We should never discount our life from the eyes of the Lord. So many times because of our mistakes and shortfalls we think that God does not love us anymore or that we are beyond God’s redeeming mercy and grace. What we must realize about our life is that Jesus came for us all to be redeemed from our unrighteousness. He did not come for the good to be redeemed, but rather He came for the outcast, the sinful, the ones who fell away and didn’t feel like they deserved forgiveness. Jesus tells us this in Mark 2:17 “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” When we recognize our need for forgiveness and call upon the Lord in repentance, the Bible says that Jesus will wipe our slate clean erasing our past sins and shortfalls and He will create within us a new heart. The Lord promises to redeem, cleanse and make new every soul who calls upon His name. There is no difference in creed, color or background. Jesus is enough for us all. He loves us with an everlasting love and wishes to use our life to change this world for His glory. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) (Romans 10:8-13)

God’s love for mankind is so great that He single-handedly searches for His lost sheep. There is no person that is beyond God’s love, no sin so great that is beyond God’s mercy, no life so bad that is beyond God’s grace. The Lord Jesus tells us in Luke 15:4-7 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) (Psalm 118:26-29)

God is waiting for us to open the door of our hearts and welcome Him into our life. Like a gentleman Jesus will not force Himself upon anyone, but waits patiently for us to say yes come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. When we pray that simple prayer our past washes away and our future becomes forever secured. God takes away all of our filth and replaces it with His goodness. He takes our worn and filthy garments and dresses us with a robe of righteousness. Accepting the Lord into our life and receiving all that we will from Him is an uneven exchange, but still is offered to all who simply say yes to the Lord Jesus Christ. I encourage you with my whole heart to say yes to the Lord, to be counted as one of His sheep who will be safe, secure and well taken care of by the Shepherd who loves you more than you can ever fully know. (Revelation 3:20) (John 10:7-18)

I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to see your importance to the body of Christ. We need every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to take their role as His child serious and do all that they can to be a light in the midst of this dark and dreary world.


HOW WILL THE CHURCH BE LIGHTED? 

Several centuries ago in a mountain village in Europe, a wealthy nobleman wondered what legacy he could leave to his townspeople. He made a good decision. He decided to build them a church. No one was permitted to see the plans or the inside of the church until it was finished. At its grand opening, the people gathered and marveled at the beauty of the new church. Everything had been thought of and included. It was a masterpiece.

But then someone said, “Wait a minute! Where are the lamps? It is really quite dark in here. How will the church be lighted?” The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he gave each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came to worship. 

“Each time you are here” the nobleman said, “the place where you are seated will be lighted. Each time you are not here, that place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to church, some part of God's house will be dark”

That's a poignant story, isn't it? And it makes a very significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the church. The poet Edward Everett Hale put it like this: 

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something I can do. 

What if every member of your church supported the church just as you do? What kind of church would you have? What if every single member served the church, attended the church, loved the church, shared the church, and gave to the church exactly as you do? What kind of church would you be? 

Author Unknown


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

James 1:22-25 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

Psalm 31:23-24 “O love the LORD, all ye His saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”

Romans 8:24-25 “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

Philippians 2:13-15 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible. 


Today's Selected Poem: WHEN JESUS LOOKS
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/enpoem54.htm 

Today's Selected Testimony: BEVERLY ANN'S TESTIMONY
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony70.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry