Relational Bridges

 THERE IS PURPOSE WHEN GOD SAVES US Psalm 67 "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on us— s o that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations . May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You. The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear Him." The singular difference (and it is a monumental one) between those who belong to God through the finished work of Jesus Christ, His death, resurrection and ascension, and those who will not believe Him and receive the gift of eternal Life from Him is simply one has been born from above and the other is still dead in sin. One has received the forgiveness of God and the other remains under judgement. The truth is that the...

  HEAR OR BECOME DEAF Psalm 58:1-5  “ Justice—do you rulers know the meaning of the word?   Do you judge the people fairly?   No! You plot injustice in your hearts.   You spread violence throughout the land. These wicked people are born sinners;   even from birth they have lied and gone their own way. They spit venom like deadly snakes;   they are like cobras that refuse to listen,   ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers,   no matter how skillfully they play.” People can harden their hearts, close their ears, blind themselves and then curse the darkness they have brought upon themselves. Refusing to “hear” they become deaf to the voice of God and justice dies in the streets. But, God speaks; He reveals truth; He gives guidance and correction and offers forgiveness and a new way of being. Proverbs 2:1-8 “My child, listen to what I say     and treasure my commands.   Tune your ears to wisdom ...

  TESTED We read that the Lord God "tested Abraham" recorded in Genesis chapter 22. Do you think there was something about Abraham that God did not know? Do you think that the testing was a means of God discovering something about Abraham's character that was yet unknown to God? Nothing could be farther from the truth. Do you think that the testing and proving of our faith is the Lord God needing to find out "what we are made of?" Not in the least. There is nothing hidden from God. There is nothing about us, past, present or future that is wrapped in mists of obscurity, hidden from the Lord. We are known through and through. So, why does the Lord allow trials to come and "test our faith"? James writes: James 1:2-4 " Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.   For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.   So let it grow, for when your enduran...

  PENTECOST Today is the Feast of Pentecost celebrated in liturgical congregation of Christ’s Body. It has been said that this day commemorates the “birthday of the church.” Jesus states in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you.” And He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” At that instant, on the evening of that Sunday we call Easter, those believers gathered there were born again by the Holy Spirit. They became new creations. I want to assert that on that evening the church was born. As Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Power of the Holy Spirit, these gathered disciples were born of the Spirit. Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, the Eternal Son of God made man, was anointed with the Holy Spirit, baptized with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work of ministry and to complete the mission God the Father had sent Him to fulfill. Jesus did what He did and said what He said as...

 YOUR CALLING When the US Army first encountered a concentration camp during WW2, they had no idea what they were seeing. The walking dead coming out of the huts, the piles of decaying bodies, the stench and the horror, the emptied eyes of the prisoners; it was more than they could comprehend or cope with. They had to do something to alleviate the devastation they were witnessing. What they saw with their eyes is today the working reality of those who do not know God and His salvation through Jesus Christ. Spiritually, people are walking around emaciated, lifeless, emptied eyed living cadavers without God and without hope in the world. They may look amazingly successful, educated, articulate. Influential, healthy, beautiful, admired and “on top of the world.” But without a living and life-transforming relationship with God through Jesus Christ, they are still prisoners of war, an unseen war being waged against all humanity; anyone who still bears the image of God as the crown of ...