Welcome To The Christian Journeyman!

Welcome To The Christian Journeyman!
A CHRISTIAN TEACHING AND RESOURCE MINISTRY!

Monday, July 28, 2014

Only You Can Open The Door!

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him,, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20) Behind the pulpit of my first church was the beautiful picture of Jesus knocking on the door of one's heart. If you look closely at the picture, you will find that there is no latch outside the door, which signifies that for one to respond to the invitation of Christ to come into one's life, one must open the door from the inside, and let Him in. The church at Laodicea, was needing Jesus to be first and foremost in their lives. They had everything, yet at the same time they were spiritually bankrupt. "Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'- and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.."(Revelation 3:17) We can have everything this world has to offer, and yet have nothing, in regards to our spiritual well-being. We can be physically full, and at the same time feel spiritually empty, to the point of deep despair.
I remember a song entitled: "People Need The Lord" We need His love, His provisions, His wisdom and guidance. Most of all we need Him to deliver us from our slavery to sin, and the  world. So when Jesus knocks on the door of your heart, don't turn Him away. Don't say in your heart "I have no time, or need for you!" Because there is no one that we need more, than our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! GP
Picture By www.hissheep.org Thank you!

Friday, July 25, 2014

What's In Your Mind?

"Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praise worthy - meditate on these things." (Philippians 4:8) If the world is to see the difference between what is "Christian" and what is "of the world", shouldn't they see it in the actions of a Christian? Does what we read, what we watch on TV, the movies we go to see, the music we listen to, make a statement about what we value in life? In my life, I have tried to walk on both sides of the fence (sort of speak) in regards to the material I have viewed and listened to; and it has made me realize how damaging it can be; not only for my heart, but also for my witness. It's like eating the wrong kind of food, and then asking ourselves why we feel so sick and run down. Eating a steady diet of junk food, over time, will cause us to feel like junk. It's the same way with the material we read, view, or listen to. If it has chunks of immorality, violence, and negativity, it's sure to affect us. If we say it won't, we are only fooling ourselves. In time it will develop certain worldly attitudes, and yes addictions. Satan is subtle. First it's a crumb, and than in time, it is full course meals of worldly material, causing us to become what we mentally consume. We need to heed the words here of the Apostle Paul in this verse (Phil.4:8) Focusing on material that fall into these categories, is for our protection. It is the principle of sowing and reaping. What we sow in what we read, watch, and listen to, will produce a harvest of destruction in time. I know, because I have done it. GP
Picture By Gary Patterson TCJ 2014 All Rights Reserved. 

Friday, July 18, 2014

Where Is Our True Security?

Romans 8:35-39
Where is there true security? Where can I find the peace I long for when I go through trouble and trials? Where can I find my worth, my acceptance? How can I stop hiding behind a wall of pride and conceit, and let the world see a very humble, yet confident person? If we are looking to the world for the answers to these questions, we will be greatly disappointed. We have to let the human race off the hook, because in all our attempts to provide the security, and peace for others, we have not been able to do it. There are exceptions, and we are thankful for those who know how to provide a very secure and accepting environment. But the world is a mess, because a great percentage of the world does not know how to provide it. But thanks be to God, Jesus Christ can, and will provide the security and acceptance we need, now and forever. Here in our text, the Apostle Paul states that, he is 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." (vv.38-39)
Family and friends can fail. Place and position can fail. material possessions can fail. But God, through Christ Jesus, will not fail, to provide the lasting security and acceptance we need. We can step around all the attempts of the world to make us happy, and place ourselves under the wings of protection and love, provided by our heavenly Father. We can meet the world with a great confidence, because we know that the greatest power in the universe is behind us. Paul asks this question in v.31 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" When the world fails us, we can be assured that God never will. GP

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Walking In The Light Of God's Word

"Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us."
(1 John 2:18-19)
We find that John is the only writer of the New Testament who uses the term "Antichrist". In fact he uses the term five times. Twice in 1 John 2:18, 1 John 2:22, 1 John 4:3, 2 John 7. We have heard it taught by pre-millenialists and amillenialists that this person will arise in the "last days" to lead many people astray just before Christ comes again. The Apostle Paul describes this person as being the "man of sin" in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11. I don't want to take time talking about this person of deception. The main thing I want to focus on is, how are we to be prepared for such a great deception, that I believe is going on right now. The Apostle Paul made a statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working (of who?) Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved." Did you catch what Paul said here. The reason that people will be deceived, is because they will not have a love for the truth. They will not focus their attention on what the Word of God says. The many isms that we have today, is because we have a self-centered attitude concerning the various issues of life. A line of song says; "It's easier to sell a lie, than to give the truth away." We would rather seek the wisdom of those who are apart of creation, than seek the wisdom of our Creator. How ridiculous is that? The one who made me, knows more than those who were created with me. Jesus said "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) Free from deception, free from error, free from guilt, free from sin. If we follow the path of truth from God's Word, this great deception will not lead us astray. The Psalmist said that God's Word is.."a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path.."(Psalm 119:105)
Are you preparing for the future, by walking in the light of God's Word? GP



Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Have Patience!

Have Patience, Have Patience,
Don't Be In Such A Hurry!
When You Get Impatient,
You Only Start To Worry!
Remember, Remember,
That God Is Patient Too!
And Think Of All The Times, When Others
Had To Wait For You!
(I hope I have the words right to this little song that I learned while in pastoral ministry.)
I don't know about you, but I have a tough time with patience. I am almost as bad as the lady who went into a grocery store and asked, "Do have anything quicker than instant?"
I like the words of David in Psalm 40:1-2
"I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps."

There is no better place to go, when life has you in a horrible pit of anxiety and despair, than to the Lord. To a rock of stability and peace. When I go to the Lord, and wait for Him, He always shows up, with the provisions I need.
I don't know where you are today. If you are in a pit of trial and trouble, just be patient, and wait on the Lord. He will show up in His time, and with His help and strength. Is it so bad to be still and wait?
What is accomplished by stirring and fretting? We will only bring an avalanche of trouble down on ourselves. Let's agree today to do as David said:
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him"
(Psalm 37:7a) How blessed we will be, when we do.(GP)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

He Calms My Heart!

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) For me and my family, it has been a very troublesome year. Jesus was very clear in this verse of Scripture, that trouble is, and will always be apart of this life. Everyone deals with it one time, or another. But the thing that we must remember is that, in the midst of the trouble, our Lord Jesus will always be with us, and take us through the storm. Just like He was with the disciples, when they were out in the boat. He calmed the wind and the sea (Matthew 8:23-27) He has in the past calmed my heart many times. "Swift cometh His answer, so clear and so sweet; "Yea, I will be with thee, thy troubles to meet; I will not forget thee, nor fail thee, nor grieve; I will not forsake thee, I never will leave." (Flint) Let's face the trouble, knowing that we have the greatest power in the universe behind us.(GP)
 

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Running For Your Life

One day a hound dog went hunting by himself in the woods. He spotted a rabbit in the underbrush and chased him out into the open. The rabbit darted this way and that. The dog followed.
The rabbit ran, with the dog at his heels, around trees and through an open field. When the dog began to tire of the chase, the rabbit, with one last burst of energy, dashed into the thicket and escaped to safety. As the dog turned back for home, a goat herder who had seen the chase jeered at him, saying, "Some hunter you are! You let that rabbit get the best of you!" "You forget," replied the tired dog, "about the rabbit's strife! I was only running for my supper. He was running for his life!" http://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/running.html The Apostle Paul writes: "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." (Romans 7:23) As Christians, we all feel the vulnerability to sin. It is like we are running from it, but yet we find ourselves being captured by it. In Romans 7, Paul expresses his frustration over the conflict. "For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." (Romans 7:19) Paul gives us the remedy to this conflict:
"O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25a) It is not in ourselves to overcome the temptations to sin, but the power comes, when we act upon the Lord's teachings. To follow through with His principles, even when our passions are at a high pitch. The answer is not to run from sin, but to run to our Lord Jesus, and with His help, stand up to sin, and find the victory in Him. GP
Picture By ID 22396968 © Denis Barbulat | www.dreamstime.com Thank you!