Watch Out!!

by Nick "slick" Herring

The Christian life is hard and anyone that tells you otherwise is lying to you. When we become a Christian and are born again we become enemies of this world and the world is always after us. The word born again means that we are now dead to this world and alive to God. That doesn't mean that we don't have times when we get off the path and walk in the ways of the world, but it does mean that we will want to walk in the way of the Lord. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:3 put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. The devil would like nothing more than to get you back into his kingdom. As soon has you get out of bed the devil will be attacking you. I am not saying that every time you are tempted to sin that the devil is making you do it. We are tempted to sin when we are carried away by our own lust (James 1:14). Your old nature and the devil are fighting against you every day and all day. John Owen said that when "sin stops fighting against you, then you can stop fighting against it". "That day will happen when we get to heaven and not a second sooner. We are at war and we must have to the right weapons to fight the enemy. The Bible is called the sword for good reason. It is used for offense to attack the sin in our life. We need to hide the word in our hearts like as the Psalms say . We are most likely not to sin when we have the word on our minds and lips. Whatever you are thinking about doing that is against God, it is not worth it. There is always a way out of your sin, you just have to look to Christ for help. Let's make the most of our time because the days are evil (Eph 5:15-16). No sin is worth the wrath of God, no matter how good it may look to you. Jesus said that you can't serve two masters for you will hate the one or love the other. Chose life or death, chose Christ or this world for you can't have both.

Do you love your swine more then Jesus?

by Nick Herring

I have been reading the book Knowing the Heart by Jonathan Edwards. This book is very convicting and has given me a better view of the deceitfulness of my ownheart. In his chapter about the Gadarenes loving their swine more then Jesus, I was thinking about all the things that people love more then Jesus. Jesus said, "whoever doesn't hate his own mother and father and yes even his own life can't be my disciple."

Following Jesus may cost you your very life and or everything you own. Too many people are saying today that it is easy to be a Christen and you don't have to give up anything. I would guess that these people don't read their Bibles much and see all the people that were killed for their faith in Jesus. People like the all Apostles, and people who this very day are being killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. We must not put anything before Christ. God is a jealous God and He will NOT be put in second place to anything or anyone.

In the story of the Gadarenes we see that the men loved their earthly things more then Jesus. Even after Jesus cast out the demons they still didn't want anything to do with Him. Men are naturally lovers of the "things" of this world and of the God who made this world. The Gadarenes loved their "swine" more then having the Son of God in their home. Here is the amazing thing to think about, the Son of God was in the Gadarene's home land and they didn't want anything to do with Him. Are we any different today? We have more "things" then any other country in the world, but the obvious question is, how many of the people of the USA would give up their "swine" to have Jesus? If Jesus is not the most important thing in your life, then I commend you to examine yourself and see if you really are in the faith. Make sure you really are saved!!!