Does Jesus Care

Does Jesus Care

There is a hymn, written by Frank Graeff, in 1901, which asks, the question, “does Jesus care?” Does Jesus care, when my heart is pained? Does Jesus care, when my way is dark? Does Jesus care, when I’ve tried and failed? Does Jesus care, when I’ve said good-bye.

The scriptures answer this question in the affirmative: Yes, Jesus does care.

God Loves you through the suffering.

God Loves you through the suffering.

The apostle Peter says concerning the care of God and the appropriate response to that divine care: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7; NKJV)

As the apostle penned those words, he was writing to Christians who might have reason to doubt that God cared for them. They were saints who were facing persecution and hardships because of their faith. Peter reminds them of the proper manner in which they should answer this persecution: with love and kindness. (cf. 1 Peter 3:13-17) He also reminds them that Christ suffered on our behalf. (eg. 1 Peter 3:18, 4:1). He says concerning their problems: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (1 Peter 4:12-13; NKJV)

The example of Christs reminds us of several important things in relation to suffering and the love of God. Firstly, suffering does not preclude the love of God. Many think to themselves that if God really loved them then He would never allow them to feel pain. But God surely loved His Son, Jesus, and Jesus still suffered. He experienced abandonment by His friends and students. He experienced betrayal. He experienced beatings and torture. He experienced an excruciating, and public, death. There is no heart-ache, pain, or sorrow that Jesus cannot empathize with, having suffered similar in His own flesh.

But through it all, Jesus held to His faith in the love and mercy of God, the Father. He confessed this faith, saying to God in prayer, “for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:25) With His final words He commended His soul into the Father’s hands (cf. Luke 23:46). Jesus knew that God cared for Him, even in the midst of misery and sorrow, and that such suffering did not signify that God was uncaring.

The example of Christ also reminds us that good can come through suffering, if we face it with faith. The suffering of Christ was not without purpose. It served to bring salvation to a world which desperately needed it. As Peter reminds us, Jesus suffered for us. Elsewhere, we are reminded that no suffering is ever pleasant as we are going through it. But that does not mean we cannot grow through it, and even from it, nor does it preclude the possibility that the suffering might in some way prove beneficial. It is a rather short-sighted perspective which refuses to consider that sometimes God might allow us to experience grief because doing so, in one fashion or another, is good for us, leading to greater joy afterward, if we allow it to. (cf. Hebrews 12:3-11) That’s not necessarily a message you want to hear in the middle of suffering, but that does not make it a false argument.

Finally, though, the suffering of Christ reminds us that Jesus cared enough about us to suffer on our behalf. When you find yourself doubting whether or not God cares for you, remember the counsel of the Bible, which reminds us “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32; NKJV) Why would God care about us enough to allow Jesus to suffer for us, but not care enough about us to do more for us, when we turn to Him in faith, through Christ.

God does not promise to take away all of our cares and sorrows in this world. But He has promised to give His children strength to face those cares, if they trust Him and follow where He leads them.

When we find ourselves wondering, “Does Jesus care,” we can answer with the old hymn-writer, “Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares.” And in so knowing, let us follow the advice of the apostle, by humbling ourselves before God, and casting our cares upon Him.

 

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Unburying Buried Treasure of No Eternal Value

Unburying Buried Treasure of No Eternal Value

Did you know that there is buried treasure in Arkansas?  Many years ago, I saw a story on a treasure hunter searching for Arkansas’ lost treasures from the civil war.  A group of southern militants thought that the southern states would rise up against the north and need money.  So they buried treasure all over the hills of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma.

Is your treasure worthless?

Is your treasure worthless?

We know the lengths to which men will go looking for treasure.  Yet such treasure is fleeting and only lasts while one is alive long enough to make use of it.  There is, however, a treasure upon which time has no grasp and upon which there is no limit of use or value.  What is that treasure and where is it?  Jesus spoke of this treasure in Matthew 13:44, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”  The kingdom of heaven is that great treasure.  Unlike having to spend millions of dollars to unearth, uncover, or salvage from the depths of the sea a physical treasure, the treasure that Jesus’ offers is free and available to all.

What hinders a person from discovering this treasure?  Their own perception of its value.  Jesus knew this as well.  In Matthew 6:19-21 He said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  We value what we treasure, and what we treasure is where our heart belongs.  What buried treasure will you unbury this week?  God bless you, and I love you.

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House to House Burn Pile Fuel

House to House Burn Pile Fuel

A lady from the local area recently called to request that she and her husband’s address be removed from our congregation’s House-to-House, Heart-to-Heart mailing list. She explained how they currently had three trash bags that needed to be taken down to their burn pile as it was, and that they really didn’t need any more unnecessary mailings only adding to that volume. (I must admit that afterward, when I had a chance to really stop and think about it, I wondered if she either had, or was going to, contact all of the other sources of flyers and mail-outs that came to her mailbox on a far more frequent basis than our little bi-monthly publication). She additionally informed me that they didn’t wish to receive them anymore because she and her husband were not members of our church, but had been (identified themselves by their denomination’s name) for fifty years.

House to House Heart to Heart is an excellent tool you should check out! https://www.housetohouse.com/

House to House Heart to Heart is an excellent tool you should check out! https://www.housetohouse.com/

I told her where HtH is mailed in bulk to targeted areas, individual addresses within such areas could not just be selectively removed – at which point her exasperation seemed to increase. Besides, I replied, we all used the same Bible, right? And after all, I told her, we were just seeking to “spread the seed” … to which her response was actually quite revealing, and terribly chilling. Along the same lines as what the people responded with according to Matt. 27:25, she retorted to the effect that, “Well, it’s not gonna sprout here!”

How sad. How tragic. But apparently, how true. “The seed is the word of God” Jesus said (Lk. 8:11). It is the word of God which HtH seeks to point everyone back to with every outstanding issue. Hence, God’s word is truly that seed we are seeking to spread within our local community through our HtH mailings.

However, her resolutely vocalized rejection of that seed should certainly come as no surprise, but only serve as a sad validation in light of the other information she provided. For when any religious person decides to risk and devote their entire earthly and eternal life, on and to, a salvation process which is totally foreign to any of the thousands of examples of conversion to Christ we have recorded in God’s New Testament (Acts 2:37-41); to become a proud and productive part of a man-made denominational church which the apostles never taught in, though of, worshipped with, or ever authorized, anywhere, in any verse of God’s New Testament (Mk. 7:5-13; 1 Cor. 1:10); and/or to practice worship which is nowhere to be seen evidenced anywhere within the truth of God’s holy word (Jn. 4:23-24); why should it surprise us when they come right out and admit that the seed of God’s word really isn’t welcome, wanted, or ever going to sprout in their home? Isn’t that already painfully obvious?

It occurred to me as I considered her words, that (according to the Scriptures) she ought to be far more concerned with the eternally smoldering “burn pile” of the Biblically disobedient and seed-rejecting unsaved (Mk. 9:43-48; Rev. 20:10-15), than with the physical feeding of any earthly burn pile in her backyard. It also occurred to me how far she is from being alone – spiritually speaking (Matt. 7:13-27).

Brethren, please let us make this year the one that we all personally determine go out and teach some poor, lost, zealous but misguided religious soul (Ro. 10:1-3),with the life-giving seed of God’s holy truth. This, before they themselves get carried away to the disbelieving’s and disobedient’s eternal “burn pile,” all because they failed to hear, believe, repent, and obey and live the life-giving gospel – the death, the burial, and the resurrection – of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Ro. 6:1-4; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Thess. 1:7-10)! God bless… and go get ‘em (Matt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:16)!

 

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God Created the Earth and Will Destroy It

God Created the Earth and Will Destroy It

There can be no thousand-year reign of Jesus on the earth when He returns if there is no earth. Does the Bible teach that when He comes again that this earth will cease to be? If it is destroyed, then that theory of the millennial reign of Jesus is false. Recently, we looked at 2 Peter 3:9-10, which clearly states that the entire earth, even the elements from which it is made, will be destroyed. Look at the following passages which also show this truth.

Goodbye Earth

Goodbye Earth

Jesus also clearly states this earth will come to an end. Look at what our Lord said in His Sermon on the Mount. He contrasted the abiding nature of every jot or tittle of the law with the future of this earth. He affirmed that “…heaven and earth will pass away” (Matt. 5:18). The opening words of the Bible describe how God created the heaven and the earth. In the opening public discourse of Jesus, He affirmed that the time would come when the same heaven and earth would pass away.

Near the end of His life, Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives and again affirmed that God’s plan was for heaven and earth to come to an end. As He affirmed in the Sermon on the Mount the abiding nature of the Old Testament, He affirmed the abiding nature of His New Testament. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matt. 24:35). He was the One through whom the heaven and earth were created (John 1:3), and He knew their destiny. Heaven and earth will pass away! Jesus said they would, and that should settle the matter for all mankind.

The book of Hebrews describes the destiny of the earth. “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will fold them up…” (Heb. 1:10-12). The earth is growing old like our garments, and like we fold garments up when they have fulfilled their purpose, so God will fold this earth up when it has fulfilled its purpose. It will perish!

What will He do with this earth? Look at the passage again. It will perish. What does perish mean? This Greek word destroy is the same word used in the action of Herod in his attempt to kill Jesus when He was an infant (Matt. 2:13). It is used to describe what the Pharisees wanted to do with Jesus (Matt. 12:14). Jesus used this same word to describe what the Roman army would do when Jerusalem was destroyed (Matt. 21:41).

If there is no earth after He returns, there can be no place for the millennium. The Bible clearly shows that God who made the earth will destroy it. There will be no earth!

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MEETINGS: 10 TIPS TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION

Meetings: 10 Tips to Improve Communication

Have you ever been involved in a very acidic meeting?  One where it is obvious communication is failing? One which you are simply shocked by the behavior of the other individuals present?  Perhaps it turned out to be so sickening you just excused yourself from the room?  Sometimes that is what you must do.  Do not allow yourself to sink to a level for which you would shame Christ by wearing His name.  Whether it is in the Church, the boardroom, the PTA, the family living room, or an online forum, there are things you can do to make certain you are part of the solution and not the problem when interacting with others.

1 – Show up on time. (Luke 6:31)

“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”

2 – Consider any material presented prior to or during a meeting. (Acts 17:11)

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

3 – Be respectful of any written or spoken communication. (Proverbs 19:20)

“Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.”

4 – Don’t throw anything, call names, or be derisive. (Colossians 3:8)

“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.”

5 – Don’t demean one’s character because you disagree. (Proverbs 10:18)

“He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.”

6 – Don’t lie through the use of semantics. (Colossians 3:9)

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; “

7 – Do not allow someone to force you to speak. (James 1:19)

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: “

8 – Silence doesn’t mean ignorance. (Proverbs 17:28)

“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

9 – Don’t raise your voice in anger. (Colossians 4:6)

“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

10 – Don’t threaten someone because you have power. (I Peter 5:3)

“Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”

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