Are You A Christian?

"... And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Acts 11:26

When I ask you if you are a Christian, I am not asking you if you are a Baptist, or Methodist, or Assembly of God, or a member of any other denomination.  I am not asking you what church you attend.  I am not asking you if you have joined a church.  I am not asking you if you have shaken the preacher's hand.  I am not asking you if you have been water baptized.  I am not asking you if you have walked an aisle.  I am not asking you if you sing in the choir at a church.  I am not asking you if you are a good person, or if you pay your taxes, or if you don't beat your wife, or if you have a job.  I am not even asking you if you read the Bible, pray or believe that God is real.   

When I ask people if they are a Christian, these are some of the answers I have received.  When I ask you if you are a Christian, what I want to know is whether Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord.  I don't want some answer that includes various religious behavior or activity that you participate in.  Instead, tell me, are you following Jesus?  Is He in control of your life?  Does He have the "steering wheel" and "driver seat" of your life?  Are you more concerned about pleasing Him than you are about pleasing yourself or others?  Does your lifestyle show it?  Is your life a reflection of who He is?  Do others see Him in you or do they hear an empty profession that is not backed up by any proof?  Is your life surrendered to Him and His will?  Are you loving Him and serving Him with your whole heart?  Are you denying yourself and living for Him?  Do all the comments you post on Face Book always line up with your profession of being a Christian?  Are you the same no matter where you are or who you are with, or are you a "different" person in church and on Sunday than you are the rest of the week-- on your job, in the classroom, at a social gathering? 

You can profess to be something but that doesn't mean that you are what you profess.  You can believe "in" God, and Jesus, but that doesn't make you a Christian-- even the devils believe in Him, but they don't love, serve or follow Him.  There is a children's song that we use to sing that says, "If you're saved and you know it then your life will surely show it."  There are so many people who say they are "saved/Christians" but their lives don't attest to what they profess.  In other words, their lives don't "line up".  The Word Christian means "Christ-like".  There is nothing that is "Christi-like" in their behavior or lifestyle. 

It is amazing to me that almost everyone I ask if they are a Christian says they are.  That means that the majority of people are Christians.  It means there are a lot of Christians-- more that are than aren't.  That isn't right.  Jesus said that those who were true Christians were on a straight and narrow road and that there were few of them.  He also said that there are many more who are on the broad wide way that leads to destruction than there are that are on the road leading to heaven and eternal life.  If you are professing to be a Christian, you better be sure you know what that really means.  You better make sure you are among the few who really are than the many who aren't but think they are.

Have a great day.  When I ask you if you are a Christian, how will you answer that question?

For further reading:
Matthew 7:13,14

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:   mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge

 

"Seek Ye What"

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom.  It is not natural or physical.  It is not something you can see with your eye or touch with your hand.  But it is more real than what is physical.  It is an eternal kingdom.  It is not temporary.  It does not remain for only a short while and then falls like so many earthly kingdoms have throughout history.  It last forever and ever-- it has no end, unlike this world that is slowly but surely passing away.  "And of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1:33)

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God".  Are you seeking that which is eternal?  Or are you seeking (spending time, money, resources and effort) on what is temporary?  Are you laying up treasures where moth and rust won't destroy and thieves don't break in and steal?  Are you seeking those things that decay and pass away with time?  Are you spending your life pursuing that which is like a vapor or the grass that withers?  Are you seeking that which is spiritual?  Righteousness, peace, holiness, joy in the Holy Ghost?  Or are you living for self-- pleasure, entertainment, greed, always consuming your life on your own lusts and desires?

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God" means more than just giving Him first place and having your priorities in order.  It involves as much "what" you seek as it does "when" you seek it.  So are you seeking "first" His kingdom- is His kingdom priority in your life?  Are you seeking "what" His kingdom is- that which is spiritual and eternal?  

Have a great day.  What are you seeking?  The physical or the spiritual?  The temporary or the eternal?

For further reading:
Matthew 24:35
James 4:14
1 Peter 1:24

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:   mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge

 

"Stand Alone And Answer"

"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet."  Acts 5:1,2

There are many applications to this story but I want us to look at one in particular.  It is not about a wife submitting to her husband by plotting with him to hold back some of their money.  It is about a spiritual matter.  "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost.  How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?"  

