Thought 4 Today

Imagine that you worked your whole life toward piling up a huge mountain of good deeds. Following the last seconds of your life, you approach God and present Him with an excellent reminder of all you had done. "I did everything could to get into heaven" you might say. At which point God would tell you that your work was prideful, and even the attempt to enter heaven on your own merits was arrogant and selfish. You had attained nothing. In fact, less than nothing. Absolute perfection is required for entering God's presence.... you'll enter it shrouded by the perfect blood of Jesus Christ, or you won't enter it at all. God says that even our best deeds are like "filthy rage" apart from Christ. Save yourself the life of "piling up deeds" and spend your life saying "thank you" to the Savior that awaits your confession that you and anything you'll ever accomplish are worthless without Him. "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Isaiah 64:6  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

"Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men." 2 Corinthians 5:11a The other day I was helping a buddy do some work and we needed to pound some huge fasteners into a steel door. The perfect tool for the job was a huge sledgehammer! Since I needed to burn off some frustration anyway, I did the honors myself. With just a few swings on each fastener I was able to pound them into solid steel. Sledgehammers are great tools... but let's say you were in terrible pain from a sliver under your fingernail. Even in your distress, would you entertain someone working on it with a sledgehammer?! My dad always used to day, "Use the right tool for the job, Jimmy!" The truth is that although some have great intentions of "persuading men" to believe the Good News of Jesus, words and actions that seem like sledgehammers to them never work. No matter how much knowledge we have of the Bible, how great we can argue for the Truth, and no matter how well we can preach, without love it's all worthless. Never was there a more perfect tool for witnessing for Jesus Christ than genuine love. Only love is persuasive in the end. "If I speak in the tongues [or languages] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." 1 Corinthians 13:1  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Many will tell you that you are required to give a "tithe" [or tenth] of all you make to the church. Some will argue that you need to give a tenth of the gross amount you make (before taxes are taken out, etc.) and some will tell you just to give based on what you net (the amount you actually get). I sincerely believe that both arguments are wrong and biblically inaccurate. A tithe is simply not mentioned in the New Testament as a command (or even a suggestion). It was part of the Law, and as such was done away with by the cross of Christ. In all honesty, any self-respecting Jew would not have given a mere 10 percent anyway. The first tenth was only one of several tithes they were required to give. If they gave according to the letter of the Law, they would have given the best 33.3 percent of everything they made, grew or otherwise obtained. BUT, this does not mean you should not give to the church. The New Testament requirement is actually for you to give "everything" you have (considering even the breath in your lungs 100% God's property) It's all God's... but that doesn't mean you cannot provide for your needs, for the needs of others, and even save for your children and your children's children. Give to God's work in missions, give to your local church, and give to any other ministry the Lord lays on your heart. BUT, do not give because someone told you to. Give because God loves you! "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Did you know there are not only 10 Commandments in the Bible, but rather 1050 of them!? What's more, there are thousands of pages of prophecy and instruction given us by prophets for thousands of years. How could you or I ever keep up with such an exhausting list? How could we ever be sure we'd obeyed everything? Believe it or not, that's pretty much the whole point of Jesus coming and giving us this Scripture (Hey, if we could have done all that stuff, we wouldn't have needed Him in the first place!). "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 7:12)  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Some people are great about telling people of their faith and even at leading others to Christ and other great church work. Unfortunately, a number of those same people often seem to have little regard for the "little people" they run into. Believe it or not, the Bible actually casts some serious doubt on whether or not a person who cares little about meeting the needs of those "less fortunate" around them are even Christians. Being "saved" is evidenced by a lot more than talking about your faith--it is "doing" the will of your Father in heaven. "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:14-17  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Do you envy all the fun the people around you seem to be having? If you're a Christian, does it seem like God has forbidden you to have any fun at all? Although it may seem like the things that God forbids us to be involved in might be a lot of fun, the truth is that those things are always destructive, no matter how much fun they may seem to be. God does not forbid things because He hates us! He forbids things that will hurt us because He loves us! If the people you're hanging around with are trying to get you to do things that are against God's commands for you, then they are not your friends. Remove yourself from the situation as soon as you can and spare yourself the temptation and the injury. "Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God!" Psalm 108:115  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

My dentist has been trying for years to get me to consistently book appointments with him. For whatever reason, I just find it easier to reschedule him and take care of more pressing things first. Over the last week I've been having some pretty serious pain in one of the teeth he's been at me to get capped for years. Now my dentist isn't calling me--I'm calling him! I need to get in there right away, and I'll clear anything off of my calendar to make it happen! I'm having trouble sleeping. I'm having trouble thinking about anything other than my tooth and the throbbing pain within it. The truth is that God often has to act similarly to get us to pay attention to serious problems in our lives. He humbles us through the process of suffering, and he tests us within that process. Our heavenly Father would love to do things the "easy way" but in our sinfulness, we simply will not pay attention until He turns up the heat! Then, and only then, will we even stop to listen. "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands." Deuteronomy 8:2 And by the way, my toothache has convinced me that for the foreseeable future I'll be doing whatever my dentist tells me to do.  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

The Lord's prayer is often repeated, but not often understood. When Jesus answered the disciple's request to "teach us how to pray," He gave them a model prayer that included the phrase, "your Kingdom Come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Although it may appear so, this prayer has nothing to do with the future time when God will recreate the earth. It actually is asking the Father to allow His Kingdom to come right now. When you pray and mean those words, God can and will actually use the praying Christian to do His will on earth right now. Essentially you'll be saying, God, bring your Kingdom to earth TODAY and use me to do it. Use me in spite of anything I may be planning today and no matter what it costs me. This, then is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 6:9-13)  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate