November 6th, 2023
Written by Brandy Wallis
We recently had an event at the church where we saw many people come to know Christ for the first time or rededicate their lives back to Him. Hundreds of people surrendered their hearts to Christ and made a commitment to follow Him all the days of their lives. There is no better thing to experience than seeing someone walk through the church doors believing their life is ok without Jesus only to see the Holy Spirit completely turn their life around.
How many of us vividly remember the day we gave our hearts to the Lord? How many of us, reading this, would attest that following Christ is not always been easy but it is certainly worth it?
Today, I want to remind you of some promises over your life and promises over your calling. If you didn’t realize it, all of those who call Christ Lord are in the ministry of soul winning together. My blog today is a simple one. Sometimes we overcomplicate the gospel of Jesus and there is no need to do so. Jesus is simple. His message is simple; and His gift of salvation is simple. Today, Jesus wants to remind you that you:
-Are loved (more than you can imagine)
-Are chosen
-Are never alone
-Have been made powerful through Him
-Are not defined by your past
1.) You are loved
John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. Do you realize that God loves you so much that he gave up the thing he held closest to his heart that your life might have purpose? He willingly sacrificed His one and only son in hopes that one day you would want to have a personal relationship with Him. God knew there was no other way that man could be reconciled to Him other than the sacrifice of Jesus. Christ died so that we may live. You see, just as we love our children, God your Father loves you. His love never ends for you! He does not love you less because of the choices you make. There is nothing you can do to earn His love because it is given freely to you. His love for you is not changed by time, or place, or life’s struggles. In fact, Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Unlike love that we experience throughout our lives, God’s love is not conditional and, no matter what, it will never let us down. That is certainly one promise that you can cling to all the days of your life.
2.) You are chosen
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 reminds us: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth”. Did you realize that out of everything God Almighty created, you and I are the only things referred to as a special treasure? God could have chosen anything He wanted to bow down and worship before him. Scripture talks about angels, demons, and rocks worshiping him. Once, He even used a talking donkey to get someone’s attention (that’s another story for a different day). If he wanted a creation to worship Him out of obligation, He could have easily commanded us to do so. He instead wanted a creation to choose Him the same way he has chosen us. He desires a relationship with us. He loves to hear from us and for us to listen to Him. He loves to walk near us and help us to know that He is always near.
John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, and so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you”. God has chosen you for whatever journey you are on. Learn to embrace everything He has in store for you because you and only you were chosen for this particular path. And when your journey seems like it is more than you can handle, that it is harder than you imagined, that it comes with more uncertainties that you understand, remember that 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that our God will never put more on us than we can bear. Speaking of God always being near, that leads me into my third point:
3.) You are never alone
It is true that throughout your life, you may feel like you are alone on your journey, but let me assure you that when Christ is in your life, you are never walking alone. Let Deuteronomy 31:6 bring hope to those of us who may be struggling with this today. It says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you”. Christ does not expect us to understand everything about the circumstances or season we are enduring at a particular moment. If we did, then we would have the same knowledge and wisdom as God. We do not! Besides, why would we need faith in our life if we had that kind of understanding? That is why faith is such an important part of our journey. What God does expect from us–is that we will have unwavering faith in Him, that we will continue to walk by faith not by sight, that we will continue to put one step in front of the other, especially when we cannot see the next step in front of us. We acknowledge what is said and confirmed by man but until God Himself declares it our story is not finished. Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go”.
4.) You are powerful
When we meditate on the fact that God is all powerful, we are reassured that He is capable of doing more than anything we could do, attempt, or even imagine on our own. His power makes us unstoppable and that power never stops working for our good. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us”. Through God’s power, we have everything we need in this life. According to 2 Peter 1:3, “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness”. My last reminder today is:
5.) Your past does not define you!
Isaiah 43:18 says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past”. Our pasts cannot be changed and cannot be altered. We do not get do-overs. I am certain if I asked every single person reading this, there would certainly be things you would want to change that happened in your past. Past relationships. Past decisions. Past mistakes. Those moments are forever gone.
If the past cannot be changed, why do we spend so much time focusing on it? Well, the simple answer is this is exactly what the enemy wants you to do. If he can get your focus set on things you cannot change, he can keep you from focusing on the things that can. Focusing on the past, only, steals the joy that God desires for you to have and takes away from the abundance of life that God has promised you. How you got to this point in your life does not matter. Stop beating yourself up about your choices and decisions that have led you down your path. Everyone has a past. I am here to tell you tonight that the word of God says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”. What matters now are the choices you make, moving forward, in the truth that God has shown you.
Today, be reminded that Jesus has called you to be light in the darkness. He’s calling you to win your family, school, place of business, and communities for Christ. He’s called you for such a time as this. Jesus is ready to win souls…are you?