When we stand before the Lord, we stand alone.  When one day we give an account to God of our lives while we were on earth, we will stand by our self.  Our spouse won't be with us.  Our parents won't be with us.  Our pastor won't be with us.  Neither will our friends, our fellow employees, other family members, no one that we are acquainted with here.  This couple was not together when they faced the Apostles.  They each faced them without the other.

They each were asked the question concerning what they were bringing to the Lord.  Even though they had previously agreed to give the same answer, they each one individually had the choice to be truthful.  They conspired together and they both died.  The point I want to make is-- don't let anyone else cause you to "die".  Don't let your allegiance to a person cause you to miss out with God.  Don't let your agreement with someone else cause you to go to hell.  Just because her husband lied and told her to, doesn't mean she had to do it.  This was a spiritual matter.  In spiritual matters we "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling".  

Don't let anyone else cause you to sin against God-- no matter how close you are to them.  Don't let anyone else talk you into doing what is wrong in God's eyes.  Don't let anyone convince you to commit sin.  Don't let anyone cause you to lose your soul and go to hell.  You will stand before God one day and give an account and you will stand by yourself.  

Have a great day.  Don't let anyone, no matter who they are, cause you to spend eternity in hell.  

 

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:   mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge

"Reaching"

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before."  Philippians 3:13

One of my pastors that I had when I was growing up went home to be with the Lord a few days ago.  He was a  godly man whose love for the Lord was very evident to all who knew him.  As I was giving my condolences to one of his daughters, she replied to me that he was where he had been reaching for.  She said he had been reaching for that place-- his heavenly home-- for his whole life and was finally there. 

 He had preached about it, taught about it, witnessed about it, testified about it, longed for it, tried to help others find it, sought it and desired it.  He had been reaching to obtain it personally.  Let me ask you this morning, "What are you 'reaching' for?"  Are you reaching for a higher prize?  Are you reaching for the kingdom of God?  Are you reaching for a city whose builder and maker is the Lord?  What is your goal?  What is it you are longing to obtain?  The temporary?  The eternal?  That which is corruptible or incorruptible? 

Are you spending your time and effort reaching to obtain more money, fame, a name for yourself, popularity or the affections of some person?  Are you reaching for pleasure and entertainment?  Are you reaching for selfish desires that only leave you empty in the end?  Are you reaching backwards trying to change what was but will never be? 

There are a lot of things that we can reach for, and some of them are noble things.  But what I learned from this former pastor- through his life and through what he preached- was to reach for Jesus and His kingdom.  His faith has become sight.  If he could return for even a moment, he would tell us that what he had been reaching for was far better than he ever imagined.  He would also tell us that it is worth it.  It is worth giving up the reaching for the temporary things that we might receive the eternal.

Have a great day.  What are you spending your life 'reaching' for to obtain?  Temporary things or eternal things?

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:   mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge

 

"Where Is Your Trust?"

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Psalm 118:8

Why is it that we will put our trust in people and things more than we do in God?  We will put our trust in medicine to make us well; in counselors to tell us what to do; in a judicial system to defend us; in our jobs to provide for us; in the government to take care of us; in law enforcement to protect us; in other people to affirm us yet we will not put our trust in God to do all of the above, plus more.

We put more trust in man than we do in God.  We put our trust in the creation instead of the Creator.  We put more trust in what is temporary than we do in He who is Eternal.  Something is definitely wrong with this picture.  Isn't He trustworthy?  Can't He who died for us be trusted with our lives?  Can't He who created us to begin with be entrusted with our well being?  Can't the One who loves us with an everlasting love that is greater than we can even comprehend be trusted to take care of us?  I am not saying that these things and people don't have a place in our lives at times.  I thank God for His grace that has given them to us... but He never gave them to us to replace Him!

What are you putting your trust in the most?  Is it in man and this worldly system?  Do they have a greater level of your trust then the Lord does?  Before you answer with, "Of course, I trust God more", take a good look at your life and your daily routine and choices.  Think about what you would do if suddenly today all means of help and support were gone and it was just you and God.  How would you feel, better yet, how would you react? 

Have a great day.  Do you put more trust in people and things than you do in God?

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:   mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge