November 30, 2014 – Pastor Tim – “Symtoms Are Different, The Answer is the Same”
Hebrews 9:11-12, But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
God did not save us with His love… He saved us with His blood. We need to have this knowledge, God loves us, but without His blood we are doomed—regardless of the differences in our specific flaws; regardless of who we would want to blame orwhose fault we think it might be. If Christ’s blood has not cleansed the liar, then he would be as lost as the murderer! The symptoms are different, but the disease and its prognosis are the same. The disease is sin, the wage or prognosis is death, and the antidote prescribed is the blood of Jesus alone. Never forget the blood, for without it we have no good news at all! Once we are saved, then our Christian journey begins.
Job 14:14, If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.
We come into this world fully cognizant of the fact that we have a limited amount of time here. We don’t live here for a very long time before we are confronted with the cold realities of death…Yet what disturbs me most is not the quantity of life, but the quality of life.
Simply stated, when death comes to push me through its window from time into eternity, I want to feel as though I accomplished something worthwhile. I want to feel that my life made some positive statement, a difference for good.
The trouble with life is that it doesn’t seem to always go smoothly. Life will always present broken places, places of struggle and conflict, places of delay. However, because God has called us to a divine purpose, He will finish the work in us that He has begun. But, sometimes we may feel like our lives havebeen put on hold. If you believe as I do, then it is worth the wait to receiveour answer from the Lord. So hang on!
Psalm 40:1-3a, I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth…
The real test of faith is in facing the challenges of life. The ups, the downs, the pauses. Has life ever been a struggle? Have you ever faced those times when your life seemed stagnant? Have you ever felt you were on the verge of something phenomenal?
Have you been waiting for that particular breakthrough that seemed to be taunting you by making you wait?
All of us have faced days that seemed as though God as forgotten us. These are the moments that can feel like an eternity. But the Bible says that,
1 Chronicles 28:20, …David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
We don’t earn it or deserve it. Grace is a gift. God will give us the gift when we need it most. My greatest desire is more grace.
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