE WATER OF LIFE!