Am I Really Saved?

1 John 3:18-21, My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. NKJV

In Jeremiah, the Lord tells us that the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and in Proverbs, we're instructed to place our trust in the Lord, lean not unto our own understanding, but acknowledge Him in all our ways. As Christians, we must be careful not to listen to our hearts, especially when it tells us to do something that is contrary to the Word of God. The Bible is our moral and spiritual compass and thermometer. Even though we have the Bible to go to in times of trouble, temptation, and testing, we must also rely upon the Holy Spirit to direct our paths.

Without the witness of the Holy Spirit to direct us with the Word of God, we would have to resort to listening to and depending upon our own hearts which can lead us down a wrong path. One of the ways I see that Christians must learn to listen and depend upon the leading of the Holy Spirit is with their salvation. You've probably seen people who regularly answer the altar call for sinners as if they had never been saved before. When you ask them if they have ever prayed the prayer of repentance, most of the time, they will answer, "Yes, many times, but I'm just not sure I'm saved." 

The Apostle John gives us the reason why this occurs in the hearts of Christians. We must obey the Word of God in action and not in word only. If we love the Word of God by keeping it in our daily lives, and we still doubt our soul's salvation, it's only our hearts condemning us, and we must, through faith, overcome our hearts. Paul tells us, in Romans 8, that the Holy Spirit will bear witness with our spirit that we are a child of God. We're not instructed to listen to what our hearts tell us or how our emotions make us feel, but, by faith, we are to trust the voice of God within us. 

If what I am writing describes your personal struggles with faith... in believing that you're a child of God... then just do what John tells us: Obey the Word in our life and look unto God who is greater than the condemnation of our own hearts. He knows all things, and we are to place complete trust in Him and not in ourselves. Only believe, and you will be free from the fear or doubt of whether you're really saved or not. 

By Grace through Faith I'm Saved,

Pastor Asa

You Are More Than a Conqueror

Romans 8:37-39, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV

Paul writes a very powerful truth that, as believers, we must all lay hold of in our personal walk with God...His love for us doesn't change when we find ourselves faced with various trials in this world. In fact, the Bible declares to us in Malachi and in Hebrews that God doesn't change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Since He doesn't change, that means that His attributes don't change either. He loved us before the foundation of the world. God loved us before sin entered the Garden of Eden or the heart of man. God loved us after sin defiled the heart of man. There's something very interesting about God's love for us, even while we were still sinners. 

We only begin to see the depth, the length, and the height of God's love in a much deeper way "after sin" than we ever could have seen it "before sin". I'm sure you share my sentiment...I'd rather not have known His love from this perspective, but it sure is reassuring to know that His love for us didn't change when we fell into sin. Now that we're on this side of sin, or rather that we have been bought from sin as its slave, we must keep our focus on God's love for us and not on the fallout that we face as a result of sin. Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sins, He also went to hell in our place and took back the keys (or authority) of death and hell... both were given to him through Adam's sin. 

Paul teaches us (through today's scripture above) the principle of how God's love doesn't change because we fell in sin so that we will have bold confidence toward our heavenly Father when the enemy of our salvation attacks us or our family. It is vitally important for us as believers and followers of Christ to not only know that God loves us, but that He chooses to love us... especially when we don't feel as though we deserve it. People who don't feel loved by others have little or no self-worth. It's easy for them to give up on themselves when faced with continuous trials or setbacks. 

As children of God, we also need to understand that no matter what we face in this life, it doesn't negate, diminish or alter the love of God for us. If something should happen that causes you to doubt God's love for you, just take a moment and read John 3:16. God didn't send His Son to die for Christians; He was given for the redemption of sinners. If God loved us while we were still sinners, how much more is He going to save us from the wrath to come? Jesus died in order to reconcile us back to God first and secondly, to save us from His wrath against those who choose sin over His love. Therefore, we don't have to fear when a crisis comes into our lives, because we know that it isn't God's wrath, but rather, it is Satan's attack against our confidence in God's love for us. Be BOLD today and know that God loves you so much. We're special because of Christ and God's love for us. 

Walking in God's Love,

Pastor Asa

Forgiving and Forgetting

Philippians 3:13-14, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. NKJV

Have you ever gone to a public laundry and used one of the big dryers? Did you ever climb in one and take a spin? I guess you can tell I was definitely a young boy once. If you were to put a bucket of rocks in a dryer and climb in it and close the door guess what would eventually happen? You guessed it; one or more of the rocks would cause severe wounds to occur on your body. People are always asking why bad things happen to good people. Perhaps you've either asked that question or had someone to ask it of you during a time of heartache. Let's face it, we live in a world that is filled with rocks (sin) and eventually we're going to run into a rock (offense) or two. 

When this happens, we must make the decision of how we're going to respond to that bruise and the rock (or person that caused us to be inflicted). We can remember, and we hold that offense against them until we die with the bruise, but a better way to respond to the offense is to give it to the Lord... who, by the way, took our sins upon Him and was bruised for our iniquity. We give Him our hurts, disappointments, failures, and weaknesses through obedient faith. It's not enough to just have faith, but you must change your ways once you believe. After you give Jesus your hurts, you must be willing to obey Him as He begins the restoration process, so that you don't have to live with the poison of the hurt and become defiled by it.

 Jesus responded to our sins by forgiving us, but that isn't where the work of grace stopped; He went on to "forget" our sins. They have been casted into the sea, and He has chosen to remember them no more. Forgiveness is just part of the restoration work of moving forward from a past hurt. Paul tells us in the text today that he came to a place in his walk where he had to be willing to forget the things which were behind him and to move on toward the finish line for the prize.

If we choose to forget the wrongs that others have inflicted in our lives while in the inside of this "dryer"  called the world, then the Lord will wipe it from our hearts, and then our minds will simply forget it. Think of it in these terms; every computer has a monitor and a hard drive. The hard drive represents your heart and the monitor represents your mind. Even though you shut down the monitor, the system will keep the record of the account, because it is still on the hard drive. Choosing to forget allows the Holy Spirit to wipe it permanently off of our hard drive to be remembered no more...in the same way that God chooses to remember our wrongs no more. 

In Genesis 37, you will find the beginning of the story of Joseph. Most of us are familiar with his story...Joseph had many opportunities to be offended, but when God had delivered him from all that was wrongly done against him, Joseph had to come to a place of restoration in his personal life. After Joseph had been used so mightily by the Lord and fulfilled much of what God had foretold him in the early years of his life, he was given two sons by the names of Manasseh and Ephraim. It's Manasseh, the first named, whose name represents the message given for you today. Manasseh means: causing to forget; to remit or remove. Before we can move forward, there are some things that we have to remove. Usually, when taking a trip, most people pack a piece of luggage, but on this trip we must be willing to unpack our suitcases, and then move ahead with God. So ask the Lord what needs to come off of your hard drive or out or your suitcase so that you can move on into what the Lord has for the remainder of your life. He will remove that burden and destroy that yoke with His anointing and lift your head with His grace. Ain't God good?!!

Forgiveness will lead us to forgetfulness. Bitterness prevents the forgiveness process from being complete in restoring our hearts and minds. So if we stop in the middle of the forgiveness process and refuse to forget, then we are allowing bitterness to defile the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives. Fruit that isn't eaten eventually rots. Use the fruit of the Spirit and destroy the decay instead of allowing the decay to destroy your fruit. 

Moving Forward,

Pastor Asa

All Aboard

Genesis 6:17-21, And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark -- you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them." NKJV

Isn't it interesting that God saved the animals, but the people who had rejected God and His Word perished? Under the new covenant, we see just the opposite. Jesus tells us in John 3, that He wasn't sent to condemn the world, but through Him the world might be saved. When the flood waters began to be released from the deep and poured out from the heavens, only those who didn't love or honor God lost their lives. This tells us that the flood didn't destroy them, but the sin in their hearts did. Even today, people don't seem to understand or care to know about that principle. 

Just as it was in Noah's day, the same is true today. People who reject the Lord and know they have sin in their hearts, but don't repent, tend to blame the reason for their sin on other people or circumstances. It's a total shame the way that people with sin in their hearts treat the living God and His warnings. God told Noah to preach to the lost of his day while he was working on the ark. Noah did as the Lord instructed him; for 120 years he preached according to God's instructions. Yet, after the 120 years, only he and his family were permitted on the ark. Can you begin to imagine the persecution and ridicule that Noah had to face building an ark that was large enough to house all of the animals, food, and supplies as well as 8 adults, in the middle of a dry land? Here Noah is... preaching about a flood; keep in mind, the earth, up to this point had never seen rain. If you will read Genesis 2, you will find that before the flood, there was a mist that arose out of the ground and watered the face of the earth; we call them geysers.

