Looking back on previous posts, I will refrain from my self-made cliche of "it's been so long since my last post. How are yall?" Instead...Hey everyone! An extended length of time has passed since my previous entry of words onto this here World Wide Web. How has my audience been? In all seriousness, it really has been an incredibly long time since my last post. School has been in full session for a couple of months now and it is brutal. It seems to me this year has been rough on everybody so far. The teachers must have convened over the summer and made a pact to give many more tests and readings than before. This is no joke people! However, it is going pretty well until this point. I am currently passing all of my classes, so all is good on the home front. Speaking of the home front, my dad is now currently residing in Peoria, Arizona! He was unemployed from April 3 of this year until the middle of July. God is the only reason we made it through that time and we are so thankful for Him and providing dad with a job. Mother, although, is still at home in Hendersonville. Needless-to-say she misses him. We all miss him. But, that is where God is using him right now and we must fully trust in His plan for our family. I would like to thank everyone who prayed for him to find a job. Anywho, he tries to come home once-a-month to visit with everybody, plane tickets aren't too cheap ya know. The anecdote part is quite short today ladies and gentlemen. Please forgive me of my lack of a whimsical tale today. I know all of yall just live to hear my stories, but I'm just really excited to get to my message!
The Message:
I am going a couple of directions with this message. First off, I've been talking with or have heard from a few people about the mistakes they have made in their pasts or what have you and how it is eating at them. We've all made mistakes. We all will continue to make mistakes. That's who we are. Our hearts are of sin. We are sinners. But, we are forgiven. Christ died for us. We are redeemed through Him. What does this mean for us? It means that nothing we have done matters. The past is the past, and it is not held against us. If we do not let it go, or think we don't deserve Jesus or that we have to compensate for our wrongs, then what did Jesus die for? His death was enough. It was enough. To cover all of our sins, past, present, and future. There are no exceptions. His grace is enough. 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So what is next? Trust in Him! Give it to Him! All of it, good, bad, all to Him. Psalms 34:17-19 Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to Him for help, and saves him out of all his troubles. The Lord is close to those whose heart is breaking; He rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all troubles - he has them, too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one.
Secondly, we should pray that God reveals our sin to us. Pray that He would open your eyes to the darkest parts of your hearts to see how dirty we really are. Why? So that in doing so, it would truly open our eyes and hearts to see how amazing amd sustaining His grace is. How powerful it is that He would forgive us for everything we have done. He loves us no matter what. I love that song by Sidewalk Prophets, "You Love Me Anyway." Its message is so powerful, and so simple-He loves us no matter what. "I am Judas's kiss, but You love me anyway. I am the man who yelled out from the crowd, for Your blood to be spilled on this Earth shaken ground and I turned away with a smile on my face, with this sin in my heart tried to bury your grace...but You love me anyway..." How great is that? Those are arguably the worst acts we could have done, yet He loves us still! He loves us! We need to humble ourselves, then, knowing that He will love us anyways. Far too often, I find myself thinking of just the obvious sins in my life and how much worse other people are than me. But as I have prayed that He lightens the dark of my heart so I can see how screwed up I really am, I've become so much more aware of my sins and truly have to give thanks to God for sending His son to die for us, for me, so that I can be forgiven. If I am honest with myself, I am dirty. I lie, I cheat, I'm an adulterer, I degrade women, I strive for women, I am a hypocrite, I judge others for their sins over mine, I pursue God half-heartedly at best, I talk the talk but don't walk the walk, I love to sin. I am a sinner. But, His grace is enough. I encourage everyone to search the depths of your hearts. It sucks to think of it, but then it's so rewarding and fulfilling when you then think of how great it is that we are forgiven for every bit of it and that our Father loves us anyways. He loves us so much, He sent His only son to die for us. That's a crap ton of love. I mean, that is a lot of love! So trust in Him and seek him! Thank you all for reading.
Signing off.
The Message:
I am going a couple of directions with this message. First off, I've been talking with or have heard from a few people about the mistakes they have made in their pasts or what have you and how it is eating at them. We've all made mistakes. We all will continue to make mistakes. That's who we are. Our hearts are of sin. We are sinners. But, we are forgiven. Christ died for us. We are redeemed through Him. What does this mean for us? It means that nothing we have done matters. The past is the past, and it is not held against us. If we do not let it go, or think we don't deserve Jesus or that we have to compensate for our wrongs, then what did Jesus die for? His death was enough. It was enough. To cover all of our sins, past, present, and future. There are no exceptions. His grace is enough. 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So what is next? Trust in Him! Give it to Him! All of it, good, bad, all to Him. Psalms 34:17-19 Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to Him for help, and saves him out of all his troubles. The Lord is close to those whose heart is breaking; He rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all troubles - he has them, too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one.
Secondly, we should pray that God reveals our sin to us. Pray that He would open your eyes to the darkest parts of your hearts to see how dirty we really are. Why? So that in doing so, it would truly open our eyes and hearts to see how amazing amd sustaining His grace is. How powerful it is that He would forgive us for everything we have done. He loves us no matter what. I love that song by Sidewalk Prophets, "You Love Me Anyway." Its message is so powerful, and so simple-He loves us no matter what. "I am Judas's kiss, but You love me anyway. I am the man who yelled out from the crowd, for Your blood to be spilled on this Earth shaken ground and I turned away with a smile on my face, with this sin in my heart tried to bury your grace...but You love me anyway..." How great is that? Those are arguably the worst acts we could have done, yet He loves us still! He loves us! We need to humble ourselves, then, knowing that He will love us anyways. Far too often, I find myself thinking of just the obvious sins in my life and how much worse other people are than me. But as I have prayed that He lightens the dark of my heart so I can see how screwed up I really am, I've become so much more aware of my sins and truly have to give thanks to God for sending His son to die for us, for me, so that I can be forgiven. If I am honest with myself, I am dirty. I lie, I cheat, I'm an adulterer, I degrade women, I strive for women, I am a hypocrite, I judge others for their sins over mine, I pursue God half-heartedly at best, I talk the talk but don't walk the walk, I love to sin. I am a sinner. But, His grace is enough. I encourage everyone to search the depths of your hearts. It sucks to think of it, but then it's so rewarding and fulfilling when you then think of how great it is that we are forgiven for every bit of it and that our Father loves us anyways. He loves us so much, He sent His only son to die for us. That's a crap ton of love. I mean, that is a lot of love! So trust in Him and seek him! Thank you all for reading.
Signing off.