We recently had an event at the church where we saw many people come to know Christ for the first time or rededicate their lives back to Him. Hundreds of people surrendered their hearts to Christ and made a commitment to follow Him all the days of their lives. There is no better thing to experience than seeing someone walk through the church doors believing their life is ok without Jesus only to see the Holy Spirit completely turn their life around.
How many of us vividly remember the day we gave our hearts to the Lord? How many of us, reading this, would attest that following Christ is not always been easy but it is certainly worth it?
Today, I want to remind you of some promises over your life and promises over your calling. If you didn’t realize it, all of those who call Christ Lord are in the ministry of soul winning together. My blog today is a simple one. Sometimes we overcomplicate the gospel of Jesus and there is no need to do so. Jesus is simple. His message is simple; and His gift of salvation is simple. Today, Jesus wants to remind you that you:
-Are loved (more than you can imagine)
-Are chosen
-Are never alone
-Have been made powerful through Him
-Are not defined by your past
1.) You are loved
John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. Do you realize that God loves you so much that he gave up the thing he held closest to his heart that your life might have purpose? He willingly sacrificed His one and only son in hopes that one day you would want to have a personal relationship with Him. God knew there was no other way that man could be reconciled to Him other than the sacrifice of Jesus. Christ died so that we may live. You see, just as we love our children, God your Father loves you. His love never ends for you! He does not love you less because of the choices you make. There is nothing you can do to earn His love because it is given freely to you. His love for you is not changed by time, or place, or life’s struggles. In fact, Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Unlike love that we experience throughout our lives, God’s love is not conditional and, no matter what, it will never let us down. That is certainly one promise that you can cling to all the days of your life.
2.) You are chosen
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 reminds us: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth”. Did you realize that out of everything God Almighty created, you and I are the only things referred to as a special treasure? God could have chosen anything He wanted to bow down and worship before him. Scripture talks about angels, demons, and rocks worshiping him. Once, He even used a talking donkey to get someone’s attention (that’s another story for a different day). If he wanted a creation to worship Him out of obligation, He could have easily commanded us to do so. He instead wanted a creation to choose Him the same way he has chosen us. He desires a relationship with us. He loves to hear from us and for us to listen to Him. He loves to walk near us and help us to know that He is always near.
John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, and so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you”. God has chosen you for whatever journey you are on. Learn to embrace everything He has in store for you because you and only you were chosen for this particular path. And when your journey seems like it is more than you can handle, that it is harder than you imagined, that it comes with more uncertainties that you understand, remember that 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that our God will never put more on us than we can bear. Speaking of God always being near, that leads me into my third point:
3.) You are never alone
It is true that throughout your life, you may feel like you are alone on your journey, but let me assure you that when Christ is in your life, you are never walking alone. Let Deuteronomy 31:6 bring hope to those of us who may be struggling with this today. It says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you”. Christ does not expect us to understand everything about the circumstances or season we are enduring at a particular moment. If we did, then we would have the same knowledge and wisdom as God. We do not! Besides, why would we need faith in our life if we had that kind of understanding? That is why faith is such an important part of our journey. What God does expect from us–is that we will have unwavering faith in Him, that we will continue to walk by faith not by sight, that we will continue to put one step in front of the other, especially when we cannot see the next step in front of us. We acknowledge what is said and confirmed by man but until God Himself declares it our story is not finished. Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go”.
4.) You are powerful
When we meditate on the fact that God is all powerful, we are reassured that He is capable of doing more than anything we could do, attempt, or even imagine on our own. His power makes us unstoppable and that power never stops working for our good. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us”. Through God’s power, we have everything we need in this life. According to 2 Peter 1:3, “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness”. My last reminder today is:
5.) Your past does not define you!
Isaiah 43:18 says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past”. Our pasts cannot be changed and cannot be altered. We do not get do-overs. I am certain if I asked every single person reading this, there would certainly be things you would want to change that happened in your past. Past relationships. Past decisions. Past mistakes. Those moments are forever gone.
If the past cannot be changed, why do we spend so much time focusing on it? Well, the simple answer is this is exactly what the enemy wants you to do. If he can get your focus set on things you cannot change, he can keep you from focusing on the things that can. Focusing on the past, only, steals the joy that God desires for you to have and takes away from the abundance of life that God has promised you. How you got to this point in your life does not matter. Stop beating yourself up about your choices and decisions that have led you down your path. Everyone has a past. I am here to tell you tonight that the word of God says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”. What matters now are the choices you make, moving forward, in the truth that God has shown you.
Today, be reminded that Jesus has called you to be light in the darkness. He’s calling you to win your family, school, place of business, and communities for Christ. He’s called you for such a time as this. Jesus is ready to win souls…are you?
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