Can you know---Do you know that you are going to heaven?

Revelation 21:27 But there shall by no means enter it(heaven) anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

So, there is a Book and God wants you to know if your name is in the Book. Is it?

Randy Alcorn tells in his book entitled "Heaven" about a professional singer who was invited to sing at a wedding. She did sing and she assumed all was A-OKAY for her and her husband to attend the reception, after all, she was the singer at the wedding. It was not just any ordinary wedding and reception, but one of prominence and intrigue. Waiters in Tuxedos offered luscious hors d'oeuvres and exotic beverages and only those who were invited could attend. When the singer and her husband tried to enter the reception hall, the maitre d' with a bound book greeted them and ask for their names. I am Ruthanna Metzgar and this is my husband Roy.
He searched the M's and said I'm not finding it. Would you spell it please? After spelling her name slowly and after searching the book, the maitre d, looked up and said, "I's sorry, but your name isn't here. Ruthanna replied, "I'm the singer. I sang for this wedding!" The man said, "it doesn't matter who you are or what you did. Without your name in the book you cannot attend the banquet.
Her and her husband were escorted out by the service elevator. On their way home, the husband ask Ruthanna, "What happened"? She admitted that she failed to return the RSVP because she was the singer and she didn't think it was important.

I personally believe many people are like this story about Ruthanna and Roy. They do good things throughout their lives and in most cases are real good people. But scripture tells us, "that's not what counts". Unless our name is in the Book, we cannot enter heaven. Christ has been inviting us all to the wedding banquet and according to scripture, most fail to RSVP(Invite Christ into their heart and life and ask for forgiveness of sin and place their faith in what Christ did on the cross for them)

How can we know that our name is in the book?
You see, if your going to go somewhere, you've never been, you get a map out and chart your course. You do this before taking off otherwise you might arrive at a wrong distination. Guesswork is not planning. Scripture tells us that if your name is not there, you can't come in and can you imagine how that must feel? Think back about Ruthanna and Roy. She sang at the wedding, surely that must count for something. Well, just like the story in Randy's book, no matter what we do, how good we are, without our name in the book, we are left outside.

Christ offers everyone the gift of forgiveness, salvation and eternal life in heaven with Him. Revelation 22:17 says, "Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of water of life." No need to try to work your way into heaven, you can't do it. Only what Christ did on the Cross is counted for you. You can't earn it, acheive it or even work for it. IT is a free gift from God based upon Christ's generous and sufficeint sacrifice on our behalf.

Keep in mind, that God knew that many people would try to get there on their own merit. Some would try a different way. Some would forget to RSVP.(Repent, Believe and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He was crucified, buried and on the third day, He arose and became victorious over death and the grave. He did all that for you and me.

The Spirit and the Bride say,"Come" Revelation 22:17
"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on Him while he is near." Isaiah 55:6

Friend------Do you know Him? Do you know His forgiveness? Do you know His love for you? Is your name in the Book of Life? You can know these things and God wants you to know them.

Romans 10:9 says this; "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, you will be saved." "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

That my dear friend is how you RSVP. Don't delay, do it today.

The Names of God

As I was thinking about relationship with God, I was reminded that God was referred to by many names. Some of those names described His character. Some were titles that were assigned by people, but for the most part, the names were ascribed by God Himself as He was describing Himself. Even when no particular name is used, the occurrence of the phrase "the name of the Lord" reveals something of God's character
To call on the name of the Lord was to worship Him. To take His name in vain was to dishonor Him. Not to follow the requirements of the Law involved profaning His name. Priest performed their service in the name of the Lord. So with that in mind, let me share with you the names of God as used in scripture. I was not aware of all the different meanings as I have read them in scripture. See if this helps you to get to know our God better. I will probably do this in a couple of blogs rather than make this so long you will not want to read and or respond.

1. Elohim (L O HEM)

The term elohim occurs in the general sense of deity about 2,570 times in the Old Testament. About 2,310 times it is a name for the true God. The first occurrance is in the first verse of the Bible. It is used in reference to false deities in Genesis35:2,4; Exodus 12:12: 18:11; 23:24

The meaning of elohim depends on its derivation. Some understand that it comes from a root that means fear and indicates that the deity is to be feared, reverenced, or worshiped. Others trace it to a root that means strong, indicating a deity of great power. Though not conclusive, the evidence seems to point to the latter derivation signifying in the case of the true God, that He is the strong One, the mighty Leader, the supreme deity.

The Compound Names of Elohim is; El Shaddai, El Elyon, El Olam, El Roi

El Shaddai is an Akkadian word that means "mountain". This name of God pictures Him as the Almgihty One standing on a mountain. It was the name by which God appeared to the patriarchs to give comfort and confirmation of the covenant with Abraham.(Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11 Exod 6:3 Ps.91:1-2, Ruth 1:20-21

El Elyon means "the Most High God" and it emphasizes God's strength, sovereignty, and supremacy. It was first used by Melchizedek when he blessed Abraham (Gen 14:19)

El Olam means "the Everlasting God" from an original form meaning "the God of Eternity" Gen. 21:33 It emphasizes God's unchangeableness. (Ps.100:5 103:17 and is connected with His inexhaustible strength (Isa. 40:28

El Roi means "the God who sees" Gen. 16:13. Hagar gave this name to God when He spoke to her before Ishmael's birth.

I will give a total of seven names and many compound names in the next few blogs.

Question:

Do you know Him as Elohim? Get to know our God as Elohim. Be in awe of His power, reverence Him as the one and Only true God, Worship Him and Him alone, Acknowledge Him as our one and only strong , Almighty and Supreme God. He is our High and Lifted Up God, He is Everlasting and He see's and knows our every need.
Get to know "the name of the Lord" He knows you.

Is Chrsit seen in you?

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred bretheren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

Well what a great day we just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior and we are one day closer to our resurrection which is our hope in Christ. The Gospel is about Christ and the Crucifiction and the Cross and it would mean absolutely nothing without the resurrection. One thing that I noticed as I was reading the above scripture is that God wanted Christ to be seen after the resurrection and scripture list several people or groups of people who saw Christ. Well, the world today doesn't have that opportunity to see the risen Lord unless, He is seen in you or me. Yes, we can verify the scriptures by showing the risen Lord in us. According to scriputres, when the resurrected Lord steps out of heaven and into our hearts, change occurs. Without change, there is no Christ. Two questions that Christians need to answer today. 1. Has changed occurred since Christ came into my life and what is that change? 2. Because of that change, can others see the resurrected Christ in my life? If you were the only evidence of Christ resurrection, would there be enough proof to prove it?


I challenge each of you to read April 5,6,7,8,9,10 of My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Awesome thoughts and such precision on the Cross of Christ.

God help us to allow you to be seen by those whom we come into contact with everyday.

How do you treat others?

Throughout scripture, we are told to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We don't have to guess at what love really looks like, because Jesus taught us that in every action that he took. Romans 5:8 says that in while we were lost, undone, not even caring about Jesus, He went to the cross and bore our sins. IN other words, He paid a debt He didn't owe to keep us from oweing a debt we couldn't pay. Everywhere you look in scripture Jesus shows us how to treat one another. I find it somewhat strange that in some places, as He spoke to His disciples, He informed them not to talk about what He had done or said, and in some places, He readily wanted those whom He was talking to, to tell everybody they came in contact with. In the old Testament, God told Daniel to shut the book and not show it to anybody and in the New Testament, in Revelation, God told John to tell everybody. Confusing, Huh? As I started reading Revelation, I quickly got to chapter two where Jesus, the Head of the Church, had John write about the seven churches of Asia and if I had been judging them, I probably wouldn't had to much good to say about them, but not our Savior, even in the bad, He also had some good to say. To each of the churches, regardless of how they were viewed, Christ first spoke of their what was good about them, then he said what was bad about them and then He admonished them and told them how they could do better. Wouldn't it be great if we did that with those we come in contact with. With our children, our friends, our family members. Jesus is the standard and none of us will ever match that standard, but we are challenged to be like Christ and that will only happen as we yeild our lives fully to His will and become obedient even until death. Christ is our example and we should become examples to others by living out the separated life that He calls us to live.

Changing the Past

Have you ever been guilty of trying to change your past? You see, some people try to focus on the past. I've found as long as they do, change for the future will not be possible. Since no one can change their past, the past is really not what needs changing. In fact the past no longer exist. It is gone, never again to return. Because this is fact, then the present is what we need to work on. The best you can do, you can't change the past. What was; was, and nothing you can do, will change what was. Now you have today which you can effect and you have tomorrow (maybe) by which you can plan for, but you can't go back to the past. People who live in the past, are people who can't see a future. Now don't get me wrong, your past can have effect on the present and perhaps even your future, but dwelling on the past will keep you stagnant and will not allow growth in your life.

Have you ever been guilty of trying to live in the future? You see, some people try to focus on the future. As long as they do, the present holds little hope for them. Since no one can live tomorrow today, then trying to live in the future is meaningless. Nothing you can do, to live tomorrow, today. If these two facts are true, then we have only one choice and that is to live for today. You see, today is all you have. You have outlived yesterday and you haven't arrived to tomorrow. Living in either the past or the future makes no sense, therefore the past and the future do not exist.

If these are true, then living for today must be of upmost importance to each of us. I would give anything if I could change some things of the past, but I can't because it doesn't exist anymore, it's gone and will never return. I would give anything if I could change my future, but it doesn't exist, and I may never get to the future. Future is anything beyond the moment that I'm presently living. Past is anything behind the moment that I'm presently living.

Today is what I have and yesterday's gone and tomorrow has not arrived. Today is all I have and what I do with today will determine what my tomorrow might look like.
So if you are one who lives in yesterday or tomorrow, your trying to live in an area that doesn't exist. Live for today, forget yesterday, learn from yesterday and make the most out of today so that if God allows you to have a tomorrow, it will be for HIs Glory and His Honor.

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 23:7A For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

Proverbs 27:19 As in water face reflects face. So a man's heart reveals the man.

Proverbs 28:26A he who trusts in his own heart is a fool.

The scriptures speaks much about the heart of man and how the heart(the very soul)of who we are can not be trusted. We are sinners by nature and we are lured to sin through our hearts. Trusting the Lord with all our hearts is not an easy thing to do since our hearts deceive us more than anything else. Some say they trust the Lord, some say they love the Lord, some say they depend on the Lord and yet when the world starts crashing down around them, they start leaning to their own understanding. That's why scripture tells us that the heart is deceitful above ALL things and that's why scripture tells us that God doesn't just listen to our words, watch our actions, but He looks deep into your heart.

Qustion: What's you heart look like today? Is it pure,and clean? Is it like you would want it to be for Christ to look at today? If not, scripture also says that God is faithful and true to forgive when we repent and ask for His forgiveness.

Billy Graham Prayer

Well, I've been out of pocket for two weeks and I guess you thought that I had just given up on the blog world but that's just not the case at all. The first week, I suffered down in Tampa Florida where the weather was in high 70's and the second week I really did suffer as I spent a week in the waiting room of Vanderbilt Hospital. That's why I've been absent but now I'm back and until next Wednesday I hope to visit the blog world daily. On Wednesday of next week, I go in for a minor surgery and hope to be back to work on the following Monday or at least that's what I'm hoping for. In the mean time, I wanted to share a prayer that Billy Graham prayed during one of his series as I felt it was very appropriate to what is going on in the world today. You tell me if you agree.


"Heavenly Father", we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil, good, but that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. we have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possession's and called it ambition. We have polluted the air waves with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. we have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God and know our hearts today, cleanse us from every sin and set us free. AMEN."


Surely Billy Graham has insight that few men have because he see's mankind as God see's mankind. We need the eyes of Christ, to see how far from right we have wondered.