salvation

God’s Service Department

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

If you have worked in the service department of any store you know that returns can be a challenge. People lose their receipts or bring in things that are just worn out with age. Worse yet some try returning items that came from another store. All of this takes time and patience and tempers sometimes flare. But no matter what the problem, the goal is to restore confidence and put things back in their rightful place.

Today’s scripture talks about a different kind of returning. We are the ones who need to be returned to where we belong. We have forgotten where home is and spiritually speaking have lost our receipt. But nothing can prevent God from restoring us. We can be accepted whether we are worn out, broken or even purchased at another store. God is in the business of returns so don’t even think of giving up. Right now He is willing to accept us as his own and become the Shepherd of our souls!

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:25

Unshakable Kingdom

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On election night some of us stay up late watching the returns come in as the polls close. If the results are close we drink coffee and get some snacks as the hours pass by. Our future seems to balance on a razor’s edge as we wonder what our world will become

But in the kingdom of God it is not like that. The results are already in. Jesus Christ has been declared the King of Kings and the Lord of lords for all eternity! What is at stake is not His position but ours. Will we reverently prepare our hearts to serve Him? Heaven’s kingdom is not a joke a myth or an illusion. Through the blood of Jesus it has been purchased for His own. If we prepare ourselves for His return like the wise virgins, the faithful servants and merchants seeking pearls we will one day enter with joy. There will be nothing in all eternity to compare to the joy of serving Jesus who has given His life for our place in His unshakable Kingdom!

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Hebrews 12:28 NKJV

The Best Question

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Are you afraid to ask God for answers? Do you feel like church is the last place you would feel comfortable asking questions? But in the Bible people asked questions all the time. How many times should I forgive? Who is my neighbor? How can I inherit eternal life? These were questions that Jesus answered with stories like the prodigal son and the good Samaritan. In fact the best answers in the Bible are given to the people who ask the best questions..

When Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into jail in Philippi one afternoon things looked pretty bleak. After weeks of preaching they had gathered only a handful of followers. But God had a wonderful miracle in store for that small city. At midnight as Paul and Silas praised and worshipped God sent an earthquake whose aftershocks are still being felt today. The first church in the Western world was about the have revival and it all began with the spark of the astonished jailers question. “What must I do to be saved?”

Maybe we are seeing litte growth in our ministries because we make our answers so complicated. But Paul didn’t waste any time with lists of secondary things. He pulled back on the bowstring of his opportunity and shot one arrow dead into the bullseye of our greatest need today. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!” If we are not being asked this question in one form or another then maybe our problem is that we are giving out the wrong answers. The world is no darker, no more lost or violent today than in the Paul’s day. If we determine as Paul did to pray for freedom of the oppressed, be willing to joyfully deal with the consequences and be ready with the right answer then God will begin to shake things up! Salvation is still as freely available right now and right here. If we are ready with Paul’s answer then prepare ready for someone to come with their question. “What must I do to be saved?”