So, given all of these facts about the climate in Noah's day, the people simply dismissed Noah as being a religious fanatic. You can probably imagine how they mistreated him and wagged their heads in disgust as they passed by the building site of the ark. As we read the story of Noah and his faithfulness to God, it's easy to breeze over the fact that Noah endured for over a century the controversy of building this monstrosity of a boat while preaching that the end of civilization was at hand. In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells us that as it was in Noah's day, so it will be in the day of His return to this earth. We see all of the signs coming to pass just as they were foretold to us over 2,000 years ago, and people are responding to the church in much the same way as they reacted to Noah. They are rejecting the gospel of Christ.

The birth pains of creation are growing stronger as well as closer together. This tells us only one thing. Jesus' return is at hand, and we must prepare ourselves and warn our lost loved ones and friends to get ready. Even if the Lord should delay His return beyond our lifetime, none of us has the promise of tomorrow. A really good offense is the best defense. Are you ready should you get called out of the game of life today? If you're not ready, you can be!!

1 John 1:8-10, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. NKJV 

But By the Grace of God,

Pastor Asa 

Our Faith Opens the Door

Hebrews 11: 6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. NKJV

Our God and the Father of our Lord is so gracious and kind to us because we have placed faith in Jesus as being the Son of God. Did you realize that from the very moment that you turned your heart to place faith in Jesus, God began to bless you? This insight gives us a better understanding into the love that God has for those who have placed their trust in Christ as their personal Savior. Let's look at faith in this light for a moment. When you came to faith in Christ, the blessings of God began to flow in your heart and life because you had realized that Jesus is the source of both this life and of eternal life. 

At the moment of faith in Christ, we are deemed blessed in God's eyes. Once we humbled ourselves and accepted the free gift of life through Christ, the grace of God was bestowed upon our lives. Can you imagine being blessed and having the grace or favor of God lavished on you simply because you believed? There was nothing that you did or could do in order to earn it, yet God freely gives us His blessing once we look to Jesus. 

Through faith, we can begin to comprehend the love that God has for those who receive His Son into their hearts. If we try and come to God in a way other than faith in Christ and try to earn God's favor and love, then we will never be able (or allowed) to experience either in our lives. Remember what the writer of Hebrews wrote in today's scripture, "But without faith, it is impossible to please God." We can now realize that faith opens the door for God's goodness to be dispensed upon us... there's nothing we can do to earn it.

If we can be saved by faith, apart from works or earning our salvation, then we must also continue to walk by faith, once we're born again. Faith in Christ will teach us how to rest in Him, and how to know that the same God who saved us by faith is the same God who will supply all we have need of now that we're in Christ. This will afford us the ability to deny self and selfish ambition in order to live our new lives pleasing the Father through faith. Faith empowers us to seek first the Kingdom of God and not be consumed with trying to work for something that we might need.  

I've made this statement before, but it bears repeating: It seems easy for people to trust in God for eternal security; so why is it hard to trust God for everyday needs and desires? The answer: We must continue living by faith after we have come to faith in Christ. This "faith walk" is accomplished by denying self and seeking the Lord. Remember, we need favor and not works to accomplish and obtain all that is needed in life. 

Resting in Christ,

Pastor Asa 

Christians Must Stand for the Truth

John 8: 2 - 6, Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. NKJV

There's a huge difference between having a belief in the Bible as truth and standing on it as the truth. Jesus tells us in Acts 1 that once we become His disciples, we are to be witnesses of Him. Paul tells us that all believers have been given the ministry of reconciliation. We are to lead people who are lost in their sin into a relationship with the Father through Jesus, the Christ.

As Christians who have placed their faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we will discover that our faith will often place us at odds with the world. First, they will ask you what the Bible says about a certain sin or another faith. After you give them chapter and verse, they will do to you as the scribes and Pharisees did to Jesus that day in the temple. They will ask you, "But what do you say?" Take notice that they asked that question in an attempt to use it against Him if He misspoke. "They tempted Him."

Recently, I watched an interview where the anchor was questioning the beliefs of a well-known pastor. In this particular discussion, the host brought up the teaching found in John 14: 6 about Jesus being the only way to the Father or heaven. This man was obviously concerned about this one verse, since he wasn't a believer in Christ. The host asked the pastor if he believed that John 14: 6 was true. The pastor answered very emphatically that it was and that no one could enter heaven except through Christ. After the host asked this question, he advanced the discussion in the same manner as the religious rulers did Jesus in the temple. He asked the pastor if he believed that people who rejected Jesus were going to heaven. To this, the pastor replied, "It's not my place to judge who's going to heaven and who isn't."

I only mention this scenario to bring out a very important point on the need for Christians to take a stand when the truth is being brought into question. The pastor was correct in that we aren't the final authority who will determine who goes to heaven. However, he did miss a great opportunity to take a stand for the truth by telling this man, who had rejected Jesus as being the Christ, that he was lost.

Had the pastor told the man that without faith in Christ, there is no hope for him, it would have given the Holy Spirit the opportunity to convict his guilty conscience. Now look back at what Jesus did when the religious rulers tried to tempt Jesus with the same type question. He told the men who wanted to stone the woman if they were without sin, they could throw the first stone. Jesus didn't back down when they took the focus off of Moses' law and placed it on HIM. He continued to tell the truth, though it placed Him at odds with them. This allowed the Holy Spirit to convict every man who was holding a rock of their own sin. They dropped their rocks and walked away convicted.

If we don't take a stand when our beliefs are brought into question by the world, then the world will miss the opportunity to be convicted of their sin. It's not easy, and it can cause us a lot of trouble when we stand... but we must stand anyway. What is more important, our well-being, or people's eternal souls? Jesus warns us in Matthew 10 if we seek to save our life, then we will lose it. However, if we lose our life for His sake, then we will keep it. We are to fear God, who is able to destroy our body and soul in hell; we are not to fear man who can only destroy our body. Have faith in God and take a stand for the TRUTH. The world is dying to hear it.

Preaching and Proclaiming the TRUTH,

Pastor Asa

Headed To the Mountains

Matthew 14: 22 - 23, Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. NKJV

There's something unique about living in the mountains of North Georgia. It's the place that many people travel to when they are on vacation or when they just want to get away from it all. However, it doesn't matter where you go when you need some time to be refreshed as long as you take the time to get away.

Jesus showed us the principle of separating ourselves from the crowd by His own example. Many times in the gospels, we read where Jesus would just disappear and head to the mountains to pray and seek His Father alone. As a pastor, I hear people complain about having to stay on the job; they need a break, but can't afford to go anywhere. Nevertheless, you can get away with the Lord and not even leave your property. Simply find a quiet place where you can concentrate on the Lord and abide there.

Vacations are wonderful for getting out of the office and away from the everyday duties and drudgeries so that you can clear your mind and rest your body. However, do you ever consider that you need time away just to refresh your soul in the same way that Jesus did in the mountains near Jerusalem? When we grow weary in well-doing, it opens the door for the enemy to begin to attack our weakened state. This doesn't always call for a trip to the beach or a scenic trip up to a mountainous get-away, but it does require that we find our own little sanctuary. We all need a place of solitude where we can be alone with the Lord and allow Him to wash over us with His love and presence.

The Bible tells us that we can be replenished in times of refreshing when we take the time to seek the Lord alone. If we neglect setting the time aside to be with the Lord and allow Him to pour back into us, then we will become dull and drained. Our perspective on life can become skewed because of feeling worn down.

Your alone time is not a time of fleshly indulgence, but rather a sacred time of sacrifice...a time where your main objective is to be filled with the power and goodness of God. Once you forsake everything in an effort to be filled with the Lord's goodness, it gives the opportunity for the Lord to capture your full attention. Now you're in a position to experience the presence and peace of God unlike anywhere else. When we sacrificially honor the Lord by seeking Him alone, He will visit us in a very real way that empowers us with fresh vision and new life.

Headed to the Sanctuary of His Presence,

Pastor Asa