1/17/2021

God told Moses, after crossing the Red Sea, to build an altar as a remembrance.

Today, in America, they want to remove things that remind them of where we came from. Remind us of the mistakes in how the people in our past treated other people. In Germany they have a museum made from a Concentration Camp. To remember what their country was/is capable of doing. We, in America have/had statues and monuments, great and small to remind us of where we came from and what we are capable of doing.

Some may say they are badges of achievement; some may say they are a way of our past honoring those deeds. However, we should all say these are reminders of what has been done. They remind us so that we will not repeat the mistakes that our forefathers made.

We read in the Bible some of the mistakes that the Jewish people have made in their long past. Even in the days that Jesus walked the earth, the Jewish people made mistakes. Mistakes were made by them after Jesus was crucified, just read the Epistles and you will know of some of them. Are we still making mistakes in modern times? Yes. Do we like being reminded of those mistakes, no.

We need to remember them so that we can not do them again. As Christians we need to read the Bible and use it as a remembrance of what humanity has done in the past and most importantly as a remembrance of what Jesus has said and where we are planning on spending eternity.

Have you read the Bible from cover to cover? If not, try it this year.

By: C.I. Wilson

1/10/2021

While working on my husbands next book, a part of what he brings out in I Timothy stood out to me. How times changes things.

You can build a new house move in and live there for a year or two and move out. There is little change to the house. However, if you live there for forty to fifty years, a lot changes. Some you make to it, like paining the walls, changing the lighting, maybe add a room and then maybe you do not do anything to it. It will still change because it gets old and things break down over time.

The same is true to your Walk with God.

When you first get saved, it is fresh, new, and wonderful. From this point you can take it two ways. One let it stagnate, which means it will fall apart and be destroyed. Or you can start making improvements. It all depends on you as to where your walk with God goes.

There are some people that within a few days it has disappeared due to the lack of attention. What do I mean by attention? A daily prayer time, a daily time spent reading the Bible but most important is a desire to follow God on a moment-by-moment basis.

Just as it takes an effort to keep a house in good shape over time, it takes an effort to keep your salvation over time. Do not get me wrong, salvation if free to all, nevertheless, it takes an effort on your part to keep it. If you take the time to get closer to God, your life will change.

Time changed you from a baby to where you are today. Time can change your soul from a new Christian to a mature Christian if you invest in it. A baby needs many things to make him or her an adult so does a new Christian need many things to make him or her a mature Christian.

What will you do to the gift that God has given you with the time that you have?

C.I. Wilson

1/3/2021

Isn’t it nice when Christianity comes naturally to us? When we do the right thing because it’s easy?

When life flows around us like a warm summer’s breeze, and we simply reach out and receive God’s blessings?

NOT!! That doesn’t resemble the life of a Christian by any measure.

Read what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:21:

“For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man.”

The New International Version (NIV) says it like it really feels:

“For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.”

It sometimes hurts to do what’s right. We give extra in the offering, and we don’t have money left to pay the light bill. We bite our tongue when we want to make a sharp retort to a rude co-worker, because we’re in the right, and we’re not being treated fairly.

There’s nothing natural about turning the other cheek or offering someone our shirt when they ask for our coat.

We must take pains to do what’s right. And we must be seen to do so. We must walk in the way that God approves of . . . and in the way that’s right before people.

Ouch! That seems too much to ask.

Welcome to the life of the committed Christian, where we figure out our walk with God one struggle at a time, one day at a time, one divisive co-worker at a time.

Here’s what’s vital in this: never give up. Do what’s right. Follow the teachings in the Bible, live according to the example of Jesus, and show love to people every time we open our mouth.

That’s the path God plans for us. It’s out there. Let’s walk it.

Living in love is the Christian way.

Copyright © 2021 MyChurchNotes.net

Used with permission of owner.

12/27/2020

Luke 2:36–38 (KJV)

³⁶And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;

³⁷And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

³⁸And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Last Sunday, I heard a sermon on the role that Simeon plays in the Christmas story. How he looked forward to seeing Jesus before he died. It made me wonder if the Christians of 2020 are doing the same. Are we focused on seeing Jesus face to face?

Then as is my habit I read farther in the scripture and God highlighted the above scriptures about Anna. Where the Bible tells us that Simeon announced who Jesus was then worshipped and blessed Him. We now see in Anna an example of what we are to do in the next step in our walk with God.

Here we see Anna, a woman of 100 or more years, still active for God doing His work and as soon as she saw Jesus, she gave thanks unto the Lord and then spoke about Him to everyone that would listen and maybe even those that did not want to hear of Him.

Do we hear a good sermon and then tell everyone about that sermon? Or do we hear it, pray a little prayer about it and then forget it? We should all be like Simeon and Anna. Look for Jesus, worship Jesus and then tell everyone about Jesus and how we need Him in our lives now so that we might live with Him for all eternity.

Will you accept the challenge? The challenge of living for God in such a way that when the end of time approaches there will be no doubt that you are a follower of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Will you be a living Bible to those you meet in your daily lives, or will you leave them in doubt as to your belief in God?

C.I. Wilson

12/20/2020

Luke 1:1-4 (KJV)
¹  Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
²  Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
³  It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
⁴  That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

I have used bold text for the parts that I want to write about.

There are many things that I believe such as: the world is round; my car will start and the lights will come on each time I flip the switch. However, I had enough times happen when the car did not start or the lights did not come on, and I have never personally seen the earth from space so I cannot know with a certainty that the car will start, that the lights will come on or that the earth is round.

Some of the things that I know most surely and for a certainty is that Jesus volunteered to come to the earth and that he volunteered to go to the cross to die a horrible death for us.

Since I have given Him control of my life things have gone better for me than they would have otherwise. I know this for a fact, because every time I have made a choice of what to do without asking God. . . . it never turns out the way I thought it would/should. Nevertheless, when I go according to God’s will for me though it may be scary or rough or sad, it does come out very well. Thus, I know with a surety or certainty that God’s way is the best way.

So, when you are facing something new or scary or hard, be sure to find out what God wants you to do and when you do it God’s way it will always turn out better than if you had tried it on your own.

Remember, when we follow God’s will in our lives it is better and the more that we do this, the easier it is to know what God would want us to do. Which means that we will have a “certainty of those things.”

C.I. Wilson