by Micah Olson | Oct 3, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
Treasures In Heaven Part 3—How Do You Store Up Treasure? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Part 1 – What Is Your Treasure? Part 2 – Where Is Your Treasure? Part 3 – How Do You Store Up Treasure? Part 4 – How Do You See Treasure Clearly? Question: How do you store up treasures in heaven? 2 Corinthians 5:10 teaches that all men will one day appear before Christ in Judgment. At the Bema Seat1 we will be recompensed, both good and bad, for our deeds in this life. In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Paul gives an analogy of what happens at our Judgment. He describes our life’s work as going through a fire. If a believer’s life work consists of gold, silver, or precious stones, then his work will remain upon going through the fire, and he will receive eternal reward. If a believer’s life consists of wood, hay, or straw, it will get burned up upon going through the fire, and that man will suffer eternal loss. How does a man live his life such that his life’s work will be considered gold, silver, and precious stones when he meets Lord Jesus at the Bema Seat? How do we store up treasures in heaven? The question of how a man accumulates rewards in heaven is the...
by Micah Olson | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
Treasures in Heaven Part 2—Where is your treasure? Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Part 1 – What Is Your Treasure? Part 2 – Where Is Your Treasure? Part 3 – How Do You Store Up Treasure? Part 4 – How Do You See Treasure Clearly? Question: How do you know if your treasure is being stored up on earth or in heaven? None of us have the ability to check our heavenly bank account. Therefore, on this side of the grave, there is no way we can objectively know to what degree we are storing up treasure in heaven. Nevertheless, Matthew 6:19-21 is a call for us to examine ourselves on this question. The difficulty in obeying Matthew 6:19-21 is immediately obvious. Who among us does not attach importance to earthly possessions? There is not a man reading this who would not experience some angst if he lost his life-savings. Any of us would be deeply grieved upon losing a loved one, especially a wife or child. And if we are being honest, there are much less important temporal possessions that would cause us great pain if they were taken from us. To be human is to attach importance to temporal things. Intrinsic in Matthew 6:19-21 is the idea that the desire to store up treasures on...
by Dave Szabo | Aug 22, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
Life Verses I have found, as I am sure many of you have, that there are certain passages in God’s word that just speak directly to my heart. Here is one that I committed to memory many years ago and has blessed me through the years. Psalm 73:23-26 NASB 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. 24 With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73 was written by an OT priest named Asaph. In this psalm Asaph was troubled by the prosperity, arrogance, seemingly carefree lives of the wicked while he went through the trials and tribulations of life that he observed did not happen to the wicked. He really wondered if it was worth it to live for God! Then in verses 16-19 he says: 16 When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight 17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! When Asaph considered life from an eternal perspective his thinking changed and he wrote verses 23-26. A few thoughts for consideration on verses 23-26: Verse 23: Jesus has taken hold of me and He will never let go....
by David Kotter | May 30, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
“If you died today, and were standing before God, what would you say to convince him to let you into heaven?” Imagine this question posed to you at a lunch meeting, or even perhaps on the phone. What would you say? Fortunately, I am prized with daily unbeliever intersections, which allow me the opportunity to ask this very question. As one might imagine the feedback runs the gamut, but all have a common theme, which is justification. Whether they consciously know it, or not, man is always playing the Luke 18 Pharisee justify card. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” This manifests itself today, as “I am a good person,” or could be better understood as, “I am so much better than the next guy.” Man is always playing appraiser as he pulls out comps to support his own personal valuation. The tactic, to this attitude of hiding by justifying, is to ask questions, which expose the truth of his/her sin condition. Some of the questions I pose back to them are: How did you come up with that? What standard are you using? Does your standard trump someone else’s? Have you ever not lived up to your own standard? Questions are so powerful, and Jesus knew this well; look at Matthew 19:17: And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” Jesus knew about His own divinity, but was forcing this man to think...
by Craig McAndrews | Apr 25, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
When you think about the word empty in terms of a feeling, it doesn’t feel like a great place to be. Imagine for a moment if someone you love sat down and described how they felt about something using the term empty. Would you be encouraged? Do you think you would be able to congratulate them on getting to a point where they were empty? Most likely you would respond with an attempt to help or improve the way they feel. However, when it comes to serving Jesus Christ, empty is exactly where He wants us to be. Although this may not be an encouraging thought, emptying yourself for the sake of the gospel brings with it reward and a life filled with purpose and meaning. As my wife and I have pursued growing our relationship with Jesus and engaging in His work with His people, we have recently found ourselves in the middle of a lot of pain and suffering. Sometimes it is big big rock issues such as a broken marriage, health problems, and death. At other times, it’s simply the pain we experience as we watch people make bad choices that lead to frustration and suffering. As we walk with people through these challenges, we find ourselves burdened with their pain and seeking God on their behalf for direction or deliverance. Have you ever found yourself truly feeling the pain of a friend as they suffer? I would suggest this is one way that we suffer for the gospel in the same way the apostle Paul told the Philippians they would get to suffer (Phil 1:29). When we suffer with others, we can often feel emotionally and even physically spent,...
by Ron Hocutt | Apr 11, 2016 | Articles, Testimonies
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (KJV) One of the more frustrating things to me is the tendency we have as the body of Christ to retreat to high level statements when what we really need is a kick in the pants. We sit in circles and admonish each other to do things like “…love your wife like Christ loved the church” without going any deeper and looking at what that really means. Being a very black and white kind of guy, I’m seldom satisfied with the high level answer and find myself asking “yes, but what does that look like for me today?” Each of us has to answer that for ourselves and defend it before God, of course, but here’s what I think it looks like to “…love your wife as Christ loved the church….” First and foremost, we know from Ephesians 5:25 and John 3:16 that Christ’s expression of love for the Church was that he died for it, so that’s a pretty good starting point. What does it mean to die for my wife? I think we insulate ourselves from the real answer by another set of high-level, non-threatening answers. “It means we sacrifice for them” or “we put their needs before ours.” Again, these are fine and dandy answers that enable us go on with our lives exactly as we did before convinced that we are obeying the command to “love our wives…” In stark contrast to the statements above, here’s the operative set of guidelines I’ve come up with for myself to determine what it means on a daily basis to die for my...
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